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The Founding of Bath
Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted December, 2010
Photo by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted December, 2009
Plaque Location
The County of Lennox & Addington
The Township of Loyalist
In Bath, in a park on the northeast corner of
Main Street (Highway 33) and Fairfield Street
a block east of Church Street (Road 7)
Coordinates: N 44 11.001 W 76 46.489 |
 |
Plaque Text
Settlement of this village, one of Ontario's oldest communities, began in 1784 when discharged soldiers from Jessup's Rangers, a Loyalist corps, took up land grants in the vicinity. The sheltered harbour here provided easy access stimulating the growth of a community. Connected to Kingston by an early waterfront road, the hamlet, called Ernestown, contained a tavern, a church and an academy by 1811. A significant shipbuilding industry developed and in 1816 the "Frontanac", the first steamboat in Upper Canada, was launched from a local shipyard. Two years later the settlement was officially renamed Bath. Incorporated as a village in 1859, it prospered as a commercial, shipping and industrial centre well into the 1870s. Today Bath 's thriving past is reflected in its many distinctive 19th century buildings.
Related Ontario plaque
United Empire Loyalists
More
Information
More
Settlements
Other Plaques in Bath
Bath Academy 1811
The Reverend John Langhorn, 1744-1817
The Hawley House
The First Steamship on Lake Ontario
More
Loyalist Plaques
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