Editing Cornwall, Ontario (section)

== History ==
[[File:A dog on the street in front of G. D. Atkinson Flour & Feed 208 Pitt St Cornwall ca. 1908 (I0013581).tiff|thumb|left|A dog on the street in front of G. D. Atkinson Flour and Feed, 208 Pitt St., Cornwall, {{Circa|1908}}]]

Though accounts suggest Europeans filtered into the area and had scattered settlements for some time, the first documented European settlement was established in 1784 by [[United Empire Loyalists]], primarily from the former British colony of New York.
In 1787 this settlement became the first in present-day Ontario to be visited by a member of the [[British royal family|royal family]], Prince William Henry (later [[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]]).<ref>{{Cite book| last=Bousfield| first=Arthur|author2=Toffoli, Gary|  title=Royal Spring: The Royal Tour of 1939 and the Queen Mother in Canada| publisher=Dundurn Press| year=1989| location=Toronto| page=27| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Go5p_CN8UQC| isbn=1-55002-065-X}}</ref>

After the [[American Revolutionary War|war for US independence]], former colonial soldiers loyal to the [[The Crown|Crown]] and other disbanded soldiers and their families began to settle at the site of Cornwall, which was then called New Johnstown.<ref name="heritagefdn.on.ca">{{cite web |url=https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/en/plaques/founding-of-cornwall |title=Founding of Cornwall, The |access-date=January 17, 2019 |publisher=Ontario Heritage Trust }}</ref> Many of the new arrivals were of ethnic German, Acts and English origin, and the town is named for [[Johnstown, New York]], the origin of many of them.

The main group was led by Lieutenant-Colonel [[Sir John Johnson, 2nd Baronet|Sir John Johnson]] and had soldiers from the First Battalion [[King's Royal Regiment of New York]] and a contingent of the [[84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants)]]. Following the success of rebellious colonists in the [[American Revolution]], many of those who were afraid for their lives or uncomfortable in the newly independent United States became [[United Empire Loyalists]] as they were later called, and migrated to [[Canada]]. The British government helped them settle throughout the Canadas as a reward for their loyalty and to compensate them for their losses in the United States. One of the chief settlement regions was the St Lawrence River Valley, from [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]] to Cornwall, which would later be known as "Loyalist Country."

They founded a permanent settlement north of one of a series of portage points (the point was not a settlement, nor was it even a trading post), sometimes referred to as ''Pointe Maligne'' by French explorers. The square mile town was temporarily named "Royal Town #2" then "Johnson" or "New Johnstown." It was later renamed to Cornwall for the [[Duke of Cornwall]] by the proclamation of [[George IV of the United Kingdom|Prince George]]. In 1834, the town became one of the first [[Municipal corporation|incorporated municipalities]] in the British colony of [[Upper Canada]].<ref>[http://fotw.fivestarflags.com/ca-on-co.html 5 Star Flags]</ref> Much later, during one of a series of annexations, those former portage points were added to the expanded community.

During the [[War of 1812]], the [[Battle of Hoople's Creek]] and the [[Battle of Crysler's Farm]] were fought nearby. [[Occupation of Cornwall|Cornwall was occupied]] by the [[United States Army]] from November 11-13, 1813. 

The construction of the [[Cornwall Canal]] between 1834 and 1842 accelerated the community's development into a regional and industrial economic "capital" for a growing hinterland of towns and villages.<ref name="heritagefdn.on.ca"/><ref name="ParhamGreatWilderness">{{cite book|last1=Parham|first1=Claire Puccia|title=From Great Wilderness to Seaway Towns: A Comparative History of Cornwall, Ontario, and Massena, New York, 1784–2001|date=2013|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0791485675|page=46}}</ref>

In 1846, the population was about 1,600, and there were many brick and stone houses, a stone courthouse and jail, and several government offices. There was little industry except for a foundry and two tanneries, but there were many independent tradesmen of various types. Other amenities included two bank agencies, eight taverns, and a ladies' school.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Wm. H. |date=1846 |title=Smith's Canadian Gazetteer – Statistical and General Information Respecting all parts of The Upper Province, or Canada West|url=https://archive.org/details/smithscanadianga00smit |location=Toronto |publisher=H. & W. ROWSELL |pages=38–39}}</ref>

