HAMILTON, a town of Dundas and Normanby counties, Victoria, Australia, on the Grange Burne Creek, 197½ m. by rail W. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 4026. Hamilton has a number of educational institutions, chief among which are the Hamilton and Western District College, one of the finest buildings of its kind in Victoria, the Hamilton Academy, and the Alexandra ladies’ college, a state school, and a Catholic college. It has a fine racecourse, and pastoral and agricultural exhibitions are held annually, as the surrounding district is mainly devoted to sheep-farming. Mutton is frozen and exported. Hamilton became a borough in 1859.
HAMILTON (Grand or Ashuanipi), the chief river of Labrador, Canada. It rises in the Labrador highlands at an elevation of 1700 ft., its chief sources being Lakes Attikonak and Ashuanipi, between 65° and 66° W. and 52° and 53° N. After a precipitous course of 600 m. it empties into Melville Lake (90 m. long and 18 wide), an extension of Hamilton inlet, on the Atlantic. About 220 m. from its mouth occur the Grand Falls of Labrador. Here in a distance of 12 m. the river drops 760 ft., culminating in a final vertical fall of 316 ft. Below the falls are violent rapids, and the river sweeps through a deep and narrow canyon. The country through which it passes is for the most part a wilderness of barren rock, full of lakes and lacustrine rivers, many of which are its tributaries. In certain portions of the valley spruce and poplars grow to a moderate size. From the head of Lake Attikonak a steep and rocky portage of less than a mile leads to Burnt Lake, which is drained into the St Lawrence by the Romaine river.
HAMILTON, one of the chief cities of Canada, capital of Wentworth county, Ontario. It occupies a highly picturesque situation upon the shore of a spacious land-locked bay at the western end of Lake Ontario. It covers the plain stretching between the water-front and the escarpment (called “The Mountain”), this latter being a continuation of that over which the Falls of Niagara plunge 40 m. to the west. Founded about 1778 by one Robert Land, the growth of Hamilton has been steady and substantial, and, owing to its remarkable industrial development, it has come to be called “the Birmingham of Canada.” This development is largely due to the use of electrical energy generated by water-power, in regard to which Hamilton stands first among Canadian cities. The electricity has not, however, been obtained from Niagara Falls, but from De Cew Falls, 35 m. S.E. of the city. The entire electrical railway system, the lighting of the city, and the majority of the factories are operated by power obtained from this source. The manufacturing interests of Hamilton are varied, and some of the establishments are of vast size, employing many thousands of hands each, such as the International Harvester Co. and the Canadian Westinghouse Co. In addition Hamilton is the centre of one of the finest fruit-growing districts on the continent, and its open-air market is a remarkable sight. The municipal matters are managed by a mayor and board of aldermen. Six steam railroads and three electric radial roads afford Hamilton ample facilities for transport by land, while during the season of navigation a number of steamboat lines supply daily services to Toronto and other lake ports. Entrance into the broad bay is obtained through a short canal intersecting Burlington Beach, which is crossed by two swing bridges, whereof one—that of the Grand Trunk railway—is among the largest of its kind in the world. Burlington Beach is lined with cottages occupied by the city residents during the hot summer months. Hamilton is rich in public institutions. The educational equipment comprises a normal college, collegiate institute, model school and more than a score of public schools, for the most part housed in handsome stone and brick buildings. There are four hospitals, and the asylum for the insane is the largest in Canada. There is an excellent public library, and in the same building with it a good art school. Hamilton boasts of a number of parks, Dundurn Castle Park, containing several interesting relics of the war of 1812, being the finest, and, as it is practically within the city limits, it is a great boon to the people. Gore Park, in the centre of the city, is used for concerts, given by various bands, one of which has gained an international reputation. Since its incorporation in 1833 the history of Hamilton has shown continuous growth. In 1836 the population was 2846; In 1851, 10,248; in 1861, 19,096; in 1871, 26,880; in 1881, 36,661; in 1891, 48,959; and in 1901, 52,634. The Anglican bishop of Niagara has his seat here, and also a Roman Catholic bishop. Hamilton returns two members to the Provincial parliament and two to the Dominion.
