This is a list of National Historic Sites (French : Lieux historiques nationaux) in Niagara Region , Ontario. There are 26 National Historic Sites designated in Niagara, [1] of which nine are administered by Parks Canada (identified below by the beaver icon ). [2]
Numerous National Historic Events also occurred in the Niagara Region, and are identified at places associated with them, using the same style of federal plaque which marks National Historic Sites. Several National Historic Persons are commemorated throughout the region in the same way. The markers do not indicate which designation—a Site, Event, or Person—a subject has been given.
National Historic Sites located elsewhere in Ontario are listed at National Historic Sites in Ontario.
This list uses the designation names as recognized by the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board, not necessarily the official or colloquial names of the sites.
Media related to National Historic Sites of Canada in Ontario at Wikimedia Commons
Site | Date(s) | Designated | Location | Description | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Battle of Beaver Dams [3] [4] | 1813 (battle) | 1921 | Thorold 43°07′04″N79°11′08″W / 43.117776°N 79.185419°W | The site of a decisive British victory during the War of 1812, after heroine Laura Secord had earlier struck out on a long and difficult trek to warn the British of an impending American attack | |
Battle of Chippawa [5] [6] | 1814 (battle) | 1921 | Chippawa 43°03′08″N79°01′29″W / 43.052127°N 79.024720°W | The site of a battle that took place during the War of 1812 as a result of the last major American invasion of Canada | |
Battle of Cook's Mills [7] [8] | 1814 (battle) | 1921 | Cooks Mills 42°59′52″N79°10′30″W / 42.997895°N 79.174913°W | The site of the last engagement between U.S. and British/Canadian armies fought in Niagara, and second-last on Canadian soil during the War of 1812 | |
Battle of Lundy's Lane [9] [10] | 1814 (battle) | 1937 | Niagara Falls 43°05′21″N79°05′44″W / 43.089152°N 79.095456°W | The site of a spontaneous confrontation between the British and American forces in which the British attacked American forces returning from the Battle of Chippawa; the six-hour-long battle was one of the bloodiest battles of the War of 1812 and marked the end of American offensive in Upper Canada | |
Battlefield of Fort George [11] [12] | 1813 (battle) | 1921 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°15.722′N79°05.071′W / 43.262033°N 79.084517°W | The site of one of the fiercest battles of the War of 1812, in which the U.S. managed to gain a toehold on the Niagara Peninsula; distinct from nearby Fort George National Historic Site | |
Butler's Barracks [13] [14] | 1814–54 (completed) | 1963 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°14′54″N79°04′27″W / 43.248370°N 79.074044°W | A complex of five wooden buildings, built by the British after the War of 1812 and occupied as a military camp until the 1960s, representing 150 years of military history | |
Former L.J. Shickluna Service Station [15] [16] | 1924 (c.) (completed) | 1995 | Port Colborne 42°53′17″N79°15′04″W / 42.887941°N 79.251214°W | Early Spanish Colonial Revival-style service station; symbol of rapid post-World War I automobile culture | |
Fort Drummond [17] [18] | 1814 (completed) | 1928 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°09′37″N79°03′08″W / 43.160147°N 79.052234°W | A redoubt and battery constructed during the War of 1812 to protect the main portage road from Chippawa to Queenston, named after Sir Gordon Drummond; some walls of the redoubt are still extant | |
Fort Erie [19] [20] | 1808 (completion of third Fort Erie) | 1933 | Fort Erie (town) 42°53′35.70″N78°55′25.74″W / 42.8932500°N 78.9238167°W | The first British fort to be constructed as part of a network developed after the Seven Years' War in the western portion of the Province of Quebec (later Upper Canada); captured and destroyed in 1814 by invading American forces during the War of 1812, the remains of the fort were rebuilt by the Niagara Parks Commission in 1937–39 | |
Fort George [21] [22] | 1799 (completed), 1940 (reconstruction completed) | 1921 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°15′03″N79°03′40″W / 43.25083°N 79.06111°W | Reconstructed British fort that served as the principal fortification on the Niagara Peninsula during the War of 1812; distinct from the nearby Battlefield of Fort George National Historic Site | |
Fort Mississauga [23] [24] | 1814 (completed) | 1960 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°15′42″N79°04′36″W / 43.26167°N 79.07667°W | Located in a strategic position at the mouth of the Niagara River to protect the Canadian frontier and to counter Fort Niagara on the U.S. side, it is the only remaining fortification of its type (a square tower within a star-shaped earthwork) in Canada | |
Frenchman's Creek [25] [26] | 1812 (battle) | 1921 | Fort Erie 42°56′32″N78°55′35″W / 42.94227°N 78.92645°W | The battle of Frenchman’s Creek was a minor skirmish in the War of 1812, where British forces pushed an American advance parties back across the Niagara River; the failure of American troops contributed, in part, to the cancellation of the larger invasion planned for the Niagara peninsula at the end of 1812 | |
