THK Rhythm Automotive, formerly TRW, operates a plant in the city, although in recent years, employment there has shifted from heavy industry and manufacturing to services.

St. Catharines lies on one of the main telecommunications backbones between Canada and the United States, and as a result a number of call centres operate in the city.

A treaty signed in 1782 between the Mississaugas and the British government ceded a large tract of land, which included the St. Catharines area, to the Crown for the purpose of European settlement.

[13] After the Butler's Rangers disbanded in 1784 and settled the area, Duncan Murray, as a former quartermaster in the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants), was appointed by the Crown to distribute free government supplies (victuals) for two years to the resettled Loyalists.

After his death in 1786, his holdings were forfeited to the merchant Robert Hamilton of Queenston, who tried to operate for profit the well-established Murray's Distribution Centre and Mill under the management of his cousin.

In 1796, Thomas Merritt arrived to build on his relationship with his former Commander and Queen's Ranger, John Graves Simcoe, who was now the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.

In 1855, the British Methodist Episcopal Church, Salem Chapel; was established at the corner of Geneva and North Streets on land granted to the congregation by Merritt in the early 1840s.

That had been preceded by the church and a log school house completed before 1797,[22] all on the east bank of the 12 Mile Creek, at the extreme west end of what was then known as Main Street.

[33] As a result, the city records numerous frost-free days and frequent thaws in the winter, although it sometimes receives heavy lake-effect snow during certain wind conditions, and micro-cooling lakeside on some spring afternoons.

Summer thunderstorms are commonplace but generally less prevalent and less severe than farther west in southern Ontario due to the diminishing effect of the surrounding lakes.

With the formation of the Regional Municipality of Niagara in 1970, the portion of Louth Township east of Fifteen Mile Creek was transferred to the City of St. Catharines.

The following distinct communities exist within St. Catharines: Numerous efforts have been made to improve the downtown; the restructuring of manufacturing resulted in a loss of jobs and retail businesses.

In the early 21st century, city, university, and private developers undertook several initiatives to revive downtown, related to urban design, clustering activities to attract people to the area as a destination from day through evening events.

Complementing the centre, which features concert, dance and film venues, is Brock University's Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

Council voted to build a U-shaped facility, which will be home to the Niagara IceDogs, an Ontario Hockey League team, and be able to host other events, such as concerts.

The goal is to keep the cost of the facility at or below $50 million and to build it on a swath of land known locally as the lower-level parking lot, behind St. Paul Street and abutting Highway 406.

[51] This caused the media, including CTV,[51] the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation[52][53] and The Globe and Mail to dub St. Catharines as Canada's "fattest" city.

The city previously refused freedom of information requests by residents due to concerns that the report could harm General Motor's reputation.

[73] The International Chicken Chucking Championships takes place every January in the St. Catharines neighbourhood of Port Dalhousie and attracts hundreds of participants and observers.

[77] The city's trail system offers over 90 kilometres (55 mi) of accessible pathways that are suitable for walking, jogging, cycling, hiking and cross-country skiing.

Martindale Pond in St. Catharines' Port Dalhousie is the site of the annual Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, a world-class event that brings over 3,000 athletes from various nations to the city.

More recently, the World Master's Rowing Championship was held at the Martindale Pond in the summer of 2010, with $500,000 (~$682,158 in 2023) in improvements to the facility such as: a weed harvester, new docking and a new timing system.

[86] St. Catharines uses a council-manager government, and as a result a chief administrative officer (CAO) is appointed by council to oversee the day-to-day operations of the city and its departments.

[89] Peter Kormos, who represented the southern portions of the city as part of the Welland riding, was a prominent Member of Provincial Parliament in the Ontario New Democratic Party caucus and served previously as Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations in the Bob Rae government.

The southern portion of the city is included as part of the Niagara Centre riding, and is represented by Vance Badawey, a Liberal Party of Canada MP.

The NRPS headquarters are no longer on Church Street, having moved to Niagara Falls in a finally constructed new building with administrative offices and support services on Cushman Road.

Currently, regular GO Bus service exists to St. Catharines with a stop at Fairview Mall, allowing riders to travel either west toward Burlington or east toward Niagara Falls.

St. Catharines had one of the first interurban electric streetcar routes, which ran between the city and Merritton and was eventually extended to Port Dalhousie in the north and Thorold to the south.

The opening of DSBN Academy was described as "Canada's most controversial pedagogical experiment in years" by the Globe and Mail, as the school was specifically geared towards low-income students.

In 2003, a local business consortium applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a licence to operate TV Niagara, a community television station in St. Catharines.