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The Act of Incorporation of Hamilton required that the affairs of the city be managed by a Mayor and a Municipal or "Common Council", replacing the previous government by the Board of Police. The Mayor and Councillors composed City Council. Two Councillors were elected in each of the five municipal wards established by the Act, and together they named one other person to serve with them on Council. From among their number the Councillors chose the Mayor, who held office for a one year term. The system, at times, could cause problems as in 1854 when all the Councillors successively were nominated for mayor and were defeated. Minors and non-citizens were ineligible to run for office, and property qualifications were established. The Mayor was paid a salary in lieu of fees and prerogatives.

In April 1872, in the midst of a period of labour agitation, a Special Committee reported to Council on the method by which the Mayor was elected. Its report concluded that the present system was objectionable on several grounds: first, electors wanted to select the Mayor themselves; second, the election of the Mayor by councillors deprived one ward of an elected alderman; third, it implied that each alderman was suitable for the office of Mayor when the electors had voted for him as an alderman, not as Mayor; and fourth, the position "would be elevated in dignity and independence and the interests of the Electors would be advanced by his being elected by the people at large." In 1874, Benjamin Charlton became the first Mayor of Hamilton elected by a civic vote. Individual Mayors could leave their impact on both the office and the city. For example, Charles Magill (1854-55) championed the construction of the waterworks. T.J. Stewart (1907-08) was a vocal advocate of the municipal ownership of utilities. Lloyd D. Jackson (1949-62) promoted urban renewal in the city. The inaugural addresses which the Mayors presented to Council from 1898 until 1973, included in Council minutes, reflected their concerns and plans for the municipality and outlined the accomplishments of previous Councils.

Charles Schriber Cochran, son of William Cochran and Mary Rupert, was born in Paris, West Canada in 1854. He married Cicely Eliza Springer and had two sons. In 1886, he and his family moved to Hamilton, where Cochran opened a photography studio in June of 1886 at 124 King Street East. By the mid-1890's his was one of the most prominent studios in the area, winning awards at conventions of the Photographic Association of Canada, and receiving honours at the Jamaica Convention (1891) and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893), also known as the Chicago World's Fair. Around 1899, Cochran was commissioned by W.H. Carre of Montreal to take photographs of the city for Artwork of Hamilton (1899). In 1902, he sold his studio to A.M. Cunningham (Alexander McKenzie Cunningham), who had previously been in his employ. Conchran remaining in Hamilton until 1904 before moving to the United States. He eventually settled in California, where he resided until his death in 1933.

The Fernleigh Lawn Bowling Club had it start as a group of carpet bowlers from the Hannah Street Methodist Church looking for a place to bowl outside. After first bowling on the property of club president A. W. Semmens in 1904, the club later moved to a location on Aberdeen and Mountain in 1908. Eventually, due to rising cost of land, the club found its permanent residence at 17 1/2 Fairmount ave. It remained at that location until the club’s dissolvement in 1997. The land used by the club and subsequently rezoned by the city for residential use. The club takes its name from A. W. Semmens designation for his homestead, the club’s original home.

The First Battalion Incorporated Militia was established in 1838 to protect the Hamilton area (formerly known as Head-of-the-Lake), and the surrounding region from any possible uprisings or raids stemming from the Rebellions of 1837-1838. The British army couldn’t continue to provide protection for a growing colony, and part-time militias were often ill-prepared to cope with the issues of the time. The region of Hamilton was seen as a strategic point of defense for Upper Canada due to its location, so a decision was made to create a force for regular service. On October 24, 1838, the Lieutenant Governor signed the order to raise a battalion in Hamilton and in November of 1838 it was formed and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Sir Allan Napier MacNab (1798-1862), a veteran of the War of 1812, with Colonel William Gourlay (1794-1867), a former British officer, as second in command.

Unlike earlier militias where the men wore their own clothes and provided their own musket, the First Battalion Incorporated Militia soldiers wore the uniform of the British Army and were provided with military-issued weapons. Non-commissioned officers were required to be able to read and write, as they would be the mainstay of the unit, ensuring that the enlisted men behaved and practiced their drill instruction. Unfortunately, records indicate that desertion, drunkenness and disorderly conduct were sometimes the reality for the battalion. The 300 men that enlisted by the end of the first year of the battalion’s existence received the same pay as the British soldiers, which was one shilling a day for a regular private, minus the expenditures for their personal kits. The battalion was headquartered in Hamilton with a daily town guard of one officer and twelve men, but often sent companies of men to places such as Fort Eire, Cobourg and Penetanguishene. While stationed in Hamilton, the men engaged in daily drills and chores, and patrolled the area. After five years of service, monotonous barracks life, and with no action from any rebellions or uprisings, the regiment was disbanded in 1843.

