Cornwall, Ontario

Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Ontario and Quebec and the U.S. state of New York converge. It is Ontario's easternmost city. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Cornwall is administered independently from the county.

Cornwall is named after the English Duchy of Cornwall; the city's coat of arms is based on that of the duchy with its colours reversed and the addition of a "royal tressure," a Scottish symbol of royalty.

It is the urban centre for the surrounding communities of Long Sault and Ingleside to the west; the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne to the south; St. Andrews West and Avonmore to the north; and Glen Walter, Martintown, Apple Hill, Williamstown, and Lancaster to the east.

The city straddles the St. Lawrence River and is home to the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, which oversees navigation and shipping activities for the St. Lawrence Seaway. It lies within the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor along Ontario Highway 401, is a major port of entry from the United States into Canada, and is positioned to support some of Cornwall's largest industries, which include logistics, distribution, and call centres.

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 royal family, Prince William Henry (later William IV).

After the war for US independence, former colonial soldiers loyal to the Crown and other disbanded soldiers and their families began to settle at the site of Cornwall, which was then called New Johnstown. 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 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 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 Prince George. In 1834, the town became one of the first incorporated municipalities in the British colony of Upper Canada. Much later, during one of a series of annexations, those former portage points were added to the expanded community.