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VILLAGE HISTORY January 1, 1800 by Royal Assent, East and West Flamboro was divided. In 1813 Hamilton was incorporated as a village and in 1816 a Royal Charter was granted for cutting a channel through the Beach strip and another at Burlington Heights to build the Desjardines [Desjardins] Canal to Dundas which was completed in 1832. In 1853 a railway swing bridge was built to span the canal in the Beach strip. On March 12, 1857 the Great Western train on the Toronto Branch went through this bridge with 95 passengers of which 61 were casualties. In August 1857 a suspension bridge blew down which was located where the High Level bridge now is at the entrance to Hamilton. This created little hardship for the farmers of whom there were five along the Plains Road, because most of them went via way of Dundas to avoid the bridge toll. In winter many of them drove by cutter or skated, and in summer rowed across the Bay to avoid paying toll charges. The Old Sentinal oak tree was the landmark at Brown's Wharf for incoming ships and also acted as a guide for teamsters coming from Waterdown in winter when the snow was too deep to follow the road. Brown's wharf which is now La Salle [LaSalle] Park was a prosperous shipping centre. It is now being rebuilt and enlarged to allow ferry boats to dock. The last large shipment was 15 to 20,000 barrels of apples in 1897. In 1861 Henry Wyatt granted a portion of his land, originally held by the Hon. Peter Russell, who succeeded John Graves Simcoe as governor of Upper Canada, to be used as a site for an Anglican Church. St. Matthew's Church on the Plains was built in that year by Samuel West for the sum of $158.00, while the picket fence in front of the church was erected by two men in two days at a cost of $2.00. William Applegarth came from Durham, England in 1791 and settled across the road from the Fongers, the Applegarth lands extending to the Western boundaries of Oaklands Park. One story has it that William Applegarth was responsible for changing the name of the settlement from the original Burlington Plains to Aldershot. In 1831, the first school was built on part of the Brown property, where St. Matthew's cemetery is now situated, and eight years later the first church, East Plains Methodist, was erected on land granted by Joseph Lyons. The church was destroyed by fire shortly after the turn of the century and the present brick building was then built. West Plains United Church was dedicated 20 years ago, the new building replacing the white one-room frame church which had served for many years. Three hundred active families are listed on the records of the twin