Kingston

The site at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, where Lake Ontario drains into the St. Lawrence, was known as Cataraqui when Louis de Buade de Frontenac, governor of New France, built a trading post and fort there in 1673 to control the fur trade. Fort Frontenac became the focus of a settlement, and after the British conquest Loyalists arrived in the 1780s. During the War of 1812 Kingston, with about 2,250 people, was a major military centre and naval base; the first Fort Henry was built on Point Henry in 1813.

The completion of the Rideau Canal in 1832 made Kingston the leading military and economic centre of Upper Canada, and the present limestone fortress was built between 1832 and 1836 to defend it. Kingston Penitentiary opened in 1835. Lord Sydenham chose the town as the first capital of the united Province of Canada, and it served from 1841 to 1844; City Hall was built on a scale to match. Queen's College held its first classes in 1842, Kingston was incorporated as a city in 1846, and John A. Macdonald, later Canada's first prime minister, made his home and political career here. Martello towers were added in the 1840s, and the Royal Military College opened in 1876.

Industry such as the Canadian Locomotive Company, which closed in 1969, later faded, leaving the universities, hospitals and public institutions as the base of the economy. In 2007 the Rideau Canal and Kingston's fortifications were inscribed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The penitentiary closed in 2013 after almost 180 years, and in March 2024 the lift bridge on the La Salle Causeway was damaged during strengthening work; a temporary modular bridge replaced it in October 2024.

Kingston is known as the Limestone City for the grey stone of its churches, houses and public buildings, and its identity rests on that heritage, on the water and on its institutions. Queen's University, with more than 28,000 students, most of them from elsewhere, sets much of the city's rhythm, and the Royal Military College gives it a military side, as does the Fort Henry Guard, which performs drills in 19th-century British uniform at the fort.

The city has produced a remarkable run of musicians for its size, above all the Tragically Hip, along with the Glorious Sons, Bedouin Soundclash and Sarah Harmer. The Agnes Etherington Art Centre, founded in 1957, and the artist-run Modern Fuel, founded in 1977, anchor the contemporary art scene, and the Grand Theatre is home to the Kingston Symphony. The festival calendar runs from a winter film festival through the Skeleton Park Arts Festival and the Buskers Rendezvous in summer; the Kick & Push Festival, begun in 2015, adds summer theatre, while the Kingston WritersFest ended in 2025 for financial reasons.

Hockey is a point of local pride. A game played on the frozen harbour in 1886 between Queen's and the Royal Military College began what is claimed as the oldest continuing hockey rivalry in the world, and the International Hockey Hall of Fame here is the oldest sports hall of fame in Canada. The Kingston Frontenacs play junior hockey downtown, and sailing on the windy lake is a serious local pastime.

The 2021 census counted 132,485 people in the city of Kingston and 172,546 in its census metropolitan area, an increase of about seven per cent on 2016. English is the mother tongue of more than four in five residents, and Kingston is the largest municipality in south-eastern Ontario.

The economy relies heavily on public institutions: health care, with three major hospitals; higher education at Queen's, the Royal Military College and St. Lawrence College; government, including the armed forces and the federal prison service; and tourism. The private sector provides about half of all jobs, and the city's position between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal has brought trucking and warehousing. Several federal prisons still operate in and around the city.

Life swings with the academic calendar. Students fill Sydenham Ward and the streets around the campus from September to April, while summer brings visitors to the forts, the boats and the waterfront. Islanders commute to town by the free ferry, which runs all year, and in winter people skate on the rink in Market Square.

Kingston has among the most restaurants per head of any city in Canada, fed by its students, its visitors and its compact downtown. Princess Street and Brock Street hold most of them, from pubs in old limestone buildings to small restaurants serving many cuisines, and the waterfront has terraces in summer.

The farmers' market in Market Square, behind City Hall, dates from 1801 and is described as the oldest public market in the province. It is busiest in summer, when farms from the surrounding countryside bring fruit, vegetables and baked goods, and an antiques market takes over the square on Sundays. Cooke's Old World Shop on Brock Street, a long-established fine-food shop, roasts its own coffee. On Wolfe Island, farms sell produce in season and a strawberry farm draws visitors for picking in late June.

The wider region feeds the city's tables. Kingston lies between the Thousand Islands and Prince Edward County, one of Ontario's three designated wine areas, and Ontario's own classics — butter tarts, Great Lakes fish and spring maple syrup — appear in bakeries and on menus. An orchard near the Rideau Canal north of the city lets visitors pick apples from August to October.