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Court-House and Gaol 1817-1866

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted August, 2004

Photo by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted November, 2010

Plaque Location

The Region of Niagara
The Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake
At the end of a short driveway
at the entrance to a park on Rye Street
across from Cottage Street
near the southern end of King Street

Coordinates: N 43 14.584 W 79 04.870

Plaque Text

Here stood the court-house and gaol of the Niagara District. Erected in 1817, they were considered to be among the finest public buildings in the province. Robert Gourlay, the radical reformer, was imprisoned and tried for sedition here in 1819. In 1837 an escaped American slave, Moseby, threatened with return to his master, was forcibly rescued here by local negroes abetted by other residents of Niagara. The courts moved elsewhere in 1847, and the gaol closed in 1866.

Related Ontario plaque
Robert F. Gourlay 1778-1863

More
Court Houses

More
Niagara-on-the-Lake Plaques

Here are the visitors' comments for this page.

> Posted August 8, 2014
I just came across your website for Ontario Plaques. Very interesting website. Something that doesn't seem to be well known about the Court-House and Gaol in Niagara on the Lake is that it was once used to house young immigrant girls who came over from England. This house was opened as a Girls home in 1869 by Maria Rye.

> Posted January 29, 2013
I live in Niagara on the Lake, this plaque is in my back yard. Local lore has it that my little house was the guard quarters and later part of the Western Home. Under the stucco are very early 1800s hand made bricks, which local expert Jon Jupien says appear to have been burnt and reused, consistent with fort Missisauga. There are a few Georgian elements inside as well that date to before 1820. I have dug up parts of an elaborate wrought iron fence,part of a jail cell window, scores of bricks and many shards of thin blue glass.
Mike Brown, 698 Rye St. NOTL

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