Discover the History of the Anna Lane Site

Discover the History of the Anna Lane Site. . We are standing on a section of Queen Street that has a long history of civilian uses for housing, in close proximity to important military facilities. An early town graveyard still exists up the street next to St. Paul's Church. , The site is on an ascending slope of limestone, just below one of the two prominent ridges of land noted by travellers as early as the French regime (1673-1758). The land here was likely cleared for defensive purposes and cultivation. Nearby, to the north was Artillery Park , a British fortification underway by 1800., Immediately to the west of us (forming the rest of the frontage on Queen Street up to Montreal Street) was the town's burial ground, founded in 1783, just before the Loyalists arrived to settle near the lakeshore. The street leading to the graveyard from the lake was appropriately named Grave Street (renamed Queen Street in 1842). St Paul's Church was built in the middle of this graveyard in 1845. , The site was granted by the British Crown in 1809 to Toussaint LeStage and Joseph Valiere, who came to Kingston from Quebec in 1798. When Kingston was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1841 to 1844, development in this area intensified as housing was needed. Valiere's widow built a modest frame house for rental income in 1846 next to the graveyard, and surprisingly a myth began about 1900 that the Valiere house had been built as part of the 1783 Government House, located at Queen and Ontario Streets, and moved here in 1821., The idea that this was "Simcoe House,” as Government House became known due to its association with Governor Simcoe, was so entrenched that the Kingston Historical Society moved the Valiere house in 1935 when the land was needed for commercial purposes. It now resides in Upper Canada Village. , Next to the Valiere house was a two-storey, frame double house built by LeStage possibly in the 1830s. In 1876, Bagot Street was extended through Artillery Park to meet up with Queen Street, thus creating new street frontages along Bagot. Among later uses here were a workshop making grave monuments and a blacksmith shop, which transitioned into servicing automobiles, when horses were no longer needed for transportation. Now the site has reverted to its residential roots with the completion of Anna Lane condominium in 2016 by a community-based non-profit co-operative, using the socially inclusive Options for Homes development model., (side bar/timeline) , . 1783 Burial grounds established on Grave Street , . c1800 Royal Artillery Park , . 1809 The British Crown grants the Anna Lane site to T. LeStage and J. Valiere , . 1830s LeStage builds a frame house , . 1845 St. Paul's Church is built in the graveyard , . 1846 Valiere's widow builds a rental house next to LeStage's building , . 1876 Bagot Street is extended through Artillery Park to Queen Street , . c1900 A shop making gravestones opens fronting Bagot Street , . c1908 A builder’s yard and blacksmith shop, fronting Bagot Street, are opened , . c1924 A garage and the Chown warehouse are built behind the Valiere and LeStage houses; the site is used for automobile-related businesses during the following decades , . 1929 The LeStage house is demolished , . 1935 "Simcoe House" (the Valiere house) is moved to Kiwanis Park , . 1957 "Simcoe House" (the Valiere house) is moved to Upper Canada Village , . 1993 Planning for the site’s development begins , . c2000 The site has been cleared of buildings , . 2013-2016 Construction of condominiums by Anna Lane Co-operative Development Corporation, Credits , Bray Heritage , with research by Jennifer McKendry , Design by Annie Dalton, Design Network , Sign erected by Anna Lane in 2017