The site of was used by three different First Nations (Indians) before the fort was built. In 1804, a lighthouse was built there and the site became known as Mississauga Point. The lighthouse was dismantled in 1814 to make way for the fort. It incorporated stone from the lighthouse in its construction.
Mississauga Point Lighthouse was designated a National Historic Site in 1937 and today commemorated by a plaque within the walls of the fort.
After the British captured American Fort Niagara across the river on 19 December 1813, Captain Runchey's Company of Coloured Men was attached to the Royal Engineers to help repair the fortifications at the mouth of the Niagara River.
Toward the spring of 1814, the company was ordered to construct a new fort there which became Fort Mississauga. Many of the materials used were acquired from the nearby City of Newark, Upper Canada, which had been razed by the Americans when they retreated from the Canadian side and gave up Fort George.
--Brock-Perry
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