117 Queen
Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario
L0S 1J0

Ontario Tourism Region : Niagara Falls and Wine Country

Phone : (905) 468-3208
Your Host(s) : Canada Post Niagara-On-The-Lake

Description From Owner:

• Pop. 12,580. In Reg. Mun. of Niagara on L. Ontario at the mouth of the Niagara R. and on the Niagara Parkway, 24 km N of Niagara Falls.
• The region was settled in the late 1700s by United Empire Loyalists who had been forced to leave their homes after the American Revolutionary War.
• The settlers were led into the area by Butler's Rangers, a renowned corps stationed at Fort Niagara under the command ofLieut-Col. John Butler.
• The community had been called Lenox, West Niagara, and British Niagara by the time Lt.-Gov. John Graves Simcoe arrived in 1792, proclaiming the town the capital of Upper Canada.
• He renamed it Newark, as the place had provided an 'ark' of safety for the Loyalists. The frrst five sessions of the legislature of Upper Canada were held at Newark, but in 1796 the capital was moved further away from the American border, to York, now TO
• In 1798 the name Newark was changed to Niagara. (Niagara derives from a First Nations Peoples word Onghiara or Oniawgarah meaning 'thundering waters.')
• In 1813 Niagara was burned to the ground by retreating American forces. In 1903 the name was changed to Niagara-on-the-Lake to avoid confusion with Niagara Falls.
• The Niagara Agricultural Society, founded in 1792, was the frrst organization in Ontario devoted to the advancement of agriculture.
• In addition to distributing information on breeding and planting technologies, the society introduced several varieties of fruit into the Niagara Peninsula.
• The first newspaper to be published in Ontario, the Upper Canada Gazette, was produced at Newark for five years before moving to Toronto. It was a semi-official and then official organ of the government and continued publishing under other names til 1845
• The first independent newspaper in Upper Canada was the Canada Constellation, published at Newark by brothers Gideon and Sylvester Tiffany from 1799 to 1800. The enterprise died in its frrst year from lack of government aid and insufficient subscribers.
• The Law Society of Upper Canada was founded in Newark in 1797 to regulate the activities and responsibilities of the legal profession. In 1832 it moved to new quarters in Osgoode Hall in Toronto.
• The Niagara Library, established in 1800 with a collection of 80 books, was the frrst circulating library in Upper Canada. St. Mark's Anglican Church was built between 1804 and 1810 and during the War of 1812 was used as a hospital by the British
• and as a barracks by the Americans. 1831 to replace an earlier Presbyterian church burned by American forces in 1813.
• It still contains its original high pulpit and box pews typical of the 1830s, but rarely found in Ontario today.
• From Ontario Place Names 2007 David E. Scott Ph. 866 471 4123 or 905 680 7884
• Postcard above used with permission from A Great Lakes Treasury of Old Postcards 2007 Lorenzo Marcolin, MD 176 pp. For Copies call the Huronia Museum 705 526 2844 or email lmarcolin@aol.com

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