Beamsville is a community that is part of the town of Lincoln, Ontario, Canada. It is located along the southern shore of Lake Ontario and lies within the fruit belt of the Niagara Peninsula. It contains century-old brick buildings, an old-fashioned downtown area with barbershops, women's dress shops, a bakery, a print shop, restaurants, banks, and other businesses, and plenty of orchards and vineyards. The Queen Elizabeth Way, the main road that connects Toronto and Buffalo, New York, has an interchange at Beamsville. Many tourists stop off at the highway exit for something to eat at the many fast food restaurants located nearby.
Industry
Beamsville is in the heart of Ontario's wine country and contributes greatly to the wine industry in the Niagara Peninsula. Many wineries from the area have taken home top awards, including Grape King at the Niagara Grape & Wine Festival, as well as international awards. Alanson Harris operated a foundry making farm tools and would go on to become farm implements marker Massey Harris. Craft Beverage Manufacturers in Beamsville:
Beamsville was named after Jacob Beam, a United Empire Loyalist. Both of his homes — the original one located on the Thirty Mile Creek, as well as the one near downtown Beamsville — are still intact today. Jacob and Catharine Beam, along with their daughter Catharine Merrell, and son-in-law Samuel Merrell, emigrated to Canada from New Jersey in 1788, and founded Beamsville. By 1869, Beamsville was a village with a population of 550 in the Township of Clinton, Lincoln County. It was on the Great Western Railway. The average price of land in vicinity was $45. In 1898, hockey players in the town of Beamsville were the first to make use of a hockey net. In 1917 the Royal Flying Corps established a School of Aerial Fighting on the farmland immediately east of Beamsville. The school consisted of a camp, an airfield, and a gunnery range over Lake Ontario. Today an historical plaque at 4222 Sann Road marks the geographical centre of the 300 acre school property. The building adjacent to the plaque is an original hangar. In 1970, the Town of Beamsville was amalgamated with Clinton Township and Louth Township to form the larger Town of Lincoln.
Education
There are five schools located in Beamsville: two secondary school, and three elementary schools.
District School Board of Niagara
Beamsville currently has one public secondary school, Beamsville District Secondary School. Beamsville District Secondary School was first established in 1888 which is on Central Ave, and draws students from all over the Town of Lincoln. The current principal at BDSS is Mr.Miller and the current student population is just over 400 students. BDSS currently ranks as the 451st-best secondary school in Ontario out of 740 according to the Fraser Institute There are two public elementary schools located in Beamsville, Senator Gibson Public School and Jacob Beam Public School.
The Niagara Catholic District School Board has two elementary schools in Beamsville. St. Mark Catholic Elementary School was opened in 2001. It has undergone a large expansion in 2011, growing to 22 classrooms. The current enrollment at St. Mark is 541 students. St. Johns Catholic Elementary School was built in 1958 and the current enrollment is 346 students
Private schools
is a private, four year co-educational day and boarding Christian high school affiliated with the Churches of Christ.
