Historical Plaques of
Frontenac County

Though typhus had been epidemic periodically in Canada since the 1650's, the worst outbreak occurred in the summer of 1847. In that year some 90,000 emigrants embarked for Canada, most of them refugees from the potato famine then ravaging Ireland. Nearly 16,000 died of typhus, either at sea or after their arrival in Canada. Those stricken while passing through Kingston found shelter in make-shift immigrant sheds erected near the waterfront. Despite the efforts of local religious and charitable organizations, notably the Sisters of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph and the ladies of the Female Benevolent Society, some 1,400 immigrants died. Buried near the present general hospital, their remains were re-interred here in 1966.

In 1843 the architect George Browne was commissioned to design a town hall in keeping with Kingston's status as a provincial capital. This building, one of the most ambitious examples of nineteenth century Canadian municipal architecture, was completed in 1844 at a cost of almost 20,000 pounds. It housed the municipal offices, the council chambers, and the town market, and also contained shops, other offices, and a saloon. A fire in 1865 destroyed part of the rear wing. The portico, removed in 1958, was rebuilt in 1966 by the City with the financial assistance of the federal government.

The largest Loyalist Corps in the Northern Department during the American Revolution, the King's Royal Regiment of New York, was raised on June 19, 1776 under the command of Sir John Johnson. Originally composed of one battalion with ten companies, it was authorized to add a second battalion in 1780. The regiment, known as the "Royal Yorkers", participated in the bitter war fought on the colonial frontier. It conducted raids against settlements in New York and was also employed in garrison duty. When active campaigning ceased in 1783, the regiment assumed various responsibilities, notably the establishment of a base here, in preparation for the settlement of the Loyalists. It was then fully disbanded, its officers and men settling near New Johnstown (Cornwall) and in the Cataraqui townships.

Alwington House, which stood on this site, was completed in 1832 by Charles W. Grant, fifth baron of Longueuil. It was enlarged in 1841 to serve as the vice-regal residence during the period when Kingston was the capital of the united Province of Canada. Three governors general, Lord Sydenham, Sir Charles Bagot, and Charles Metcalfe, occupied the house. When the capital was removed to Montreal in 1844, Alwington was returned to Baron Longueuil. It was subsequently occupied by the Reverend J. A. Allen, author of scientific works and father of the Canadian novelist Grant Allen. Badly damaged by fire in 1958, it was demolished the following year.

Formerly St. George's burial ground, this cemetery is the oldest in the Kingston district. Among the distinguished persons buried here are Molly Brant, Reverend John Stuart, Lieutenant Hugh Earl (Provincial Marine), Colonel Sir Richard Bonnycastle, and the Honourable Richard Cartwright.

Born about 1738, Molly Brant (Degonwadonti) was a member of a prominent Mohawk family. About 1759 she became the wife of Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Province of New York and a powerful figure in that colony. Well-educated and a persuasive speaker, Molly Brant wielded great influence among the Iroquois and was responsible for much of Johnson's success in dealing with them. Following the outbreak of the American Revolution she and her brother Joseph played a leading role in persuading the Confederacy to support Britain. In 1777 she fled to Canada and after the war, in recognition of her services, was granted a pension by the government. She settled in Cataraqui (Kingston) where she died in 1796.

Born in Pennsylvania, Stuart was ordained in 1770 and sent to Fort Hunter NY as a missionary to the Mohawks. An ardent Loyalist, he came to Canada in 1781 where he was appointed chaplain to the 2nd Battalion King's Royal Regiment of New York. In 1785, having settled at Cataraqui (Kingston), he became the first resident Anglican clergyman in what is now Ontario. Stuart ministered to the white and Indian settlers of this area and visited as far west as Niagara and the Grand River. He was the first chaplain of the legislative council of Upper Canada and was responsible for the building of Kingston's earliest church, St. George's, in 1792.

Patriot, colonizer and priest, he was born in the Highlands of Scotland. In 1804 he came to Canada as chaplain of the disbanded Glengarry Fencibles and later became Auxiliary Bishop of Quebec. As the first Bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Kingston, formed in 1826, he lived in this building and in 1831 was appointed to the Legislative Council of Upper Canada. In 1837 he founded Regiopolis College in Kingston and is buried in St. Mary's Cathedral in this city.

