Ouinagara, Ongiara, Butlersburg, Nassau, Niagara West, Lenox, Newark, Niagara, Niagara-on-the-Lake — this area has held quite a few names. This survey map, an 1875 copy of a 1791 original, shows the name Lenox for the town and part of the township. Historians believe that it may have been briefly named after Charles Lennox, an important member of the British government at the time. That name soon disappears, and the name Newark, after its namesake in Nottinghamshire, England, comes into use at the direction of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe by 1792.

What is interesting with this map is that it notes that the lots were planned to be one-acre plots with half-acre lots closer to Mississauga Point (spelled Missisaga here). There are also lots in the township identified with property owners — some of the first settlers of our community! Surnames include: the Balls, Secords, Servos, Addison Butler, Brant, Fletcher, Murray, Cockle, Pickard, Markle, Snow, McMichael, Slingerland, Russell and McClellan.

While this town was the capital of the province, it retained the name Newark. Once the capital moved to York (Toronto), the inhabitants reverted to the Niagara name that they knew before Simcoe’s arrival. The name Niagara-on-the-Lake (sometimes unhyphenated) is believed to have come into use around 1902 when the Canadian Post Office started using these words, probably to distinguish it from Niagara Falls.