What to See in Kingston - Top Sights and Attractions

Military demonstrations and reenactments. Fort Henry National Historic Site is located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada on Point Henry, a strategic, elevated point near the mouth of the Cataraqui River where it flows into the St. Lawrence River at the east end of Lake Ontario. The fort and the point on which the fort was built were named after Henry Hamilton, former Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec.

A fortification was constructed during the War of 1812 to protect the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard (the site of the present-day Royal Military College of Canada) on Point Frederick from a possible American attack during the war and to monitor maritime traffic on the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. A much larger fort replaced this construction in the 1830s to maintain protection of the naval dockyard and protect the southern entrance to the Rideau Canal. The fort was restored in the 1930s and is a significant tourist attraction.^[1]

Martello tower in Kingston, Ontario. Murney Tower is a Martello tower in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, whose construction dates to January 1846. The Tower was built in response to the Oregon Crisis, which was a tense dispute over the border between British North America and the United States in the 1840s.

The tower is one of five components of Kingston's fortifications that defended Kingston Harbour, the Naval Dockyard, military supply depot and the southern entrance of the Rideau Canal. Murney Tower complements the fortifications of Fort Henry, Ontario, Cathcart Tower on Cedar Island, Shoal Tower in the Confederation Basin and Fort Frederick on the grounds of the Royal Military College of Canada. In addition to protecting the harbour and approaches to Kingston, these fortifications were designed to concentrate fire on Gardiners Island; it being the only place to effectively land artillery at the time.^[2]

Arena in Kingston, Ontario. The Kingston Memorial Centre is a 3,300-seat multi-purpose arena located at 303 York Street in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1951, the Kingston Community Memorial Health and Recreation Centre was designed as a community sports and entertainment centre that would become a "living memorial" in remembrance of Kingstonians who gave their life in both world wars and the Korean War. The Memorial Centre lands and facilities include a war memorial, a large ice pad in the arena building, a new outdoor aquatic centre, agricultural barns, softball diamonds, a cinder track, off leash dog park and a linear park at the east, north and west perimeter of the property. Just east of the arena building was the International Hockey Hall of Fame museum building at 277 York St. In July 2012, Kingston City Council approved the relocation of the collection on a short-term basis to the Invista Centre on Gardiners Road in Kingston. The existing building was found to have costly repair issues related to moisture penetration. It was demolished after the IHHOF moved to the Invista Centre in Kingston's west end.

The Memorial Centre land has been publicly owned since it was acquired in 1841 by the British Government. Its cultural significance reflects local Kingston agricultural, military and recreational history (Planning Partnership-Hughes Downey Architects 2007, p. 4).

As the Memorial Centre building aged consideration was given by the City of Kingston for ways to rehabilitate the property. In 1993 Parkin Consultants Limited issued a Final Report on the possible uses of the property based primarily on 1980s data. In 1987, the Kingston Canadians junior hockey club was the main tenant with 60% of the facilities events. Entertainment programing accounted for 12% and trade or consumer shows 24% of events. In 1987 there were $774,862 in ticket sales, facility rentals and other income. But operating costs were $1,093,473. The Parkin report noted that the deficit of $318,311 could be reduced with decreased through measures to reduce maintenance and energy costs and by increasing rent, ticket sales, and canteen revenues.

The Memorial Centre was the home to the Kingston Frontenacs ice hockey team and its predecessors, the Kingston Canadians and Kingston Raiders from 1973–2008. It was also home to the Kingston Frontenacs of the Eastern Professional Hockey League from 1959-1963. When a new downtown arena, the Leon's Centre opened in 2008, the Frontenacs moved to the new facility, playing their last game at the Memorial Centre on February 15, 2008.

The Kingston Memorial Centre is the site of the annual Kingston Fall Fair operated by the Kingston and District Agricultural Society. Established in Kingston in 1830 as the Midland Fair and revived in 1912, the Kingston Fall Fair is held over four days each September. It is the second oldest Fair in Ontario, with attendance over 16,000. The society sponsors the Fair with the objective of promoting education through agriculture. The fair includes the largest dairy show held in Ontario.

Since the 1950s the Memorial Centre has been used for many cultural and recreational events including performances by Johnny Cash in 1958 and 1987. Kingston's The Tragically Hip played the centre in 1995 In 2010 it become the home of Kingston Derby Girls, Kingston's first official women's roller derby league.