Born in Kingston, Mowat studied law under John A. Macdonald. After moving to Toronto in 1840 he was elected a Liberal member of the legislature of the Province of Canada in 1857 and served as provincial secretary in 1858 and postmaster general 1863-4. He took part in the Quebec Conference of 1864 which led to Confederation in 1867. Mowat became Ontario's third prime minister in 1872 succeeding the Honourable Edward Blake, and retained that post for almost 24 years. Resigning in 1896, he accepted a seat in the Senate, and became minister of justice, 1896-97 in the cabinet of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Mowat served as lieutenant-governor of Ontario from 1897 until his death.

Sangster, one of the most significant Canadian poets of the pre-confederation period, was born at the naval yard, Point Frederick. In 1849 he edited the "Courier" at Amherstburg but the following year returned to Kingston to work for the "British Whig" and subsequently the "Daily News". In this community he did his best literary work including two books, "The St. Lawrence and Saguenay and Other Poems" (1856) and "Hesperus and Other Poems and Lyrics" (1860). Sangster's writings were imbued with a love for Canada, its scenery, its history and its traditions. Following employment with the Post Office Department at Ottawa, 1868-1886, he spent the remainder of his life in retirement here in Kingston.

This church, a fine example of the early style of Gothic Revival architecture, was built with the aid of funds subscribed by the British Admiralty and by settlers at Barriefield, many of whom had been employees of the Royal Navy dockyard at Navy Bay. John Bennett Marks, a naval paymaster, donated the land for a site. The corner-stone was laid by Bishop John Strachan, July 10, 1843, and the church, designed by Alfred Brunel, was opened by Archdeacon George Okill Stuart, July 7, 1844. The first rector, the Rev. John Pope, served from 1844-1846. The church was consecrated by the Rt. Rev. John Travers Lewis, first Bishop of Ontario, September 25, 1862.

Following the withdrawal of British forces from Canada in 1870-71, the federal government recognized the need for an officer training college in Canada. In 1874, during the administration of the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, enabling legislation was passed. Located on Point Frederick, the site of the former Royal Naval Dockyard, the new college opened on June 1, 1876, with 18 cadets under Lt.-Col. Edward O. Hewett, R.E. Named the Royal Military College of Canada in 1878, it offered academic and military training courses designed to prepare cadets for both military and civil careers. The college was reorganized in 1948 as a tri-service institution and, in 1959, it became the first military college in the British Commonwealth to achieve degree-granting status.

A strategic location for the defence of the Loyalist settlement at Cataraqui (Kingston), this point was reserved in 1788 and named after Sir Frederick Haldimand, Governor of Quebec (1778-86). In 1790-91 a guardhouse and storehouse were built. By 1792 a dockyard was in operation and during the War of 1812 this vital naval base was fortified. On November 10, 1812, the Fort Frederick battery took part in repulsing an American naval squadron under Commodore Isaac Chauncey. This structure, one of four massive stone Martello towers built to strengthen Kingston's defenses, was erected in 1846-47 during the Oregon boundary crisis between the United States and Britain. In 1852 the dockyard was closed and in 1870 Fort Frederick was abandoned.

Once part of a large and active naval dockyard, this substantial stone building was erected as a warehouse for naval stores. Although initially planned in 1816, it was not completed until four years later when the need for storage facilities to hold gear and rigging from British warships dismantled in compliance with the Rush-Bagot Agreement had become acute. After the Rebellion of 1837 the building briefly functioned as a barracks for the naval detachment charged with patrolling the lakes. It was then apparently used as a storehouse again. By 1876 the structure, now known as the Stone Frigate, had been refitted to house the newly-established Royal Military College of Canada, an institution it continues to serve.

A naval arms limitation agreement negotiated to demilitarize the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain after the War of 1812, this convention was concluded between the United States and Great Britain, represented respectively by Richard Rush and Charles Bagot, in 1817. Under its terms each country agreed to dismantle all armed vessels on the lakes with the exception of four retained for policing purposes and to construct no new warships. During the 19th century there were occasional infractions of the terms and during the Second World War they were somewhat modified, but the spirit of the convention has, in general, never been violated. Still technically in force, the Rush-Bagot Agreement has become a symbol of the long-standing, peaceful relations between Canada and the United States.

The first Fort Henry was built during the War of 1812 to protect the British dockyards in the Navy Bay. The present limestone citadel, constructed between 1832 and 1837, replaced the old fort as part of a larger plan for the defence of the recently completed Rideau Canal. Commissariat stores were built to join the advanced battery with the main fort in 1841-42. Fort Henry was garrisoned by British troops until 1871, when Canadian Gunnery Schools (forerunner of the Royal Canadian Artillery) took over. Abandoned by the military in 1891, the fort fell into disrepair. Restoration work began in 1936, and two years later Fort Henry opened as a historical museum.

