A Brief History of Windsor Ontario

The first European settlement in the Windsor area occured in 1701, with roughly 100 military troops settled in on the Detroit side of the river, at Fort Pontchartrain. The settlement stayed on that side of the river mostly, until 1748, when a Jesuit mission to the Huron Natives took place, and a similar settlement was developed. Fort Pontchartrain was officially surrendered to the United States in 1783, however remained a heavily French population. In 1796 that all changed and the U.S. forces took control of Detroit. Windsor was then set up as a type of refugee place, where citizens of Detroit could go if they wanted to remain under British rule, after the American occupation of Detroit.