OHP - Niagara - Niagara-On-The-Lake - "Court-House and Gaol"
N 43° 14.584 W 079° 04.870
17T E 655784 N 4789595
Location of the original court house of Upper Canada, with some interesting history.
Waymark Code: WMF70
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 06/18/2006
Views: 32
If the Niagara Court house and jail built in 1817 could tell only a part of what has been enacted within its walls what a tragic tale should we have. It has been said elsewhere by the present writer that to know the history of Niagara is to know much of the history of Upper Canada and in a lesser sense to know the history of this building is to know much of the history of our country.
An advertisement in the Spectator published in St. Davids in 1816, for brick, stone, lumber, lath, shingles, etc. for a jail and court house is signed by Ralfe Clench, Clerk, who we know was a United Empire Loyalist, a member of Butler 5 Rangers, a member of Parliament, a Judge, who had fought at Queenston Heights and whose name appears more frequently perhaps than that of any other in papers of that day. The first Court House and Jail in Niagara had been burned in 1813 and the next served the double purpose from 1817 to 1847, when the Court House was built in 1847 it was used as a Jail only till 1866 and from 1869 to the present time it has been the Western Home for waifs and strays from the crowded motherland and from its walls have gone out more than 4000 children to homes in our land.
Read more at Niagara Court House and Jail
Location of Plaque: This plaque is in a small park off of Rye St.
Hope you enjoy the Visit
The Blue Quasar