Mississauga Point Lighthouse [27] [28] | 1804 (completed), 1814 (demolished) | 1937 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°15′41.92″N79°4′35.86″W / 43.2616444°N 79.0766278°W | The first lighthouse on the Great Lakes, constructed in 1804 by the military masons of the 49th Regiment of Foot, it was damaged in the Battle of Fort George in 1813, and demolished in 1814 when the British built Fort Mississauga on the site | |
Navy Island [29] [30] | 1761 (shipyard established) | 1921 | Niagara Falls 43°3′23.07″N79°0′38.1″W / 43.0564083°N 79.010583°W | Archaeological remains on an uninhabited island on the Ontario side of the Niagara River; during the 1760s, the island was home to the first British shipyard to serve the Upper Great Lakes and, during the Upper Canada Rebellion, the seat of William Lyon Mackenzie’s exiled government, the Republic of Canada | |
Niagara Apothecary [31] [32] | 1820 (completed) | 1968 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°15′18.25″N79°4′15.3″W / 43.2550694°N 79.070917°W | A white, single-storey clapboard Georgian building on Niagara-on-the-Lake’s main commercial street, it served as an apothecary/pharmacy from approximately 1866 to 1964 and it is one of the very few remaining examples of an old apothecary shop | |
Niagara District Court House [33] [34] | 1847 (completed) | 1980 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°15′18.25″N79°4′15.3″W / 43.2550694°N 79.070917°W | Designed by William Thomas in the Neoclassical style, it is an excellent example of a mid-19th-century multipurpose civic structure, originally containing the local court house, jail, market and town hall | |
Niagara-on-the-Lake [35] [36] | 1815–59 (completed) | 2003 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°15′18.02″N79°4′18.6″W / 43.2550056°N 79.071833°W | An early-19th-century Loyalist town located on the southern shore of Lake Ontario; the historic district covers 25 city blocks and contains the best collection of buildings in Canada from the period following the War of 1812 | |
Point Abino Light Tower [37] [38] | 1918 (completed) | 1998 | Crystal Beach 42°50′7.85″N79°5′42.64″W / 42.8355139°N 79.0951778°W | A lighthouse situated at the eastern end of Lake Erie; intended to complement the summer homes nearby, it was more elaborately designed than most Canadian lighthouses, with a high level of its features still intact | |
Queenston Heights [39] [40] | 1812 (battle) | 1968 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°09′37″N79°03′08″W / 43.160147°N 79.052234°W | A treed promontory on the Niagara Escarpment, where the British repulsed an American invasion in the Battle of Queenston Heights in the War of 1812; site of Brock's Monument and a monument to Laura Secord | |
Queenston-Chippawa Hydro-electric Plant [41] [42] | 1925 (completed) | 1990 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°8′45.47″N79°2′43.55″W / 43.1459639°N 79.0454306°W | At the time of its completion, it was the first large-scale hydroelectric generation project in the world | |
R. Nathaniel Dett British Methodist Episcopal Church [43] [44] | 1836 (completed) | 1999 | Niagara Falls 43°5′16.1″N79°5′14.95″W / 43.087806°N 79.0874861°W | A British Methodist Episcopal Church chapel named after and associated with the formative years of composer Robert Nathaniel Dett; representative of early black settlement in the Niagara area and the church's role in assisting Underground Railroad refugees | |
Ridgeway Battlefield [45] [46] | 1866 (battle) | 1921 | Fort Erie 42°54′16″N79°02′30″W / 42.904349°N 79.041642°W | The site of the battlefield where the Queen’s Own Rifles, 13th Hamilton Battalion, and Caledonia and York Rifle Companies of Haldimand defended Canada against Fenian raiders from the United States | |
Salem Chapel, British Methodist Episcopal Church [47] [48] | 1855 (completed) | 1999 | St. Catharines 43°9′54.71″N79°14′24.16″W / 43.1651972°N 79.2400444°W | A gable-fronted church representative of the auditory-hall design of Underground Railroad-related churches; an important centre of 19th-century abolitionist activity in Canada, associated with Harriet Tubman | |
Toronto Power Generating Station [49] [50] | 1913 (completed) | 1983 | Niagara Falls 43°4′19.45″N79°4′25.74″W / 43.0720694°N 79.0738167°W | A generating station to supply hydro-electric power to Toronto, it was the first wholly Canadian-owned hydro-electric facility at Niagara Falls; an elegant and unusual application of Beaux-Arts design to an industrial site in Canada | |
Willowbank [51] [52] | 1836 (completed) | 2003 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°10′04″N79°03′29″W / 43.16773°N 79.05796°W | A 5-hectare (12-acre) estate with a large 3+1⁄2-storey temple-fronted mansion; the landscaping and largely unchanged exterior architecture are symbolic of the fusion of Neoclassical architecture and the Picturesque ideal that characterized large country estates of Upper Canada in the early 19th century | |
Vrooman's Battery [53] [54] | 1812 (battle) | 1921 | Niagara-on-the-Lake 43°10′41.76″N79°3′30.05″W / 43.1782667°N 79.0583472°W | An artillery battery that maintained a harassing fire on the American forces crossing the Niagara River during the Battle of Queenston Heights in the War of 1812; now consists of a mound on the riverbank | |
Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, across the river from New York, United States. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in the Niagara Region of Ontario and is the only town in Canada that has a lord mayor. It had a population of 19,088 as of the 2021 Canadian census.
