Before the British settlers came, the point where Fort Mississauga is situated was inhabited by at least three Native American tribes: the
Neutral (15th century);
Seneca (late 17th century); and
Mississauga (18th century). The settlement was founded in 1781 as
Butlersburg in honour of Colonel
John Butler, the commander of
Butler's Rangers. It was later renamed
West Niagara to distinguish it from
Fort Niagara. It was a British military base and haven for pro-British
loyalists fleeing the United States during the volatile aftermath of the
American Revolution. Renamed
Newark by
Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe in 1792, it was the first capital of Upper Canada (now the province of Ontario). The Upper Canada legislature first met at
Navy Hall on September 17, 1792, and met there four more times until June 1796. In 1797, Simcoe moved the capital to
York because Newark was very close to the border with the U.S. Newark was renamed
Niagara in 1798.
Fort Mississauga was built starting in 1813 but was not completed until after the war in 1816. During the war, the settlement of Niagara was razed and burnt to the ground by American soldiers as they withdrew to Fort Niagara. (Afterwards, on December 19, 1813, the British captured Fort Niagara.) The citizens rebuilt Niagara after the war, with the residential quarter around Queen Street and toward King Street, where the new court house was rebuilt out of range of Fort Niagara's cannons. In 1859, the town built its first public school,
Niagara Public School. The town's present name of Niagara-on-the-Lake was adopted around 1880 as a postal address to distinguish the town from
Niagara Falls. The name was officially adopted in 1970 when the Town of Niagara and the Township of Niagara merged. Critical battles in defence of Upper Canada took place here, and at nearby at
Queenston and St. David's, both now part of Niagara-on-the-Lake. In one of these,
Laura Secord gained her fame (She is known for having walked 32 km out of American-occupied territory in 1813 to warn British forces of an impending American attack). The town was both as a stop on the
Underground Railroad for those travelling further into Upper Canada and as a refuge in its own right. Its stock of
regency and
classical revival buildings, considered the best in the country from the post-War of 1812 period, led the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada to recommend the town's historic district be designated a
National Historic Site of Canada, a designation which was approved in 2003. The historic centre had been designated as a provincial Heritage Conservation District under the
Ontario Heritage Act in 1986. Although it did not make the final list, the historic district was considered for nomination as a
World Heritage Site. The town has other National Historic Sites of Canada within its boundaries: the
Battlefield of Fort George and nearby Fort George, Butler's Barracks,
Fort Drummond,
Fort Mississauga, the site of the
Mississauga Point Lighthouse, the
Niagara Apothecary (the oldest apothecary in Canada), the
Niagara District Court House,
Queenston Heights, Queenston-Chippawa Hydro-electric Plant,
Willowbank and Vrooman's Battery. The Gate House, built after 1849, was the site of the former Wilson's Hotel and the inaugural meeting of the
Law Society of Upper Canada in 1797. John "Irish John Wilson (1744-~1798) was a sergeant with the
Butler's Rangers and Loyalist from New Jersey. The stone foundation of the Gate House is the remains of the hotel after 1849 fire. His son John Wilson Jr. built the nearby Wilson-Guy House.
St. Mark's Church, the oldest
Anglican Church in Ontario after the
Mohawk Chapel; St. Vincent de Paul, the oldest
Catholic Church in Ontario; the McFarland House, the oldest building in town; the
Niagara Public School, built in 1859; and the Niagara Golf Club, the oldest golf course in North America still in use. ==Government==