Gananoque

Gananoque, Ont, incorporated as a town in 1890, population 5194 (2011c), 5285 (2006c). The Town of Gananoque is located at the confluence of the St Lawrence and Gananoque rivers, 29 km east of Kingston. The site was known in French times but was not surveyed until 1784. LOYALISTS John Johnson and Joel Stone were granted land in the area but quarrelled over the site. A compromise in 1789 gave Johnson the best land E of the Gananoque R, but Stone remained a resident, built a sawmill and with the McDonald family developed the site. It was raided by American forces under Benjamin Forsyth, Sept 1812. From the 1830s metal industries have been important. As "Gateway to the Thousand Islands," it is a major tourist centre. There is a bridge to the US at Ivy Lea.