Power Glen is a hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 located in the St. Andrew's Ward of the city of St. Catharines

St. Catharines, Ontario

St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in Ontario, Canada, with 97.11 square kilometres of land...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

It can trace its history back to 1786 when Robert Hamilton acquired from a Mr. Duncan Murray, a mill site on the waters of Twelve Mile Creek. This mill operated until 1800 as a sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

. In 1811, a grist mill

Gristmill

The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...

 was added by a Mr. Peter Thomas. The community came to be known as Crown Mills. In 1854, a Mr. Benjamin Reynolds bought the site and added a wagon and buggy factory, 12 workers' homes, and a boarding house. Fossing and Second operated a wood pulp

Wood pulp

Pulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibres from wood, fibre crops or waste paper. Wood pulp is the most common raw material in papermaking.-History:...

 mill, and Thomas Moffat and William Reynolds manufactured wagons. The village name changed to Reynoldsville at this time. As electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

 began to be introduced, the Cataract Power Company of Hamilton

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

 constructed a power plant not far downstream from the mills. They changed the name of the community to Power Glen, which it retains today. Until 1970, the hamlet was located in Louth Township. It was during that year that the City of St. Catharines amalgamated with the eastern half of Louth Township. For many years, the hamlet remained isolated in the south west corner of the City of St. Catharines. Recent growth of the new Vansickle subdivision has encroached on the former village. This is a mixed blessing, as the residents of Power Glen may now enjoy the amenities of city life while still retaining the unique character of this quiet southern Ontario community.