After 2008, the Memorial Centre became the permanent home of the Queen's Golden Gaels (Queen’s varsity hockey), figure skating, and Queen’s intramural ice sports. It replaced the Jock Harty Arena which had been demolished to allow for the construction of new athletic facilities at Queen's University. The Church Athletic League of Kingston hockey teams are based at the centre.^[4]

Museum in Ontario. The Royal Military College of Canada Museum, established in 1962, is located in a Martello tower known as Fort Frederick on the campus of the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, and is operated by the college. Until 2016 the museum had regular hours from the last weekend in June until Labour Day. Although admission was free, donations were accepted. Guided tours were offered in English and French. Genealogical research and archival records services were offered relating to college history or with inquires relating to ex-cadets when permitted by privacy regulations.

In 2016, restoration work began on Fort Frederick and the Museum moved out of the Tower, leaving the Museum without a designated public exhibition space.

The museum and historic site can also be visited via the Virtual Museum. The Martello tower housing the museum is a 1790 fortification consisting mostly of earthworks with a north wall of stone masonry. It is on the Registry of Historic Places of Canada. Fort Frederick is one of four Martello Towers, built by Corps of Royal Engineers between 1846 and 1848 to augment the Kingston defences. The Martello tower was named in honour of Frederick, Prince of Wales.^[5]

Shoal Tower, originally known as Victoria Tower, is a Martello tower located in the harbour of Kingston, Ontario, Canada, directly opposite Kingston City Hall. It is one of four such towers built in the 1840s to protect Kingston's harbour and the entrance to the Rideau Canal. Cathcart Tower on Cedar Island, Shoal Tower in the Confederation Basin, Fort Frederick on the grounds of the Royal Military College of Canada, and Murney Tower were part of the same strategic improvements. Although 16 Martello towers were built in Canada, only 11 are still standing, four of them in Kingston.

Built in 1847, this limestone tower is 11 m high and 16.5 m in diameter. The guns of Shoal Tower defended the approaches of Kingston Harbour. A dispute between Great Britain and the United States over the boundary between British Columbia and Oregon that threatened to lead to war and to the invasion of Canada (see Oregon crisis) prompted their construction. Eventually Shoal Tower was abandoned.

It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1930, and is part of the Kingston Fortifications National Historic Site.^[11]

Stadium in Kingston, Ontario. There have been three versions of George Taylor Richardson Memorial Stadium, a Canadian football stadium located on the campus of the Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. All three have been the home of the Golden Gaels/Gaels football team. The facilities are named in memory of George Taylor Richardson, a Queen's graduate renowned for his athleticism and sportsmanship who died in the First World War.

The original stadium built in 1921 was funded by George's brother, James Armstrong Richardson, graduate and Chancellor of Queen's.

The second stadium was built in 1971. The stadium's bleachers (which recycled steel from the first facility) were deemed structurally unsafe in May 2013, causing 6,500 seats to be removed. Renovations were completed in July 2013, with a new seat capacity of 8,500 with two new end zone seating sections.

In December 2014, a $20.27 million revitalization was announced that was completed for September 17, 2016 for its inaugural football game. According to the university the facility has "over 8,000" seats, but no specific number is provided by the institution.^[12]

University in Kingston, Ontario. Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than 1,400 hectares of land throughout Ontario and owns Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England. Queen's is organized into eight faculties and schools.

The Church of Scotland established Queen's College in October 1841 via a royal charter from Queen Victoria. The first classes, intended to prepare students for the ministry, were held 7 March 1842 with 13 students and two professors. In 1869, Queen's was the first Canadian university west of the Maritime provinces to admit women. In 1883, a women's college for medical education affiliated with Queen's University was established after male staff and students reacted with hostility to the admission of women to the university's medical classes. In 1912, Queen's ended its affiliation with the Presbyterian Church, and adopted its present name. During the mid-20th century, the university established several faculties and schools, and expanded its campus with the construction of new facilities.

Queen's is a co-educational university with more than 23,000 students and over 131,000 alumni living worldwide. Notable alumni include government officials, academics, business leaders and 57 Rhodes Scholars. As of 2020, four Nobel Laureates and one Turing Award winner have been affiliated with the university.^[18]