The Funeral Advisory Society of Hamilton & District (FASHD) was founded in 1971 under the name, Hamilton Memorial Society. It was founded by Callie Archer, after reading an article about the cost of funerals in Ontario. The aim of the organization was to advocate for simple, affordable funeral and memorial services consumers. In 1984, the name was changed to Funeral Advisory Society of Hamilton & District to better reflect their advocacy goals and membership demographics. In 2012, the Ontario government introduced new legislation with regards to consumer rights for funeral services. Considering the new legislation, the board of directors voted to voluntarily dissolve the organization as the goals they lobbied for were reached with the new legislation.

Grafton & Co. Ltd. was a clothing manufacturer located in Dundas. It was established in May 1853 when James Beatty Grafton and his business partner, Andrew V. Gregson, established Gregson & Grafton, a small dry goods and millinery shop on the corner of King and Ogilvie in Dundas. In 1858, Mr. Gregson retired from the business and the Grafton/Gregson partnership was dissolved. Later the same year, James and his brother, John Stewart Grafton, formed a partnership, and the company of Grafton & Co. Ltd. was born a year later when James’ son, James J., joined the company. The company prospered commercially in the 1800s. Grafton brothers purchased the adjacent property in 1887 and they built the three-storey brick building on the corner of King and Main streets in Dundas. By 1900, Grafton and Company had expanded to further locations in Hamilton, Brantford, London, Peterborough and Owen Sound, with a sixth location opening in Woodstock in 1905. The company always had the most modern equipment to handle clothing products from manufacturing to shipping to retail. By 1967, Grafton and Company had merged with the Jack Fraser Stores, which provided the company with 85 store locations across Canada. But business at the Dundas Grafton's store declined and, by 1976, had ceased business.

Mechanics’ Institutes were first established in London, England during the early to mid-nineteenth century, with the purpose of providing workers with practical knowledge and instruction in their trades through reading materials, lectures and evening classes. These institutes soon spread throughout the world including in Canada and by the 1840s, there were well-established institutes in places such as Kingston, Toronto, Brantford, Dundas and Hamilton. The Hamilton and Gore Mechanics’ Institute was established at a public meeting on Monday, February 27, 1839. As in Britain, the original purpose of the Institute was to further the technical and scientific education of the working class. In the first year of operation, there were 273 members and a total of 126 volumes in the collection. From 1839 to 1844, the Institute rented out space in the Engine House of the Board of Police and focused on its reading rooms and the circulation of material. This remained the primary focus from 1844 until 1853 while it continued to rent out space in a different building on King Street. When the Institute was incorporated in 1849, it started offering lectures and classes in subjects such as science, manufacturing and nature. With its membership growing, the Institute needed a more permanent location as the city was growing too so in 1853, the Mechanics’ Institute opened its new building at 33 James Street North at a cost of $4,000, which was mostly borrowed. The building contained a hall large enough to seat 1000 people and the reading rooms were spacious and well-furnished. With the extra space, the Institute expanded its offerings with fairs, festivals, concerts, exhibitions, and literary readings, along with regular book circulation, classes and lectures. Although classes were offered in reading, writing, math and technical skills, and were intended to be educational in nature, they were not well attended by the working class, who after a long 10-hour workday, had little time or energy to sit through a lecture on topics that often appealed more to middle-class members.

