1750, Fort Rouillé, also known as Fort Toronto, established
Credit: Photo reproduced with the kind permission of Alan L. Brown at www.ontarioplaques.com.
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Fort Rouillé, also known as Fort Toronto, was a French trading post established in or about 1750. The fort was named after Antoine-Louis Rouillé (1689-1761), the Count of Jouy, appointed in 1749 by Louis XV to oversee France’s colonies.
The Governor of New France, the Marquis de la Jonquière, had hoped that the fort would capture some of the trade between the Aboriginal population, many of whom were using the Humber River as a transport route, and the English fur-trading post located at the opposite side of Lake Ontario, at present-day Oswego, New York.
The fort was located in the area that is occupied today by the C.N.E., next to the Windshare turbine, where a monument, as well as the outline of the original fort, can be found.