The banks of Chippawa Creek (now Welland River) were home to early settlers, military installations, and government wharves and docks. Goods and travellers were transported from Lake Ontario, over land via Portage Road to Chippawa Creek, where they could sail up the upper Niagara River, then on to Buffalo and other destinations on Lake Erie (bypassing the unnavigable Niagara Falls). A water route between the two great lakes was desirable, and in 1824, local businessman William Hamilton Merritt had raised enough private funds to start construction of the first Welland Canal.

The canal route started at Port Dalhousie via Twelve Mile Creek, to Port Robinson on the Chippawa Creek. The little canal had 40 wooden locks, with a “deep cut” through the escarpment. Boats then travelled the Chippawa Creek to the Niagara River, and then to Lake Erie, with sailboats usually needing to be towed by yokes of oxen on a towpath, against the strong Niagara current. 
It was soon apparent that a deeper canal was needed, and the decision was made to bypass the treacherous currents at the Niagara River and turn the route of the second Welland Canal southward. The port facilities at Chippawa remained for decades, continuing trade across Lake Erie (even including rum-running into the U.S!)

The need for power spurred the construction of a hydro electric plant at Queenston, with its water intake at the cut that had been made for the first Welland Canal a hundred years earlier. The Chippawa Creek was dredged to deepen it, and forced to flow backwards, bringing water from the Niagara River through the creek to the new power canal. The Sir Adam Beck powerhouse officially opened in 1921. The Chippawa Port closed in 1923.

Ontario Power Generation has recently (2018) announced plans for draining the hydro canal, which will temporarily cause the Chippawa Creek to return to its original water flow pattern.