The City of Welland is the outgrowth of a settlement which set off about the year 1788 by the United Empire Loyalists.

1814 near Welland's eastern boundary, on Lyons Creek Road the forces of the United States and those of Canada met for the last time in armed conflict. That was the Battle of Cooks Mills which ended an epoch of suspicion and enmity and opened another one of peace, understanding and goodwill.

In 1829, when a wooden aqueduct was built to carry the Welland Canal over the Welland River, a true urban presence of settlement came to be around that location. The settlement was called Aqueduct or The Aqueduct. On November 14, 1844, following the replacing of the wooden Aqueduct by one of stone, the name was changed to Merrittsville to honour the Honourable William Merritt. The settlement was incorporated as the Village of Welland on July 24, 1858. Incorporation as a town took place on January 1, 1878, and as a City on July 1, 1917.