Amherstburg is located near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County about twenty-five kilometers south of the United States city of Detroit, Michigan. The British military garrison, Fort Malden, was established here in 1796. The town was developed by Loyalists who were granted land by the Crown in Ontario after the British lost the American Revolutionary War. The Loyalists built many of their houses in the French style of a century before, giving the new town a historic character.
The local public high school in Amherstburg is General Amherst High School and is named after Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Montreal, who served as an officer in the British Army and as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. Amherst is best known as the architect of Britain’s successful campaign to conquer the territory of New France during the French and Indian War when he led the British attack on Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island in June 1758. Amherst led an army against French troops on Lake Champlain, where he captured Fort Ticonderoga in July 1759, while another army under Sir William Johnson took Niagara also in July 1759, and James Wolfe besieged and eventually captured Quebec with a third army in September 1759.
From July 1760, Amherst led an army down the St. Lawrence River from Fort Oswego, joined with Brigadier Murray from Quebec and Brigadier Haviland from Ill-aux-Noix in a three-way pincer, and captured Montreal, ending French rule in North America on September 8. In recognition of this victory, Amherst was appointed as the first British Governor General in the territories that eventually became Canada.
From his base at New York, Amherst oversaw the dispatch of troops under Monckton and Haviland to take part in British expeditions in the West Indies that led to the British capture of Dominica in 1761 and Martinique and Cuba in 1762.
Dalhousie Street – Greek Revival, two-story Doric pillars, pediment, second floor balcony, side lights beside door – Amherstburg Book 1495 Dalhousie Street – Argyle Castle – 1894 -Arts and Crafts style, Palladian style window with window hood, turret – Book 1199 Dalhousie Street – Bondy House Bed and Breakfast – Century old Victorian Queen Anne home, turret called “Widow’s Walk†for a great view, trichromatic siding
– Book 1214 Dalhousie Street – Pensioner’s cottage – the oldest house in Amherstburg (1796) – moved here from River Rouge, Detroit in 1798 by merchants Leith, Shepherd & Duff; purchased in 1838 by Thomas F. Park and owned by the Park Family (tinsmiths) until 1945 – moved to this site in 1972 and restored by the Rotary Club of Amherstburg as the Park House Museum – very early example of solid log, French frame construction; three dormers, Victorian style – Book 1232 Sandwich Street South – Amherstburg Carnegie Public Library – built in 1911 of limestone from the old Huron Indian Quarry in Anderdon Township – Book 136 Sandwich Street South – Gothic Revival, verge board trim on gable, iron cresting above windows, cornice brackets, dormer above one story section – Amherstburg Book 2140 Richmond Street – Michigan Central Railway Station – 1892 – dichromatic brickwork – Book 2273 Ramsay Street – Dunbar House – 1849 – Georgian – two-story brick, pediment above doorway with dentil molding below, transom window – Book 2207 Gore Street – James Caldwell House – This original one-story log house was built between 1835 and 1840 by James Caldwell. Caldwell served with the British Army during the Revolutionary War. At the end of this war, he was given a large tract of land in Amherstburg for his service. Georgian style – Book 29399 North Town Line Road – St. Joseph Church – 1910 – French-Canadian Church – a landmark at the center of the former community River Canard – entrance with Corinthian capitals on columns, voussoirs and keystones, decorative brickwork in gable – Book 2
