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Fort Niagara

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French castle at Fort Niagara 2
French castle at Fort Niagara 2

Fort Niagara, also known as Old Fort Niagara, is a fortification originally built by New France to protect its interests in North America, specifically control of access between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great Lakes. The fort is on the river's eastern bank at its mouth on Lake Ontario. Youngstown, New York, later developed nearby. The British took over the fort in 1759 during the French and Indian War. Although the United States was ostensibly ceded the fort after it gained independence in the American Revolutionary War, the British stayed until 1796. Transfer to the U.S. came after signing of the Jay Treaty that reaffirmed and implemented the legal border with British Canada. Although the US Army deactivated the fort in 1963, the Coast Guard continues to have a presence here. A non-profit group operates the fort and grounds as a state park and preserves it in part as a museum and site for historical re-enactments. It is also a venue for special events related to the region's history.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Fort Niagara (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Fort Niagara
Scott Avenue, Town of Porter

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Wikipedia: Fort NiagaraContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 43.262777777778 ° E -79.063055555556 °
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Address

Old Fort Niagara

Scott Avenue
14174 Town of Porter
New York, United States
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French castle at Fort Niagara 2
French castle at Fort Niagara 2
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Father Millet Cross
Father Millet Cross

The Father Millet Cross is a memorial on the grounds of Fort Niagara in Youngstown, New York. The 18-foot (5.5 m) bronze cross is a replacement for the wooden cross erected by Pierre Millet at the New French Fort Denonville in 1688. During the preceding winter, disease and starvation overwhelmed the fort's garrison of a hundred men and only twelve of them were saved by a rescue party. Father Millet, a Jesuit missionary, was with this rescue party. On Good Friday (April 16) he celebrated Mass and erected and dedicated a cross invoking God's mercy for the plague-stricken men. On the beam of the cross is inscribed: "REGN. VINC. IMP. CHRS." an abbreviation for Regnat, Vincit, Imperat, Christus which is Latin for Christ reigns, conquers, and commands.On September 5, 1925, Calvin Coolidge set aside an 18-foot square section (324 ft², 30.1 m², or 0.0074 acres) of Fort Niagara Military Reservation "for the erection of another cross commemorative of the cross erected and blessed by Father Millett [sic]." It was the smallest-ever national monument in the United States. In 1926 the New York State Knights of Columbus dedicated the memorial cross "not only to Father Millet but to those other priests whose heroism took Christianity into the wilderness and whose devotion sought to create in this new world a new France." It stands on the shore of Lake Ontario just west of the fort's north redoubt. Father Millet Cross National Monument was originally administered by the War Department but was transferred to the National Park Service in 1933 by executive order. In 1945, Fort Niagara was declared surplus by the U.S. Army and plans were laid to convert the site to a state park. On September 7, 1949, Congress abolished the national monument and transferred the memorial to the state of New York for public use as part of Fort Niagara State Park.

Navy Hall
Navy Hall

Navy Hall is a wooden structure encased within a stone structure that was the site of Upper Canada's (Ontario's) first provincial parliament, from 1792 to 1796. It is a unit of Fort George National Historic Site located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, then known as Newark, Upper Canada. It sits on Ricardo Street near the shore of the Niagara River, near Fort George, and across the river from Fort Niagara. The original Navy Hall was built as naval establishment in 1765 by Royal Naval Commanders. It consisted of a small shipyard, docks, stores and residences, and was a local supply depot, as well as a trans-shipment point for posts on the upper Great Lakes. During the American Revolution, the Provincial Marine wintered at this complex. In 1792, John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, converted one of the buildings into his residence and office. In 1792, the first parliament in Upper Canada met in a tent near this site. The first session to sit in Navy Hall was on September 17, 1792. The next year, Simcoe decided to move the capital to York, Upper Canada (now Toronto), a site less vulnerable to attack from the United States. While the first purpose-built Parliament Buildings were being constructed there, Newark continued to serve as the seat of government until 1796. After Parliament left, the building was used as a dining hall by officers from nearby Fort George. Destroyed by U.S. artillery fire in the War of 1812, some of the fort's buildings were re-built by the British, and today's Navy Hall is the only one remaining of that reconstruction. Originally a wooden storehouse, it was built shortly after the War of 1812, and became a barracks for British troops in 1838, during the Rebellion of 1837-38. It served as a medical commissary during World War I for Canadian troops at what became Camp Niagara, a site preparing soldiers for overseas service. During the 1930s, it was moved to its present site by the Niagara Parks Commission and encased in stone. The current building is managed by Parks Canada as part of Fort George, one of several national historic sites in the region which fall under the administrative umbrella 'Niagara National Historic Sites'. Navy Hall is rented for private functions, but generally closed to the public due to staffing shortages. It houses artifacts from its more than 200 years of history. Located across the street from Fort George, it invites visitors to read outdoor interpretive displays, view the Simcoe Memorial monument, and enjoy the tranquility of its parkland views of the Niagara River and Fort Niagara in New York. Parking is available at the site, convenient for visitors or those embarking on a steamboat excursion, which departs from a nearby dock.

Fort George, Ontario
Fort George, 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 United States Armed Forces 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 British established Fort George in the 1790s to replace Fort Niagara. Many of its structures were demolished in May 1813, during the Battle of Fort George. After the battle, American forces occupied the fort for seven months before withdrawing in December 1813. Although the British regained the fort shortly afterwards, little effort was put into its reconstruction after they captured Fort Niagara the following week. The poor wartime design of Fort George led its replacement by Fort Mississauga in the 1820s, although the grounds of Fort George saw some use by the military until the end of the First World War. During the late-1930s, the Niagara Parks Commission built a reconstruction of Fort George. The site was opened in 1940, and has been managed as a historic site and living museum by Parks Canada since 1969. The fort has irregular-shaped earthwork with six bastions, and a number of reconstructed buildings within it. The restored gunpowder magazine is the only building that dates to the original Fort George. The fort forms a part of Fort George National Historic Site, which also includes Navy Hall to the east of the fort. The historic site serves as a learning resource for the War of 1812, 19th-century military life in Canada, and the historic preservation movement during the 1930s.