French Settlement on the South Shore

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted September, 2004

Photo by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted September, 2011

Plaque Location

The County of Essex
The City of Windsor
In a park on the south side of Riverside Drive
at the foot of Ouellette Avenue

Coordinates: N 42 19.213 W 83 02.430

Plaque Text

Windsor is the oldest known site of continuous settlement in Ontario. The government of New France, anxious to increase its presence on the Detroit River, offered land for agricultural settlement on the south shore in 1749. That summer, families from the lower St. Lawrence River relocated to lots which began about 6.5 km downstream from here. Along with civilians and discharged soldiers from Fort Pontchartrain (Detroit), they form the community of La Petite Côte. Additional waterfront lots, including this site, were laid out in 1751. These extended from the Huron Mission, located in the vicinity of the present Ambassador Bridge, to the Ottawa village situated opposite the fort. When the French regime ended in 1760, about 300 settlers were living here.

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Settlements

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