In 1836 the British Board of Ordnance transferred control of the Kingston waterfront property, Mississauga Point, from the military to local businessmen.
John Counter, Henry Gildersleeve, and Thomas Kirkpatrick created the Marine Railway Company to service the shipping traffic on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.
[1] By 1839 the company had built a small dry dock, an engine foundry, two wharves and a marine railway.
[1] Manager D. Thompson headed the firm during the Great Depression keeping a crew of six to eight men onsite.
This rejuvenated the shipyard business as the fleet of canallers owned by the Canada Steamship Lines provided repair work for the yard.
In 1967 Canada Steamship Lines shut down the site and all the equipment was to be sold or transferred to Collingwood Shipyards.
The property was sold in 1968, and in 1974 acquired by the establishment of the current Marine Museum of the Great lakes at Kingston.