[3] To support the War of 1812, the US Navy built a major shipyard and its headquarters for the Great Lakes at the village.

[4] With its strategic protected harbor on Lake Ontario and military installations, the village had national importance through the 19th century.

Prior to the American Revolutionary War, this area had been inhabited for thousands of years by differing cultures of indigenous peoples.

Long trading with the French and English, the Mohawk and most of the Six Nations allied with the British during the Revolution, hoping to dislodge the American colonists from their territory.

Edmund Luff, a young English immigrant, constructed a non-denominational meetinghouse, where all Christians met until they built their own churches in later decades.

Border issues and increasing tensions led the US to impose the Embargo Act of 1807 prohibiting trade with Great Britain, which effectively included Canada.

As tensions increased with Great Britain, the US began to build up its military forces at Sackets Harbor, including creating a major shipyard at what became Navy Point.

Limited sanitary facilities and medical knowledge made the dense troop encampments breeding grounds for infectious diseases, such as typhus, which quickly spread to villagers, too.

In the first battle in 1812, the brig USS Oneida and shore batteries repulsed an attacking force of five British ships.

The village became a major base of operations for both the Navy (including US Marine Corps) and Army for the duration of the war.

The yard was constructed and supervised during the war by New York City naval architect and shipbuilder Henry Eckford.

The American defense was marred by officers' mistaken orders at Navy Point to destroy stores and a partially constructed ship, to prevent capture by the British.

In the fall of 1813, the Navy had moved its hospital off a ship and was temporarily renting the non-denominational meeting house from settler and preacher Edmund Luff.

Commodore Isaac Chauncey, writing to the Secretary of the Navy on November 30, 1814, described a school established at Sacket's Harbor on Lake Ontario in that year: Sir.

The Army took over privately owned land of Samuel Luff just north of the village to build Madison Barracks (c. 1814–1819).

Well into the late 19th century, this was a substantial military installation; the Army added new construction including housing, a school, a hospital, stables for horses, and supporting infrastructure.

Forts :: New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center Comprising the northeastern quarter of the village, the Madison Barracks is being slowly redeveloped as a planned commercial/residential area.

[10] The New York City consortium Fort Pike Associates holds title to unsold land in the complex.

In July 2017, the 24-acre (9.7 ha) Horse Island, located just west of the village, was acquired for preservation by the Civil War Trust, aided by a grant from the National Park Service.

In 1817 a local consortium of military officers and businessmen—General Jacob Brown, Commodore Melancthon Taylor Woolsey, Charles Smyth, Eric Lusher, Elisha Camp, Samuel F. Hooker, and Hunter Crane—financed the construction of the 240-ton Ontario.

On July 12, 1834, Louis Hooker, a son of Samuel Hooker, was aboard the schooner Illinois from Sackets Harbor when it was the first commercial ship to enter Chicago harbor, a sign of what was soon to be greatly increased Great Lakes trade with that city and region.

[13] Samuel F. Hooker and his sons had shipping interests in Sackets Harbor with national networks; their firm had steamboats based in Louisville, Kentucky.

These were part of the Mississippi River trade to and from New Orleans, a major port and one of the wealthiest cities in the nation before the American Civil War.

As cities industrialized and major economic development moved West, from 1870–1930 the village became a popular destination for families taking lengthy summer vacations.

It attracted visitors from Chicago and other major cities around the Great Lakes, many of whom had family who had lived in Sackets Harbor before the mid-19th century westward migration.