Court House Avenue, Brockville – ca.1898

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The wide open vista of Court House Avenue looking south towards the river was a view familiar to Brockvillians for over 100 years. But when this photograph was taken, four of the six buildings in view here were relatively new. Starting on the left is the Comstock Building (1887), the Flint Block (1830s), the Jones-Harding Building (1832), the Dunham Block (1893), the Fulford Block (1889), and the Dominion Post Office & Customs House (1885).   This photographs appears to have been taken about 1898.

Brockville’s Early Development

The layout of Brockville’s major downtown intersection, King St. W. and Court House Ave. was determined quite early in our history.

The King’s Highway which ran parallel to the river was planned at the time that government surveyors came to this area in the spring of 1784. Their initial job was to stake out the front corners of the 200 acre lots which were to be given to the U.E. Loyalist settlers.

William Buell, a 33 year old former Ensign, was a native of Connecticut and a resident of New York State at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. He arrived here in the summer of 1785 with his young wife, Martha (Naughton), and their newly born daughter, Anna.

He secured a grant of land which included the west half of present day Brockville. Over the years as new settlers came to this area he began to develop his land near the natural bay on the river into a town site which may have been known as “Buell’s Bay” for a short while.

In 1809 the residents of the central section of the District of Johnstown began to pressure and petition the provincial government to move the district court house from the village of Johnstown to a more accessible location such as in the Township of Elizabethtown.

Their wishes were granted, and when Buell’s offer of a site was chosen, the plans for a new court house were finalized. For a nominal fee of 20 pounds, William Buell signed over a deed to the Crown for sufficient land to include a large square and a wide road running down to the River St. Lawrence. The new District of Johnstown Court House was finished in 1810 and the broad thoroughfare was opened to the river.

Less than ten years later (1916) the street would be paved and a landscaped boulevard featuring the white glazed terra cotta fountain dedicated to the memory of former mayor, John H, Fulford would further transform the vista. Transportation in those days was strictly horse-drawn and traffic lights, a thing of the future.

[These photographs can be viewed full size in a separate window by double clicking on the picture on this page until you reach the enlarged version further in the system]

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Filed under Historical Buildings, Historical Photograph, Notable Brockvillians

Tags: Brockville, "Court House Ave", "District of Johnstown", "William Buell"