Queenston (Ontario)

Queenston-Lewiston Bridge, view from the Canadian side

Queenston is located in the southern part of Niagara-on-the-Lake , 8 kilometers north of Niagara Falls , between the Niagara River and Highway 405 . Administratively, Quinston, as part of Niagara-on-the-Lake, belongs to the Niagara constituency and is part of the district of the same name . Queenston is connected by a bridge over the Niagara River with the American village of Lewiston .

Queenston is located on the Niagara Ridge, which allowed for a long time to extract building stone in its vicinity. South of Queenston is a pumped storage power plant . Sir Adam Beck.

Queenstown, Upper Canada, on Niagara (watercolor of the early 19th century)

Along the Niagara River, for 500 years before the arrival of the Europeans, the native tribes of the Chonnontons lived , from whose language its name was taken. The first European settler to settle on Niagara in the modern Quinston area in the late 1780s was the motorcycle dealer Robert Hamilton. Here was the northern end of the road, which delivered goods and passengers bypassing Niagara Falls . It is possible that Queenston (originally Queenstown) got its name thanks to the regiment of colonial troops Queen's Rangers ( Russian Queen's Rangers), whose barracks have been located here since 1792 . From the very beginning, Queenston played an important role in trade with the right American coast of Niagara, which was first connected with the ferry , and later over the bridge built over the gorge.

Around Queenston unfolded some of the important events of the Anglo-American War of 1812-14 . October 13, 1812 near Quinston, on the hill of Queenston Heights, an American landing was defeated . In this battle, commander of British forces in Upper Canada, Major General Isaac Brock, died. Later, in 1813 , a new American landing party took possession of Queenston and several neighboring towns. In June, a local resident, Laura Secord, overheard the conversation of American officers stationed in her house about a planned attack on British forces in the Beaver Dams area. Laura reached the British headquarters in the woods and warned of the attack. As a result, the American detachment was ambushed by the British and friendly Native American tribes, and the Russian was defeated ^[1] .

The main attractions of Queenston are associated with the Anglo-American War. This is a triumphant column on Queenston Heights, marking the place of death of General Isaac Brock, and the house of Laura Secord, where the museum is currently located. There is also a printing museum in Queenston housed in the historic building of the printing house of William Lyon Mackenzie , a Canadian politician of the first half of the 19th century and an ideologist of the struggle for the independence of Upper Canada . The museum houses the oldest printing press in Canada. Another Queenston Museum, RiverBrink Art Museum, presents a collection of early Canadian painting. From Queenston Heights begins the Bruce Trail hiking trail with a total length of about 900 kilometers.

• Queenston in the Canadian Encyclopedia
• Sights of Queenston on the website of the Niagara Park Commission (English) :
  • Monument to Isaac Brock
  • Laura Secor House
  • Mackenzie Printing House