Amherstburg

Amherstburg is a town in Essex County, in western Ontario, Canada. It has 21 556 inhabitants ( as of 2011), is located near the mouth of the border between Canada and the United States forming the Detroit River into Lake Erie and about 25 km south of the city lie on the opposite side of the river Detroit ( Michigan). It is named after British General Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst.

History

At the site of the later city built the British Army in 1796 fixing by the name of Fort Amherstburg, which was the headquarters of the British troops in the southwestern Upper Canada during the War of 1812 with the United States. Major General Henry Procter had to leave in September 1813 after the defeat in the Battle of Lake Erie and retreat to the east the fort. After the war was at this location the Fort Malden, which was rebuilt in 1838-1840 and served as the central base of the government troops during the Upper Canadian Rebellion 1837-1839. 1851 was the place as a village with town powers the municipal law.

In the late 19th century Amherstburg was an end point of the so-called Underground Railway, a network which smuggled escaped slaves from the southern United States to Canada. This period is remembered that there resident North American Black Historical Museum. During Prohibition in the 1920s Amherstburg was a starting point for the smuggling of alcohol.

Culture and sights

Local attractions include Fort Malden, the North American Black Historical Museum, the Gibson Gallery ( an art gallery), the Park House Museum ( a house of the Victorian era ), and The Commissariat in which represented the British- Canadian Provincial Marine on the Great Lakes will.

Sons and daughters of the town

• Seth Bullock, Sheriff, United States Marshal and hotelier