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Founded on November 26, 1853, as the Ontario Curling Club of Hamilton (The Hamilton Thistle Club), was the second oldest curling club in Canada besides the Montreal Caledonia Curling Club (1850-1976). It originally began as a men's only curling club whose members played on natural rinks on the Hamilton Harbour. In its first year, the club had 22 members who paid an annual membership fee of $15. In 1878, the club purchased land for $2,000 on the corner of Park and Robinson Streets to build a permanent club house. The red brick building started with four sheets of ice, and by 1886, the club purchased additional land for expansion. By 1890, the club was used for both curling, skating, and hockey. Additional sports were introduced when electricity replaced gaslight, such as squash, tennis and badminton. On October 11, 1927, The Hamilton Thistle Club was officially incorporated, the same year that artificial ice was installed. In 1934, a women's curling section was formed with eight members under the leadership of their first president Mrs. W.D. Southam. The club was further renovated in 1959, 1978 and 1981, and additions included racquetball and squash courts and locker rooms complete with sauna and whirlpools in both the men's and women's sections. The club also had an indoor tennis court and combined there were 11 racquetball courts, six curling sheets, lawn bowling areas, lounges for billiards, and dining and spa facilities. The popularity of racquet sports brought the end of curling, and in 1987 the club closed all the ice sheets. Declining membership and financial problems led the club to close in 2002, one year shy of its 150 birthday. The building was demolished in 2004.

Theatre Terra Nova was founded in 1988 by Brian Morton as an alternative theatre production. The theatre troupe provided offering such as Billy Bishop Goes to War, Cold Comfort, and The Kingpin. In 1990, after securing a loan from the Hamilton City Council, Theatre Terra Nova moved into the Playhouse Theatre. However, due to financial difficulties, the troupe folded in 1992. The Playhouse Theatre is now currently an independent cinema theatre.

Viktor Tinkl was born in Czechoslovakia in 1937. He attended Galt Collegiate Institute from 1952 to 1955. Upon graduation, Viktor studied drawing and painting at the Ontario College of Art from 1955-1959 and continued his studies in Munich, Germany. He was the recipient of the West German Government Painting Scholarship and the McLean’s Traveling Scholarship. During 1962 to 1964, Tinkl was an advisor to the print program in Povungituk, Quebec where he met and worked with Inuit art as Joe Talirunili. He is a sculptor and 'amateur architect'. His work has been shown at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the University of Toronto Art Centre, the Bronfrnan Centre ofMontreal, as well as the Merton and Isaacs galleries of Toronto. Viktor and his wife Judith live in Sunderland, Ontario.

The Tower Poetry Society (TPS) was established in 1951 and is one of the oldest poetry workshop groups in North America. The Society is a non-profit organization that promotes poetry and encourages poets. The Society was founded by English poet Ida Sutherland Groom who lectured in the English Department at McMaster University from 1950 to 1960. Groom aimed for bringing together poets in the Hamilton area for the sole purpose to publish members' poems in the publication the "Tower". In the beginning, members would read their own works during meetings, which then became workshops to encourage and strengthen members writings. The name the "Tower" was inspired from the ivy-clad tower at University Hall located at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Since the mid-1970s, the Society has published the "Tower" twice a year with summer and winter editions. The Society receives submissions from around the world. In 1975, the Society published their first anthology of poems entitled "Pine's the Canadian Tree". During the 1980s, the Society promoted poetry through nine half-hour television segments called “Poetry's Alive" through the Hamilton community television station, Cable 4. The Society is also an advocate for the arts and has participated and supported local community events in the Hamilton and Wentworth region, such as the Dundas Arts Weekend, Book Week in Canada, Hamilton's Arts Council Literary Committee's Blue Pencil Rooms and poetry workshops. In addition, members have given readings under the auspice of the Society to festivities and have conducted poetry workshops.

Freda Farrell Waldon was born August 29, 1898 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her family moved to Hamilton, Ontario about a year later, and she remained there for the majority of her life. Waldon attended Central Public School and Hamilton Collegiate Institute. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto (1919), then went on to complete her M.A. in English at Columbia University (1931). Waldon attended the School of Librarianship at the University of London before becoming Chief Librarian of the Hamilton Public Library, a position which she held from 1940 to 1963. Waldon developed an interest in the Wesleyan Ladies' College, located on King Street East in Hamilton, Ontario, due in part to the fact that her mother, Lillie Hardy, was a graduate (1887). In 1952, Waldon sent a letter to the Toronto periodical Saturday Night, with a request to its readers for all available information on the College, including recollections, reminiscences and information from former students and teachers. Waldon also searched among her own papers and brought together a great deal of material on the College, its staff and students.

