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• Niagara Parks Commission, The
  In 1885, the Province of Ontario established The Niagara Parks Commission as part of an international effort to preserve the natural scenery around Niagara Falls. Originally, the Commission included Colonel Casimir Gzowski, Chairman, John W. Langmuir and J. Grant Macdonald, and was responsible for making the park self-financing while keeping admission free to the public. The Commissioners acquired parkland along the river to create Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park, which opened on May 24, 1888...

• Founding of Chippawa, The
  In 1792-94 a village grew up near Fort Chippawa on Chippawa Creek at the end of the new portage road from Queenston. In 1793 the creek was renamed the Welland River, but the village, where a post office was opened before 1801, remained "Chippawa". It was largely destroyed 1813-14 when British and American forces fought for control of the Welland River. Portage traffic revived after the war and continued until Chippawa became an outlet for...

• Church of St. John the Evangelist, The
  One of the province's oldest Anglican churches, St. John's was begun in 1825, during the pastorate of the Reverend William Leeming, and consecrated three years later. It was erected under the auspices of Lieutenant-Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland, who had a summer residence nearby, with additional financial support and gifts of land and furnishings donated by Robert Henry Dee, a retired officer of the Commissariat Department, John Beverley Robinson, Attorney-General of Upper Canada, and other civic...

• Church of the Holy Trinity, The
  A frame church was built here following the arrival in 1820 of an Anglican missionary, the Reverend William Leeming. It was burned on the night of September 12-13, 1839, by supporters of William Lyon Mackenzie who crossed the Niagara River from New York State. The present church was designed by John Howard and built with the aid of private subscriptions and government assistance. The corner-stone was laid in 1841 by Bishop John Strachan. Among the...

• Destruction of the Caroline 1837, The
  On the night of December 29-30, 1837, some 60 volunteers acting on the orders of Col. Allan Napier McNab, and commanded by Capt. Andrew Drew, R.N., set out from Chippawa in small boats to capture the American steamer "Caroline". That vessel, which had been supplying William Lyon MacKenzie's rebel forces on Navy Island, was moored at Fort Schlosser, N.Y. There she was boarded by Drew's men, her crew killed or driven ashore, and after an...

• Fort Chippawa 1791
  The fortifications that stood on this site were built in 1791 to protect the southern terminus of the Niagara portage road and serve as a forwarding depot for government supplies. Known also as Fort Welland, the main structure consisted of a log blockhouse surrounded by a stockade. During the War of 1812, several bloody engagements were fought in this vicinity, including the bitterly contested Battle of Chippawa, July 5, 1814, and possession of the fort...

• Raid on Fort Schlosser 1813, The
  At daybreak on July 5, 1813, a British and Canadian force, consisting of some 35 militia and a small detachment of the 49th Regiment, embarked in this vicinity to attack Fort Schlosser. The American depot (now within Niagara Falls, New York) was situated at the southern terminus of the Lewiston Portage, and was an important military trans-shipment point. The attacking force, commanded by Lieut.-Col. Thomas Clark of the 2nd Regiment, Lincoln Militia, surprised the U.S...

• Sir Casimir S. Gzowski 1813-1898
  First chairman of the Niagara Parks Commission (1885-93), Gzowski was born in Russia of Polish parents. Forced to emigrate, following participation in the Polish Rising of 1830, he came to Canada in 1841. An exceptionally able engineer, he first served as a government construction superintendent. He later organized a company that built the Grand Trunk Railway from Toronto to Sarnia, 1853-7, and the International Bridge across the Niagara River at Fort Erie in 1873. He...

• Louis Hennepin 1626 - c. 1705
  Born and educated in Belgium, Hennepin was ordained a Recollet (Franciscan) friar in France. He was an adventurer at heart and undertook priestly duties in several European countries before being sent to New France as a missionary in 1675. In 1679-80, he accompanied Cavelier de La Salle on his exploration of the Mississippi River. Back in France, Hennepin published a lively account of his travels, Description de la Louisiane (1683), which enjoyed widespread popularity in...