[19] At the time the French arrived in the Kingston area, Five Nations Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) had settled along the north shore of Lake Ontario.

In 1783, Frederick Haldimand, governor of the Province of Quebec directed Major Samuel Holland, Surveyor-General of Quebec, to lay out a settlement for displaced British colonists, or Loyalists, who were fleeing north because of the American Revolutionary War and "minutely examine the situation and site of the Post formerly occupied by the French, and the land and country adjacent".

[25] Major John Ross, commanding officer of the King's Royal Regiment of New York at Oswego partly rebuilt Fort Frontenac in 1783.

[34][23] The present limestone citadel, constructed between 1832 and 1836, was intended to defend the recently completed Rideau Canal (opened in 1832) at the Lake Ontario end as well as the harbour and the naval dockyard.

)[43] Industry included a steam grist mill, three foundries, two shipbuilders, ship repairers and five wagon makers; tradesmen of many types also worked here.

There were ten churches or chapels and the recently opened Hotel Dieu hospital was operated by sisters with the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph as a charity.

[45] The KGH site held the remains of 1,400 Irish immigrants who had died in Kingston in fever sheds along the waterfront, during the typhus epidemic of 1847, while fleeing the Great Famine.

The La Salle Causeway bridge that spans the Cataraqui River between downtown and Fort Henry was demolished by the Government of Canada after an engineering error during refit work in 2024 led to its collapse.

Camp Barriefield was named in honour of Rear-Admiral Robert Barrie (May 5, 1774 – June 7, 1841), a British naval officer noted for his service in the War of 1812.

All voters in the city cast ballots for the mayor, currently Bryan Paterson, an economics professor at the Royal Military College of Canada.

[83][84] The councillors elected for the same term were: On November 20, 2018, Kingston City Council received Report 18-384 which presented the results of the 2018 ranked choice ballots referendum question and outlined potential next steps.

Although the result of the referendum question is not "binding", Council has directed staff to initiate the process to implement ranked choice voting for the 2022 municipal election.

But due to the city's central location between Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Syracuse, NY a trucking and logistics warehousing industry has developed.

The campaigns mission statement promises, "to promote downtown Kingston as the vibrant and healthy commercial, retail, residential, and entertainment centre of our region, attracting more people to live, shop, work and gather".

[95] A yellow door was used as a metaphor for Kingston – and the good times people have – and used street workers to gather potential tourists from nearby Toronto and Ottawa.

Seasonal ferry service from Cape Vincent, New York, via Wolfe Island, into downtown Kingston is an alternate route to and from the United States.

[100] Megabus (Coach Canada) provides frequent service from their Kingston Bus Terminal and Queen's University to a range of destinations in Ontario and Quebec.

[103] Passengers depart and arrive at the Rider Express's Kingston Bus Stop located at 1185 Division St. at Esso Gas Station by the McDonald's.

For over four decades the Ukrainian Canadian Club of Kingston has hosted the "Lviv, Ukraine" pavilion as part of the Folklore tradition, holding this popular cultural and folk festival annually on the second full weekend in June (at Regiopolis-Notre Dame High School).

Writers who are or have been residents of Kingston include Steven Heighton, Bronwen Wallace, Helen Humphreys, Michael Ondaatje, Diane Schoemperlen, Michael Crummey, Mark Sinnett, Mary Alice Downie, Robertson Davies, Wayne Grady, Merilyn Simonds, Alec Ross, Jamie Swift and Carolyn Smart.

He was briefly a minor partner in a restaurant called Aykroyd's Ghetto House Café on upper Princess Street during the 1990s which prominently featured a Blues Brothers' car projecting out from the second story wall.

Queen's Main Campus is rather self-contained, but is within close walking distance of downtown Kingston, making it a pedestrian-friendly university for students and faculty alike.

Although proximity to Lake Ontario has a moderating effect on the climate, it also tempers the heat and can on occasion increase precipitation, especially during heavy snowfall events.

Mild to strong breezes blowing off Lake Ontario make Kingston one of the most consistently windy cities in Canada, especially near the water.

To mark this event, the city hosts an annual game between the two institutions, played on a cleared patch of frozen lake with both teams wearing period-correct uniforms and using rules from that era.

The Memorial Cup, which serves as the annual championship event for the Canadian Hockey League, began in 1919 on the initiative of Kingstonian James T. Sutherland.

Green also helped design several courses in eastern Ontario, including Smiths Falls (1949), Glen Lawrence (1955), Rideau Lakes (1961), Amherstview (1971), Garrison (1971), Evergreen (1972), Belle Park Fairways (1975), Rivendell (1979), and Colonnade (1984).

Matt McQuillan, a professional player on the PGA Tour for the 2011 and 2012 seasons, was born and raised in Kingston, and developed his game at the Garrison Golf and Curling Club.

[151] The Kingston Panthers Rugby Football Club (KPRFC) was founded in 1959, and from that moment onward has established a reputation as a strong community player.

The Club franchise catchment area draws players from Frontenac, Hastings, Lanark, Leeds, Lennox and Prince Edward counties.