Today, the Museum is located in a building in Niagara-on-the-Lake
known as "Butler's Barracks". The building is
owned and maintained by Parks
Canada. The name is a misnomer, however, as Butler's
Rangers never occupied this building. The original location
of the Ranger Barracks built by Colonel John Butler on
the Niagara River bank between Fort
George and Fort
Mississauga. Those Barracks consisted of two main
buildings and a collection of shelters for Loyalist families.
Following
the War of 1812, the British decided to relocate the Indian
Department, and built a complex of buildings on this
site which eventually grew to 19 buildings. The complex
became known as Butler's Barracks, a carry-over as Butler
had been a Deputy Superintendent in the Indian Department.
This
two-storey building (the Museum), known as the soldier's
barracks, was probably built in 1817. It is believed that
the outer log walls and main support beams are from the
original building, and the walls dividing the rooms were
put in about 1821.
The
building appears to have been used almost continuously
as a barracks or storeroom until the mid-1960s. It is
known that the 44th"Lincoln
and Welland" Regiment used the building in 1897,
and A Company of the Regiment occupied the ba
rracks
in the 1960s. The south room on the ground floor was occupied
by the QM stores and a washroom; the north as a drill
room. The south room on the second floor housed the combined
company mess, while the north room was used as a large
lecture room.
This
site has been used by the military since the late 1790s.
It was an important training camp for the militia during
World War I and World War II, and as a summer camp for
the militia after the Second World War.
Camp
Niagara
