Constructed by order of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe from 1796 to 1799, Fort George served as the headquarters for Major-General Brock in 1812. In May 1813, it was bombarded and captured by the Americans, who built fortifications of their own on the site. The British retook these in December 1813. By 1815, Fort George was described as tumbling into ruins and was ordered abandoned. The present works are a reconstruction carried out in 1937 to 1940, representing the fort as it was from 1799 to 1813, and only the magazine of the original fort remains.