Fort Schlosser: The Forgotten Fort Above the Falls
If you drive along the upper Niagara River near the old portage route, you might pass the spot without even knowing it. A patch of grass, a historical marker, a stone chimney rising out of the past — all that remains of Fort Schlosser, a name barely remembered in a region that once shaped the fate of empires.
Yet for decades, this quiet bend in the river was a crossroads of the continent. Long before highways and hydro power, everything that moved — furs, supplies, soldiers, dreams — had to stop here. Because this was where the world fell apart. Literally. You could not sail past Niagara Falls. You had to portage around it. And Fort Schlosser guarded that lifeline.
A Fort Built on the Edge of Thunder
The story begins in the 18th century. The French had already built Fort du Portage to protect their supply lines from Lake Ontario to the upper Great Lakes. After they lost control of the region, the British rebuilt on the same site, naming the new post Fort Schlosser after Captain Joseph Schlosser of the Royal American Regiment.
It wasn’t a grand fort like Fort Niagara downriver — more of a stockade with a few log buildings, perched above the roaring river. But it was crucial. Whoever held this ground controlled the movement of goods, troops, and trade through one of North America’s most strategic choke points.
War, Fire, and Ruin
By the early 1800s, the region had changed hands again. The War of 1812 turned the Niagara frontier into a battlefield. Fort Schlosser was attacked and burned in 1813 during a daring raid from the Canadian side. After that, the post was abandoned.
What survived wasn’t the walls or the cannons — those were lost to fire and time — but a single chimney. The Old Stone Chimney, as it’s known today, stood witness to French, British, and American flags rising and falling in the smoke of history. It’s been moved several times, but it still stands, a ghostly reminder of the fort and the age that built it.
Remember the Old Fort
Fort Schlosser isn’t famous. It won’t make postcards or tour brochures. But that’s exactly why it’s worth remembering. It represents the early Niagara — the frontier before the tourism, before the neon lights, before even the idea of “Niagara Falls” as a spectacle.
It reminds us that this land has always been contested, traded, dreamed over — and that ordinary places can carry extraordinary stories.
So next time you’re on the Niagara Scenic Parkway or riding the bike path along the river, stop by the Old Stone Chimney. Close your eyes. Imagine the soldiers hauling barrels uphill, the thunder of the falls in the distance, the smell of woodsmoke in the air.
That’s where it began — not with the tourists or the daredevils, but with a wooden fort and a name: Fort Schlosser.
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