The Battle of Lundy's Lane, also known as the Battle of Niagara or contemporarily as the Battle of Bridgewater, was fought on 25 July 1814, during the War of 1812, between an invading American army and a British and Canadian army near present-day Niagara Falls, Ontario. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the war, and one of the deadliest battles fought in Canada, with approximately 1,720 casualties including 258 killed.
Old Fort Erie, also known as Fort Erie, or the Fort Erie National Historic Site of Canada, was the first British fort to be constructed as part of a network developed after the Seven Years' War was concluded by the Treaty of Paris (1763), at which time France ceded its territories east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain. The installation is located on the southern edge of what is now the Town of Fort Erie, Ontario, directly across the Niagara River from Buffalo, New York, United States.
The Queenston Heights is a geographical feature of the Niagara Escarpment immediately above the village of Queenston, Ontario, Canada. Its geography is a promontory formed where the escarpment is divided by the Niagara River. The promontory forms a cliff face of approximately 100 m.
Queenston is a compact rural community and unincorporated place 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of Niagara Falls in the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered by Highway 405 to the south and the Niagara River to the east; its location at the eponymous Queenston Heights on the Niagara Escarpment led to the establishment of the Queenston Quarry in the area. Across the river and the Canada–US border is the village of Lewiston, New York. The Lewiston-Queenston Bridge links the two communities. This village is at the point where the Niagara River began eroding the Niagara Escarpment. During the ensuing 12,000 years the Falls cut an 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) long gorge in the Escarpment southward to its present-day position.
Chippawa is a community located within the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Fort George was a military fortification in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used by the British Army, the Canadian militia, and the Jeffersonian American Republic Army for a brief period. The fort was mostly destroyed during the War of 1812. The site of the fort has been a National Historic Site of Canada since 1921, and features a reconstruction of Fort George.
The Battle of Beaver Dams took place on 24 June 1813, during the War of 1812. A column of troops from the United States Army marched from Fort George and attempted to surprise a British outpost at Beaver Dams, billeting themselves overnight in the village of Queenston, Ontario. Laura Secord, a resident of Queenston, had earlier learned of the American plans from several Americans billeted at her house and had struck out on a long and difficult trek to warn the British at Decou's stone house near present-day Brock University. When the Americans resumed their march, they were ambushed by Kahnawake and other native warriors and eventually surrendered to a small British detachment led by Lieutenant James FitzGibbon. About 500 U.S. troops, including their wounded commander, were taken prisoner.
The Battle of Chippawa, also known as the Battle of Chippewa, was a victory for the United States Army in the War of 1812, during its invasion on July 5, 1814, of the British Empire's colony of Upper Canada along the Niagara River. This battle and the subsequent Battle of Lundy's Lane demonstrated that trained American troops could hold their own against British regulars. The battlefield is preserved as a National Historic Site of Canada.
The Battle of Cook's Mills was the last engagement between U.S. and British armies in the Niagara, and the penultimate engagement on Canadian soil during the War of 1812. After a battle lasting less than an hour, American forces out-maneuvered the British column, and later destroyed all grain found in the mill.
The Niagara Parks Commission, commonly shortened to Niagara Parks, is an agency of the Government of Ontario which maintains the Ontario shoreline of the Niagara River.
Fort Mississauga National Historic Site is a fort on the shore of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of the Niagara River in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. The fort today consists of a box–shaped brick tower and historic star–shaped earthworks. The all–brick fort was built from 1814–1816 during the War of 1812, to replace nearby Fort George. It was built on a foundation of brick and stone salvaged from rubble left after retreating United States forces burned the nearby town of Newark in December, 1813. It would help in the defence of Upper Canada the following year, as part of a regional network that included Fort George, Navy Hall, and Butler's Barracks. However, the fort would not be completed until after the war.
The British Methodist Episcopal Church (BMEC) is a Methodist denomination based in Canada. The BMEC was organized on 26 September 1856.