Canal and lock construction in the late 1800s and the early 1900s brought work and international business. The [[Grand Trunk Railway]] ([[CN Rail]]) built an east-west line through Cornwall in 1856. The [[New York and Ottawa Railway]] (NY&O) followed with a north-south line [[New York and Ottawa Railway#St. Lawrence River crossing at Cornwall|crossing the St. Lawrence]], and a station in Cornwall dating to 1898.<ref name="canada-rail">{{cite web |title=Railway Stations in Cornwall Ontario|url=https://www.canada-rail.com/ontario/c2/cornwall.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508200051/https://www.canada-rail.com/ontario/c2/cornwall.html|archive-date=May 8, 2015|access-date=9 December 2019|website=Canada-Rail.com}}</ref> The [[Canadian Pacific Railway]] created a succession of subsidiaries and plans for a Cornwall line starting in the 1880s, which culminated in the [[Glengarry and Stormont Railway]] in 1915 to connect to CP's [[Ontario and Quebec Railway]] mainline to the northeast for an alternative route to [[Montreal]].

In 1879, a visitor from Scotland enthusiastically declared that the [[Lochaber]] dialect of [[Scottish Gaelic language]] was better preserved, "with the most perfect accent, and with scarcely any, if any, admixture of English", in [[Glengarry County]] and in Cornwall than in Lochaber itself.<ref> {{cite book |last=Newton |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Newton (Gaelic scholar) |date=2015 |title={{lang|gd|Seanchaidh na Coille|italic=no}}/Memory-Keeper of the Forest: Anthology of Scottish Gaelic Literature of Canada |publisher=Cape Breton University Press |isbn=978-1-77206-016-4}} p. 373.</ref>

The railway connections linked Cornwall and local communities that required access to public services in Cornwall itself, such as high schools and medical services, and helped cement Cornwall's position as a regional centre for a large, rapidly expanding, and increasingly populated rural hinterland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lostvillages.ca/history/the-lost-villages/mille-roches/ |title=Mille Roches |publisher=The Lost Villages Historical Society |access-date=January 17, 2019}}</ref> The network of villages and towns surrounding Cornwall helped make the city a local entrepot for business, commerce, media and services.

[[File:Panorama Moses Saunders Dam.jpg|alt=Moses-Saunders Power Dam|thumb|Moses-Saunders Power Dam]]
In 1944, the city was rocked by the magnitude 5.8 [[1944 Cornwall–Massena earthquake|Cornwall–Massena earthquake]]. There were no deaths or injuries reported, but several chimneys were destroyed or damaged, along with heavy damage to historical masonry structures. For example, the [[Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School]] received heavy damage from masonry work falling through the roof of the gymnasium. Part of the school had to be demolished and reconstructed.

West of Cornwall, along the [[St. Lawrence River]], there were several smaller communities that became known as the [[Lost Villages]]. They were submerged in 1958 during the construction of the [[St. Lawrence Seaway]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=DeBruin |first=Jennifer |date=2022-03-16 |title=You Can't Go Home Again: The Lost Villages of the St. Lawrence |url=https://www.readersdigest.ca/travel/canada/lost-villages-ontario/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512200038/https://www.readersdigest.ca/travel/canada/lost-villages-ontario/ |archive-date=2022-05-12 |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=[[Reader’s Digest Magazines (Canada)]] |publisher=[[Trusted Media Brands]] |language=en-CA}}</ref> providing a reservoir for the [[Moses-Saunders Power Dam]], which regulates water levels flowing from [[Lake Ontario]] and maintains the levels required to operate the two adjacent Canada-US [[Hydroelectricity|hydroelectric power]] generating stations.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Armstrong |first=Leslie |date=August 14, 2014 |title=Great Lakes water levels rebound thanks to prolonged winter |work=[[Toronto Star]] |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/08/15/nasty_winter_helps_great_lakes_water_levels_rebound.html |access-date=September 20, 2022}}</ref>