As an officer in the Corps of Royal Engineers, Bonnycastle was trained in engineering, mapmaking, geology and painting. He served in Europe and Nova Scotia before coming to Upper Canada in 1826. The military surveys and related scientific work that he produced while posted at Niagara, Kingston and York contributed to the economic development of the province. Bonnycastle was recalled here in 1837 to supervise completion of the new Fort Henry. His masterful defence of Kingston during the Rebellions of 1837-38 earned him a knighthood. An interested observer of human nature, Sir Richard wrote four books detailing the social life, history and physical features of British North America.

In 1831 Benjamin Tett (1798-1878), later an important merchant at Newboro, anticipating the completion of the Rideau Canal, acquired a sawmill here on Buttermilk Falls. Tett and various partners, including the prominent Chaffey brothers, extensively exploited local forests and through the Canal sent timber, lumber, and cord-wood to American and St. Lawrence River market centres. Active trade and settlement of the district led him to build a store and, in 1848, construct the stone grist-mill here. After 1872 the operations, including a shingle and planing-mill and canal shipping were continued by John Poole Tett and Benjamin Tett Jr. Depleted forests and the availability of western flour and feed seriously affected the mills and the total population declined. In 1916 the grist-mill ceased operation.

A meteorite travelling 55,000 kilometres per hour smashed into the earth here eons ago, blasting a hole 244 metres deep and 2.5 kilometres wide. Aerial photographs revealed the crater in 1955, and since then scientists have pieced together much of its geological history. Analyses of drill samples suggest that the meteorite struck in the late Precambrian or early Cambrian period (between 450 and 650 million years ago). At first the depression filled with water becoming a circular lake. Later Palaeozoic seas swept in sediments filling the crater to its present depth of about 30 metres. The explosive impact of the meteorite (estimated to have been only 90 metres in diameter) is still evident in the hundreds of feet of shatterd rock that drilling has detected beneath the original crater floor.

Mississauga Point was for 150 years the site of major shipyards when Kingston was one of the important ports and ship building centres of the Great Lakes. The significance of this industry led the federal government to construct this dry dock in 1890. Initially operated by the Department of Public Works as a repair facility for lake vessels, it was enlarged and leased in 1910 to the Kingston Shipbuilding Company, the first of a series of private concerns which operated the shipyard until 1968. During the Second World War naval vessels, notably corvettes, were built in this shipyard.

Pendant 150 ans, à l'époque où Kingston était l'un des plus grands centres maritimes des Grands Lacs, Mississauga Point fut le site d'importants chantiers navals. C'est ce qui amena le gouvernement fédéral à y construire une cale sèche en 1890. Relevant d'abord du ministère des Travaux publics, celle-ci servit à al réparation des navires. En 1910, elle fut agrandie et louée à la Kingston Shipbuilding Company; ce fut la première d'une série d'implications de l'industrie privée, qui durèrent jusqu'en 1968. Lors de la seconde guerre mondiale, on y construisit des navires, notamment des corvettes.

The first optical astronomical observatory in the province, the Kingston Observatory was established in 1855 after a solar eclipse aroused public interest in astronomical studies. Under the auspices of a committee of British military officers and "gentleman amateurs" a frame observatory was built here. It was transferred to the control of Queen's College in 1861 and within a year a new brick structure had been erected on the site. Staffed by Nathan Fellowes Dupuis, an able mathematician, the observatory, in addition to making conventional astronomical observations, produced barometric and thermal readings, fixed meridians for surveying and provided a time service. In 1881 it was moved to Queen's and today four cylindrical stones, former supports for the telescope, are all that remains of the old obervatory building.

Built in 1853 by a mayor of Kingston, Francis Hill, this house, during the 1860's and 1870's, was the residence of Alexander Campbell (1822-1892). A member of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada and delegate to the Quebec Conference which led to Confederation, he was a life-long political associate of the Dominion's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald. Campbell held several cabinet posts after Confederation, was knighted in 1879 and from 1887 to 1892, was Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario.

The house which stood near this site was constructed prior to 1841, and purchased in 1865 by Prof. James Williamson of Queen's University. His wife Margaret, was a sister of Sir John A. MacDonald, who became the first prime minister of the Dominion of Canada. Prof. Williamson leased the building to the Conservative leader, but retained a portion for his own use. MacDonald installed his unmarried sister, Louisa, in the house, and it served as his residence during his visits to Kingston 1865 - 1878. Later "Heathfield" was occupied by the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul, and was demolished in 1964.

