Though technically no longer an island, this park peninsula has long borne several names in local history. Originally Refuge Island, a bare rock with some scrub growth, it became Hospital Island when it served as an isolation area during the cholera epidemic in the summer of 1832. Later, after threatened raids from across the river by groups of young Americans calling themselves Patriot Hunters, the island, then known as Grant Island, was fortified and a log blockhouse was built in January 1839. From then on it became known as Blockhouse Island, a name it has retained. In 1860, when the southern terminus of the Brockville & Ottawa Railway opened and Canada’s first railway tunnel was created on the mainland, the area was enlarged and joined to the shore by extensive rock infill, and railway buildings were constructed there, including a large domed roundhouse. Eventually most of those railway buildings were no longer needed, and the pleasure park still known as Blockhouse Island was created for locals and visitors alike.