by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812. 1813 – Two American schooners, the Hamilton and the Scourge, capsized in Lake Ontario in 1813. 1813 – June 5–6 – British win Battle of Stoney Creek. 1813 – Eleven men hanged for treason right across the street from where Dundurn Castle eventually is built. 1813 – Hamilton laid out as a village. 1814 – Wm. Sheldon opened the first store at the corner of King Street and John Street. 1815 – A chopping mill is the first industry in Hamilton, Ontario. 1815 – George Hamilton, a settler and local politician, established a town site in the northern portion Barton Township after the war in 1815. He kept several east–west roads which were originally Indian trails, but the north–south streets were on a regular grid pattern. Streets were designated "East" or "West" if they crossed James Street or Highway 6. Streets were designated "North" or "South" if they crossed King Street or Highway 8. 1816 – Barton township population is 668. 1816 – Hamilton becomes a village. 1817 – Barton township population is 800. 1817 – First common school on land now occupied by city. It was on King Street, east of Wellington Street. 1821 – First Hamilton School opened. A private school with John Law as master. 1824 – First Methodist church, Now First United. 1827 – Growth was aided in 1827 by a channel cut to link Burlington Bay directly with Lake Ontario, thus improving its marine transportation. 1829 – First newspaper, Gore Balance, published by Bartimus Ferguson. 1830–1839 1830 – Last man to stand in pillory. 1832 – First bound book, Samuel Thomson's New Guide to Health published by Smith and Hackstaff. 1832 – Cholera swept the city. 1833 – George Hamilton's settlement was incorporated as a police village in 1833. On January 8, 1833, the Legislature passed a further act "To define the limits of the Town of Hamilton, in the District of Gore, and to establish a police station and public market therein." 1833 – When the Town of Hamilton was incorporated in 1833, one of the first orders of business, after a closely fought election where 3 out of the 4 candidates had no opposition, was to find a suitable place for the town board to meet. For the first few years they made do with meeting in local