Following the end of the American Revolution in 1783, Frederick Haldimand, Governor of Quebec, approved the resettlement of loyalist refugees in what is now southern Ontario. Favourable reports on the Cataracoui area led to its occupation by British forces in the spring of 1783 and to the commencement of surveys the following October. In June 1784 a party of Associated Loyalists from New York State under the command of Captain Michael Grass, part of a loyalist flotilla travelling from Montreal, established a camp here on Mississauga Point. Grass later recalled: "I Led the loyal band, I pointed out to them the site of their future metropolis and gained for persecuted principles a sanctuary, for myself and followers a home".

One of the most influential and controversial figures in Canadian history, Frontenac was born at St-Germain-en-Laye, France. As a member of the noblesse d'épée he was able in 1672 to secure the appointment as Governor-General of New France. Devoted largely because of self-interest to promoting the colony's territorial expansion, Frontenac established a series of fortified fur-trading posts extending into the interior of North America, the first of which, Fort Frontenac, was constructed near here in 1673. He quarreled incessantly with other officials, however, and as a result was recalled in 1682. Reappointed seven years later, Frontenac successfully defended New France from attacks by the Iroquois and English and continued, until his death in Quebec, to expand the western fur trade.

Regiopolis College, incorporated March 4, 1837, by an Act of the legislature of Upper Canada, opened in the central portion of this building. Its corner-stone was laid by the school's founder, Bishop Alexander Macdonell, on June 11, 1839. In 1866 the College was given full degree-granting powers, although these were rarely used. Financial difficulties forced its closing in 1869. In 1892 the building was acquired by the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph who opened here the Hôtel Dieu Hospital. The school reopened on King Street in 1896 and, in 1915, moved to the northern part of the city. In 1931 the diocesan clergy transferred the College to the Jesuit Order.

Commemorating the services of the first permanent Militia Garrison of Kingston, assembled by Lieutenant-Colonel R.H. Bonnycastle to defend this city during the Upper Canadian Rebellion. The mobilization saved Kingston from invasion since the regular forces had been sent to Lower Canada. The troops used this area as their drill ground.

 Queen's Marine Artillery     2nd and 3rd Prince Edward
 Perth Artillery              1st and 2nd Addington
 Frontenac Light Dragoons     2nd Lennox
 1st and 2nd Addington Light Dragoons  Belleville Rifles
 1st Hastings Light Dragoons  Independent Companies
 1st and 2nd Fontenac         Tyendinaga Mohawks

Rockwood was built in 1842 as a country villa for John Solomon Cartwright (1804-1845). Designed by George Browne, architect of the Kingston City Hall, in a monumental phase of the Regency style, it is a stone structure covered with stucco but lined to suggest ashlar masonry. Cartwright began to practise law in Kingston in 1830 and in 1831, became president of the Commercial Bank of the Midland District. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada in 1836 and of Canada in 1841. The government acquired this property in 1856 as site for a "Criminal Lunatic Asylum". With another building erected in 1859, it became the nucleus of the present psychiatric hospital.

Boucher was born at Fort Frontenac (Kingston) where his father, an officer with the French colonial regular troops, was stationed. René-Amable also chose a military career and served in the Seven Years War with the French defenders of Canada. During the American Revolution, he was captain of a volunteer company of French Canadian militia and fought with the British under General John Burgoyne. In Quebec, and later in Lower Canada, Boucher sat on the legislative council, he also served as a magaistrate of the Mecklenberg (later Midland) District of Upper Canada. From 1782, until his death he devoted much time and energy to managing and developing his seigneury of Boucherville, a community of more than 2,000 inhabitants located near Montreal.

Early in his celebrated career the explorer La Salle played a principal role in the expansion of the French fur trade into the Lake Ontario region. In 1673 he arranged a meeting between Governor-General Frontenac, who wanted to shift the centre of the fur trade away from Montreal, and representatives of the Iroquois at Cataracoui, the site of present day Kingston. Placed in command of Fort Frontenac, the post the governor ordered built here, La Salle soon gained control over trade in the area by acquiring ownership of the establishment as a seigneurial grant. Using the fort as a base, he then undertook expeditions to the west and southwest in an attempt to expand his Cataracoui operation into a vast fur-trading empire.

Financed by the British government on the Duke of Wellington's advice, it was built to provide a secure military route between Upper and Lower Canada. Work was supervised by military engineers commanded by Lieut. Colonel John By whose technical ability and perseverance overcame many obstacles. Many of his Irish emigrant labourers died of a virulent fever. Traversing 126 miles of largely unsettled country between Kingston and Bytown (now Ottawa), and including 47 locks, the canal was opened May 24, 1832.