The Shickluna Shipyard was crucial to the early history of Downtown St. Catharines. It operated from 1838 to 1901.[1] A previous shipyard existed in the location before Louis Shickluna started his own.[2] During his lifetime, an estimated 150 ships were built in the shipyard.
The shipyard's namesake is Louis Shickluna, who emigrated from Malta. He was from a family of shipbuilders.[3] He started working in a shipyard when he was 11 at the Royal Navy in Valletta. Shickluna emigrated after the local economy worsened so he could find work.[4] At first, he worked in Youngstown, New York.[5] Shickluna later moved to Trois-Rivières, Quebec, where he helped build the SS Royal William. In 1836, he began leasing land for his own business in St. Catharines from William Hamilton Merritt for $15 annually. He hired more than 300 employees, many of whom were former slaves from the United States.[4] The location was ideal for a shipyard thanks to its proximity to the Welland Canal and the Great Lakes.[3] Shickluna invented the snub-nosed schooner design for use in ships traversing these waters.[5] After Shickluna's death in 1880, his son ran the shipyard until 1891. Then it was leased to the St. Catharines Box and Basket Company until 1901.[1]
The site of the former shipyard is near Burgoyne Bridge and the Twelve Mile Creek.[6] This location has been the subject of archaeology digs. These digs began in 2019 but were halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, before resuming in 2022.[7] The archaeology team was led by Kimberly Monk, a history professor at Brock University. She and other researchers recovered 2,000 artifacts from the site. The work was funded through a federal grant and corporate sponsors.[6]
A plaque commemorating Shickluna is present near the Welland Canal.[8] A mural commemorating the shipyard was produced by Matthew Vizbulis. His work was commissioned by the St. Catharines Downtown Association.[9]