George Frederick Webb (May 6, 1865 – June 6, 1942) was born in Folkestone, Kent, England to John and Sarah Jane Webb. His family came to Hamilton in 1871. In the 1881 census there were 9 children mentioned. George Webb later went into business as a contractor, building such structures as Central Collegiate, the new Armouries, the Wellington Street buildings of the Steel Company of Canada, Ryerson School and Robert Land School. In June of 1906 he purchased the East End Incline Railway located at the head of Wentworth Street South, which he ran until its operation ceased on August 15, 1936. He lived in his home, Belmont Place, located at 1 Mountain Park Avenue and became quite involved in promoting development on the mountain. He was elected Reeve of Barton Township in 1913 and served until 1919. He was the President of the Hamilton Lamp Company which was later sold to the General Electric Company. In 1929 he was appointed to the Board of the Hamilton General Hospital and served three years. In 1936 he was elected President of the Board of St. Peter’s Hospital and served until the year prior to his death. He never married.

The Wesleyan Ladies' College was located at the corner of King Street East and John Street South in Hamilton, Ontario, in the building erected as the Anglo-American Hotel (1854), which declared bankruptcy in 1861. This location became the future site of the Waldorf Hotel (ca. 1901-1914) and then The Royal Connaught Hotel (1914-). The Wesleyan Ladies’ College officially opened in September of 1861, drawing students from across Canada and the United States, and housing both boarding and day students. Mary Electa Adams was the first principal (from 1861-1868), succeeded by Rev. S.D. Rice, who was principal until 1878. More than two thousand women were educated at Wesleyan, and the college produced more than two hundred graduates. The first degrees conferred by the college were MLA, Mistress of Liberal Arts, and MEL, Mistress of English Literature. Members of the graduating class of 1888 obtained honours in the first Bachelor of Arts Degrees ever obtained by women in Ontario. The Wesleyan Ladies’ College closed in 1897.

Thomas Harrison Wilkinson, a watercolour artist, was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England in 1847. He studied art in London. In 1870, Wilkinson immigrated to Canada where he lived in London, Ontario. In 1872, he married Carrie O’Cochrane of Kingston and made a home in Toronto. During his career, Wilkinson traveled and painted throughout Canada from Muskoka, Parry Sound, Georgian Bay, Montreal, Quebec, Lake Louise, the Rocky Mountains and British Colombia. He also traveled to North Carolina, England, Italy and Spain. Wilkinson was best known for his landscapes, seascapes, pastorals and streetscapes, working in watercolor and oil. He spent the last twenty years of his life living in Hamilton. Wilkinson died in 1929.

The Head-of-the-Lake Historical Society was established in 1944, when Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. McCullough convened a meeting of historically-minded residents of Hamilton to discuss the establishment of a new local history society to replace the former Wentworth Historical Society (1889-1925). The Head-of-the-Lake Historical Society exists to promote Hamilton’s history through its motto: Explore, Preserve, Relate. The Society holds regular meetings and annual Heritage Day dinner celebrations, as well as outreach activities such as lectures and day outings to local historical sites. The Society has collected and preserved historical photographs of the Hamilton area, many of which have been included in its publications on Hamilton history. In partnership with the Hamilton Historical Board, the Society has sponsored several historical plaques to commemorate important people and events in the city of Hamilton and the surrounding region. The Society has also been actively involved in restoring important historical landmarks such as the incorporation of the Old City Hall clock into the Hamilton Eaton’s Centre, and the Gore Park Fountain in downtown Hamilton.

The Head-of-the-Lake Historical Society was established in 1944, when Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. McCullough convened a meeting of historically-minded residents of Hamilton to discuss the establishment of a new local history society to replace the former Wentworth Historical Society (1889-1925). The Head-of-the-Lake Historical Society exists to promote Hamilton’s history through its motto: Explore, Preserve, Relate. The Society holds regular meetings and annual Heritage Day dinner celebrations, as well as outreach activities such as lectures and day outings to local historical sites. The Society has collected and preserved historical photographs of the Hamilton area, many of which have been included in its publications on Hamilton history. In partnership with the Hamilton Historical Board, the Society has sponsored several historical plaques to commemorate important people and events in the city of Hamilton and the surrounding region. The Society has also been actively involved in restoring important historical landmarks such as the incorporation of the Old City Hall clock into the Hamilton Eaton’s Centre, and the Gore Park Fountain in downtown Hamilton.

The Head-of-the-Lake Historical Society was established in 1944, when Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. McCullough convened a meeting of historically-minded residents of Hamilton to discuss the establishment of a new local history society to replace the former Wentworth Historical Society (1889-1925). The Head-of-the-Lake Historical Society exists to promote Hamilton’s history through its motto: Explore, Preserve, Relate. The Society holds regular meetings and annual Heritage Day dinner celebrations, as well as outreach activities such as lectures and day outings to local historical sites. The Society has collected and preserved historical photographs of the Hamilton area, many of which have been included in its publications on Hamilton history. In partnership with the Hamilton Historical Board, the Society has sponsored several historical plaques to commemorate important people and events in the city of Hamilton and the surrounding region. The Society has also been actively involved in restoring important historical landmarks such as the incorporation of the Old City Hall clock into the Hamilton Eaton’s Centre, and the Gore Park Fountain in downtown Hamilton.