John Graves Simcoe was appointed the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada by the British Parliament after the passage of the Constitutional Act in 1791. He travelled to Canada the following year with his wife, Elizabeth, and one of three daughters.
Following the War of 1812 and the destruction of Upper Canada’s first Legislative Building, meetings of the Legislature take place in several locations at York, including Jordan’s Hotel and the residence of the Chief Justice.
To better represent the increased population in Canada after the American Revolution, the British Parliament passed the Constitutional Act to create the colonies of Upper Canada (now Ontario) and Lower Canada (now Quebec), each with their own colonial administration.
Although other locations at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) were used for meetings of Upper Canada’s Legislature, Navy Hall – one of a set of military structures on the banks of the Niagara River - is considered the principle site in town where much of the activity of the new colonial government
