King Street Gaol (1824)

At that time, the town needed a larger, better constructed jail to replace the original, which was little more than a plain log building with a stockade.

[3] At one point the jail and old courthouse was part of a proposed Guild Hall complex, but the project was later abandoned.

In 1838, rebel leaders Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews were hanged at the jail for their participation in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837.

Joseph Sheard, before becoming mayor, was the foreman for the jail and was expected to share in the work of building the scaffold.

He refused, saying, "I'll not put a hand to it ... Lount and Matthews have done nothing that I might not have done myself, and I'll never help build a gallows to hang them.