The First Steamship on Lake Ontario

Commemoration

In the early 1800’s Kingston was a shipbuilding centre of note.  The FRONTENAC, the first steamship to navigate Lake Ontario, was built here at Finkle’s Point, Ernestown (now Bath), and launched September 7, 1816.  Designed to carry freight and passengers, it was a boon to ravellers, greatly reducing the difficulties and the cost of travel between Kingston and York (now Toronto).   More sophisticated ships soon rendered the FRONTENAC obsolete and it was sold in 1825.  Two years later it burned and sank in the Niagara River, but passenger steamships plied the lake for many years until rail and road travel became more effective.