HAMILTON, a municipal and police burgh of Lanarkshire, Scotland. Pop. (1891), 24,859; (1901), 32,775. It is situated about 1 m. from the junction of the Avon with the Clyde, 10¾ m. S.E. of Glasgow by road, and has stations on the Caledonian and North British railways. The town hall in the Scottish Baronial style has a clock-tower 130 ft. high, and the county buildings are in the Grecian style. Among the subjects of antiquarian interest are Queenzie Neuk, the spot where Queen Mary rested on her journey to Langside, the old steeple and pillory built in the reign of Charles I., the Mote Hill, the old Runic cross, and the carved gateway in the palace park. In the churchyard there is a monument to four covenanters who suffered at Edinburgh, on the 7th of December 1600, whose heads were buried here. Among the industries are manufactures of cotton, lace and embroidered muslins, and carriage-building, and there are also large market gardens, the district being famed especially for its apples, and some dairy-farming; but the prosperity of the town depends chiefly upon the coal and ironstone of the surrounding country, which is the richest mineral field in Scotland. Hamilton originated in the 15th century under the protecting influence of the lords of Hamilton, and became a burgh of barony in 1456 and a royal burgh in 1548. The latter rights were afterwards surrendered and it was made the chief burgh of the regality and dukedom of Hamilton in 1668, the third marquess having been created duke in 1643. It unites with Airdrie, Falkirk, Lanark and Linlithgow to form the Falkirk district of burghs, which returns one member to parliament.
Immediately east of the town is Hamilton palace, the seat of the duke of Hamilton and Brandon, premier peer of Scotland. It occupies most of the site of the original burgh of Netherton. The first mansion was erected at the end of the 16th century and rebuilt about 1710, to be succeeded in 1822-1829 by the present palace, a magnificent building in the classical style. Its front is a specimen of the enriched Corinthian architecture, with a projecting pillared portico after the style of the temple of Jupiter Stator at Rome, 264 ft. in length and 60 ft. in height. Each of the twelve pillars of the portico is a single block of stone, quarried at Dalserf, midway between Hamilton and Lanark, and required thirty horses to draw it to its site. The interior is richly decorated and once contained the finest collection of paintings in Scotland, but most of them, together with the Hamilton and Beckford libraries, were sold in 1882. Within the grounds, which comprise nearly 1500 acres, is the mausoleum erected by the 10th duke, a structure resembling in general design that of the emperor Hadrian at Rome, being a circular building springing from a square basement, and enclosing a decorated octagonal chapel, the door of which is a copy in bronze of Ghiberti’s gates at Florence. At Barncluith, 1 m. S.E. of the town, may be seen the Dutch gardens which were laid down in terraces on the steep banks of the Avon. Their quaint shrubbery and old-fashioned setting render them attractive. They were planned in 1583 by John Hamilton, an ancestor of Lord Belhaven, and now belong to Lord Ruthven. About 2 m. S.E. of Hamilton, within the western High Park, on the summit of a precipitous rock 200 ft. in height, the foot of which is washed by the Avon, stand the ruins of Cadzow Castle, the subject of a spirited ballad by Sir Walter Scott. The castle had been a royal residence for at least two centuries before Bannockburn (1314), but immediately after the battle Robert Bruce granted it to Sir Walter FitzGilbert Hamilton, the son of the founder of the family, in return for the fealty. Near it is the noble chase with its ancient oaks, the remains of the Caledonian Forest, where are still preserved some of the aboriginal breed of wild cattle. Opposite Cadzow Castle, in the eastern High Park, on the right bank of the Avon, is Chatelherault, consisting of stables and offices, and imitating in outline the palace of that name in France.
HAMILTON, a village of Madison county, New York, U.S.A., about 29 m. S.W. of Utica. Pop. (1890), 1744; (1900), 1627; (1905) 1522; (1910) 1689. It is served by the New York, Ontario & Western railway. Hamilton is situated in a productive agricultural region, and has a large trade in hops; among its manufactures are canned vegetables, lumber and knit goods. There are several valuable stone quarries in the vicinity. The village owns and operates its water-supply and electric-lighting system. Hamilton is the seat of Colgate University, which was founded in 1819, under the name of the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, as a training school for the Baptist ministry, was chartered as Madison University in 1846, and was renamed in 1890 in honour of the Colgate family, several of whom, especially William (1783-1857), the soap manufacturer, and his sons, James Boorman (1818-1904), and Samuel (1822-1897), were its liberal benefactors. In 1908-1909 it had a university faculty of 33 members, 307 students in the college, 60 in the theological department, and 134 in the preparatory department, and a library of 54,000 volumes, including the Baptist Historical collection (about 5000 vols.) given by Samuel Colgate. The township in which the village is situated and which bears the same name (pop. in 1910, 3825) was settled about 1790 and was separated from the township of Paris in 1795. The village was incorporated in 1812.