The site of the old Fort Frontenac, the first township to be surveyed, and the place whereon to form the first village in Western Canada, was in reality the first capital of Upper Canada. Here the first Governor was inducted solemnly upon a Sabbath to his office; here he formed his first cabinet, the Executive Council; here he selected the gentlemen to form his first Legislative Council; here he issued his proclamations forming the province into counties and arranging the representation. Although the first Parliament did not meet here, the first acts of government were here performed, and public documents were dated at “the Government House, Kingston, 1792.”

We have elsewhere spoken of Niagara River and the early French Fort here erected, and its capture by the English. We have learned that the place was garrisoned by troops during the rebellion, and that many refugees here found a safe retreat.

Lord Dorchester desired Simcoe to make Kingston the capital of the new province. But he was unwilling to do so until he had informed himself of the advantages which other places might offer. It seems that he became impressed with the belief that the seat of government should be placed in the peninsula of Upper Canada, and finally determined to fix it at the mouth of the River Niagara, notwithstanding the recommendation of Dorchester, the wishes of Bouchette, the Commodore of the Navy, and the urgent requests of the Kingston merchants.

Collins in his report 1788, speaks of Navy Hall, near Niagara; that the buildings of Navy Hall, are for the most part in exceeding bad repair, and the wharf is in ruins. Of the Ranger’s Barracks one pile has been so far dismantled as to be past re-establishing, one end indeed, might perhaps, with some fitting up, be made to serve for some time as a blacksmith’s shop to the Indian Department, which they say is much wanted; the other pile is capable of being repaired, and might also answer for a temporary accommodation, (at least in part) this same department, their storehouses, &c., on the Niagara side as already observed being in absolute ruin and not repairable; the fitting up of this pile of buildings would cost about £35. The storehouse at the landing place, which is of round log work, is mostly rotten, and altogether in exceeding bad repair, and should be rebuilt; the dwelling house is much out of repair. The ways, wharf, cradle, and capstan, want some repair, which may be done for about £20, all the picketing and small platforms in the angles of Fort Schlosser, are rotten and in a tottering state, part of the wharf has been washed away, and the remainder cannot last long. The barracks and store houses are not in much better condition, they have been kept standing by the temporary repairs which have been annually performed, merely to keep the weather out.

“From Niagara to the landing place, below the Falls, is about seven miles and a quarter, there is a tolerable good road, but the merchandise, store, &c., are carried up the river in batteaux or vessels, there being sufficient depth of water all the way up, and also alongside the wharf to unload, beyond this place the current becomes too strong to proceed any further by water without great difficulty, boats, indeed, but not vessels, go about half a mile higher, but no advantage can be obtained from it as the shore then becomes impracticable, being a precipice of loose rock about three times as high as where the present landing is. From the wharf at the landing, goods are drawn up the side of the bank about fifty feet high upon ways, on easy slope by a capstan fixed at the top; from this place there is a waggon road of seven miles to Fort Schlosser, a mile and a half above the Falls, where the goods are again put into boats and carried up eighteen miles to Fort Erie, from whence they are conveyed in vessels across Lake Erie to Detroit.

“I think a better situation for a landing place might be chosen below the present one, about half a mile distant by land, and three-quarters by water. The bank of the river here is not half the height of the other; the water is sufficiently deep at a short distance from the shore for vessels to unload; and by raising a wharf and lowering some of the bank for a road, the labor and delay of hauling goods up by ways, as is the present practice, and would be avoided; it would also be much more convenient and expeditious for vessels to come up to, as the worst part of the navigation would be avoided, which in passing round a point between this place and the landing. The length of road to be made from this proposed landing place, will be about half a mile, but it is mostly good ground and will not require much expense. The real length of land carriage, however, to Fort Schlosser, will not be increased, or at most more than 100 or 150 yards.”

The original British fort at Niagara was upon the east side of the mouth of the Niagara River, upon the present site of the American Fort. By a treaty entered into in 1794, Great Britain was to vacate this fort, with others situated to the south of the lakes, namely, Oswego, Detroit, Miami, and Michilmacinac, which was done in 1796. Upon the west side of the river, upon a point known as Mississauga Point, had sprung up a small village. This, it is said, was the largest collection of houses after Kingston when Governor Simcoe arrived, and here he decided to make his residence, and the permanent capital of the new province. He lived “in a small frame house, half a mile from the village.” To this place he gave the name of Newark. There was up the river, at the end of navigation, and at the commencement of the portage around the falls to Lake Erie, a small village which had arisen from the course of travel upwards to the western lakes. The boats which left Kingston, on their way westward, were here unloaded. And this place had taken the name of Queen’s Town, a name which it retains to the present day. Rochefoucault says, in 1795, “The different buildings, constructed three years ago, consist of a tolerable inn, two or three good storehouses, some small horses, a blockhouse of stone, covered with iron, and barracks. Mr. Hamilton, an opulent merchant, who is concerned in the whole inland trade in this part of America, possesses in Queen’s Town, a very fine house, built in the English style; he has also a farm, a distillery, and a tan-yard. The portage was formerly on the other side of the river; but as this, by virtue of the treaty, falls under American Dominion, government has removed it hither.” The same writer, speaking of Newark says, “About a hundred houses, mostly very fine structures, have already been erected, but the progress of building will probably be arrested by the intended removal of the seat of government. The majority of the inhabitants, especially the richest of them, share in the administration; and consequently will remove to whatever place the government may be transferred. In point of size and elegance, the house of Colonel Smith, of the 5th Regiment, is much distinguished from the rest, being constructed, embellished, and painted in the best style.”

York.—​Governor Simcoe was thoroughly English; unlike Governor Maitland, who gave foreign names in his time, he was intent upon erecting another England in America. One new England had alienated itself, and he determined another should arise in its place, and hence he gave to his new capital the name of York. The present New York had been named York, after James Duke of York, brother to Charles the II. The term new being prefixed to distinguish it from old York of England. To distinguish the new capital of Canada from both of the others he designated it Little York.

As soon as Simcoe learned that the Niagara fort was to be delivered to the United States, he saw the necessity of removing the capital, as it would never do to have it under the guns of a foreign government. The extreme dislike with which he saw the fort pass into the Republic’s hands no doubt led to the haste with which he set about the removal of the Seat of Government. After examining several points upon the upper lakes, and Lake Ontario, he selected the present site of the City of Toronto, back of which was a fort of the same name, or rather Taranto. Upon this spot, which then had for inhabitants but two families of Mississauga Indians, Governor Simcoe immediately quartered one division of his old regiment, the Queen’s Rangers, which came the 1st July, 1793. The same summer Bouchette, of the Royal Navy, surveyed the harbour or bay.

The harbour of Toronto was first examined, by Deputy Surveyor Collins, in 1788, when he made a survey of all of the waters of the Upper Lakes, and the several forts, by instructions from Lord Dorchester. In his report he says, “The breadth at the entrance is about half a mile, but the navigable channel for vessels is only about 500 yards, having from three to four fathoms water, the north of the main shore the whole length of the harbour, is a clay bank from 12 to 20 feet high, and rising gradually behind, apparently good land and fit for settlements. The water is rather shallow near the shore. The shoalness of the north shore as before remarked, is also disadvantageous as to creating wharfs, quays, &c. In regard to this place as a military post, I do not see any striking features to recommend it in that view, but the best situation to occupy for the purpose of protecting the settlement and harbour would, I conceive, be on the point A, near the entrance thereof.”