The first Fort Erie, built from 1764 to 1805, was the oldest British military fort in Ontario and stood strategically at the mouth of the Niagara River. Beyond its military role, it served as a place for storage and transshipment of goods to other posts on the western frontier and as a meeting place for Indigenous Peoples. Remote sensing and archaeological excavation by Wilfrid Laurier University in 2019 revealed the founding walls of the original fort and artifacts dating to its occupation.
