KINGSTON LIVING History Squared: Springer Market Square

History Squared

BY MATT DRISCOLL PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARRET ELLIOTT PHOTOGRAPHY

Springer Market Square has served Kingston for more than 200 years.

There are few markets in North America that can boast a history as lengthy and lively as Springer Market Square in Kingston. Records indicate the site was used as a marketplace as far back as 1800, and today the site remains a linchpin of social life and community spirit in Kingston.

Located at the corner of King and Brock Streets, the waterfront area beside Springer Market Square is known to have been a regular stopping point for both First Nations people and early settlers. The first known structures situated in the Square vicinity date from the French occupation of the area in the 1700s. Military earthworks associated with Fort Frontenac extended east to west across the centre of the Square during the period of the Seven Years War (1756-63).

The Market Square was included in the original town plans, which were created in 1784. On July 8 1792, the market was the site which Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Graves Simcoe chose as the location to proclaim the Constitutional Act which established Upper Canada as a separate jurisdiction.

By 1811 a list of market regulations had been published and the square became a centre of commerce for the Kingston area. At that time Kingston was home to roughly 1,000 residents in addition to the British garrison. Virtually all of the commerce in town was conducted at the market square.

Starting in 1812, the market was also home to the town sentinel, a t-shaped barracks which was dismantled in 1831.

According to first-hand accounts recorded from those early days, the market was something of a ramshackle affair with vendors operating out of flimsy wooden structures known as shambles. Goods for sale included everything from venison shot by local hunters, to freshly caught fish, wood for heating, and iron nails.

The Market Square was ravaged by fires twice in the 19th century - once in 1840 as part of a larger fire that destroyed much of downtown Kingston including City Hall, and again in 1865.

During the mid-1900s, activity at the market slowed down as more space was needed to accommodate bigger roads, grocery stores won over consumers and health regulations created stumbling blocks for vendors.

The market was redeveloped in 2008 and at that time it was renamed Springer Market Square to recognize the donation of $1 million to the city of Kingston by the Springer family to help pay for the revitalization of the square.

Springer Market Square has been enjoyed as a marketplace in Kingston for more than 200 years.

The Market remains a hotbed of commerce in the region and is open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from April through November.

Springer Market Square has been enjoyed as a marketplace in Kingston for more than 200 years.

Skating is free at the outdoor ice rink at Springer Market Square with a limit of 25 skaters on the ice surface at one time. It has continued to grow and evolve over the years but many of the items on sale 200 years ago, including everything from pottery to poultry and produce, are still being bought and sold at the market. The market is open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, April through November.

The Square has also taken on a number of community functions that could never have been imagined in its early days.

On summer nights it often serves as an outdoor movie theatre and when winter hits the square boasts a skating rink with Kingston City Hall as a backdrop. The Square is so versatile and historic that it’s even established itself as something of a film and television star, appearing as turn-of-the-20thcentury Buffalo in the film Crimson Peak (2015), a Russian city in a 2013 episode of The CW’s Nikita and 1890s New Orleans in Vendetta (1999).

While the market has changed and flourished in recent years, the story of generations of vendors and their customers lingers in historic Springer Market Square.

cityofkingston.ca/explore/springermarket-square 216 Ontario St, Kingston, Ontario specialeventsoffice@cityofkingston.ca 613 546 4291 ext. 1805