By 1881, the Institute had over 7,000 volumes and a membership of over 1000 individuals. Despite the numbers and volumes circulating, the Institute was struggling with the debt it incurred from borrowing money to construct the new larger building. Though the original function of the Institute was educating the working class, and there were members such as blacksmiths, machinists, printers and shoemakers among the ranks, the majority of members were employed as politicians, merchants, barristers, bookkeepers, physicians, architects, clerks, grocers, and teachers. The directors who ran the Institute were also men from the middle and upper classes and although they did recognize that the function and role of the Institute had shifted, they did little to rectify this and failed to adapt to the needs of the working class. The Mechanics’ Institute also did not receive much in the way of government funding, and relied mostly on the subscriptions and membership fees, as well as donations. The failure to adapt and reflect the needs of the community, the lack of regular funding, the financial debt incurred from overextending itself with a building that was too large and expensive for its original purpose, as well as the competition from private libraries and technical schools, all helped lead to the demise of the Mechanics’ Institute in 1882. That same year, the Free Public Libraries Act was passed by the provincial government, which allowed for the establishment, administration and maintenance of public libraries through tax-based government support. By 1889, city council voted to establish and construct a library and in 1890, residents of the city of Hamilton had access to their first free public library when the Hamilton Public Library opened its doors.

Established in 1882 and located at 2½ James Street South at King Street, the Hamilton Business College was Canada’s representative commercial and shorthand school. Courses included book-keeping, commercial law, contracts, business correspondence, penmanship, spelling, telegraphy and shorthand. The objective of the school was to prepare young men and women for a career in business by giving them practical experience in various aspects of commercial education. The teachers were specialists in their fields and the quality of the education and practical skills obtained by the students made them highly sought after by employers, and gave the school an exceptional reputation nationwide.

The Hamilton Cake & Biscuit company was incorporated into a business by letters patent in 1920. However, due to various financial issues in 1921, it approved the appointment of Mark McLeod Tew as its trustee in bankruptcy. The company was formal dissolved in 1923 with the sale of the company lands to Frederick T. Smye, Hamiltonian businessman who later became an Ontario MPP until his death in 1930.

The Hamilton Board of Trade was formed at a public meeting held at the Royal Exchange Hotel on April 29, 1845, with thirty-seven Hamilton businessmen in attendance. The constitution of the board was adopted at this meeting and Isaac Buchanan was elected as first president. Board members were comprised of merchants and bank managers, and individuals engaged in trade in the Gore District. The mandate of the organization was to promote fair mercantile principles, correct abuses in trade, protect the rights of businesses, and advance the interests of the business community. During the war years, the organization's membership declined even though growth and development in the city were increasing. In 1919, the organization went through a major reorganization and emerged as the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce in 1920. After an intensive promotional campaign, membership increased to 1000 individuals and the new mandate of the Chamber shifted from a focus mostly on trade, to a new emphasis on promoting the economic, civic and social welfare of the people of Hamilton.

Throughout the years, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce has played an active role in improving the business and social climate in the city through the financing of various ventures such as the Royal Connaught Hotel and the Chedoke Civic Golf Club, as well as heading the effort to relocate McMaster University to Hamilton. The Chamber has promoted better trade, roads, parking and transportation, educational and employment opportunities, the development of the Harbour and civic centres, as well as promoting access to capital for small business. The Chamber has engaged the city and its citizens through task forces and committees, studies and reports, programs and events such as Corporate Challenge, as well as promotional materials and publications, including the area’s first business directory. The Chamber has also contributed to tourism, promoted Hamilton’s art scene by founding the Hamilton Region Arts Council, and brought both the United Way and Crime Stoppers to the greater Hamilton area. Today, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce continues to represent the interests of the business community and the community at large by encouraging the improvement of commercial and industrial activity in the city, and by promoting Hamilton as a place of innovation and progress, and a good place to invest, work and live.

The Hamilton Cotton Company was a primary cotton producer, starting its operations with raw cotton from the United States, Mexico and Brazil. It was founded in 1880 but its history reaches back to the early 1870s in Dundas where brothers James M. Young, the eldest son of a prominent Hamilton merchant family, and Hamilton Young learned the business at the Dundas Cotton mills. Production expanded in the 20th century. The Young family strengthened its holdings in Hamilton and added plants in Marysville, New Brunswick, Montreal, Quebec, Trenton and Woodbridge, Ontario. Some of the products of the company included cotton yarns, dyed or undyed, blend yarns, woven cloth, wrapping twines, cotton and synthetic braided cords, twisted ropes, and laces. The numerous buildings of the Hamilton Cotton Company stood behind the Malcolm & Souter plant on Mary Street. The main plant of the company was located on Mary Street North in Hamilton, Ontario and was sub-divided into three separate mill units: The Yarn and Cloth division, the Dyeing division, and the Narrow Fabrics Division. By 1970, the name of the business changed to Hamilton Group Limited.