Elizabeth Hall
A Walk Through History
The town of Greater Napanee has lots of history, from the first settlers after the American War of Independence, to the start and end of Gibbard’s Furniture, and more. Here, you’ll learn about your own town’s vast history, and how it was changed from Clarksville to Napanee to Greater Napanee, and how a sawmill built in 1785 was the beginning of this small town.
I’m Elizabeth Hall, a recent graduate of Napanee District Secondary school and an aspiring journalist and author. I have a passion for history and writing, and together those passions create this: a place where you can read and learn about the history of the very town you live in.
To many, the history of this town may be unknown, you may know bits and pieces, as many of the original buildings from its founding are still standing; downtown Napanee holds a lot of the historic architecture this town has to offer, with the old building of Gibbard’s and the many stores and shops lining the narrow streets. The neighbourhoods where many of the old houses sit, along with the post office on Bridge Street, and the many, many churches on every corner of the town, all hold a piece of this town’s history, history you will learn here.
To begin, Napanee was founded by Loyalists in the late 1700s, then was known as a village in 1855, and later became known as a town in 1864. Napanee was first named “Clarksville”, after a man named Robert Clarke who built a gristmill here around the 1780s. In 1864 the town was named Napanee after the river, in 1998, Napanee was changed to Greater Napanee when they united our town with four other surrounding townships: Adolphustown, Richmond, South Fredericksburgh and North Fredericksburgh.
Random History Fact: in ancient Egypt, slaves used to cover themselves in honey to keep the flies away from the Pharaohs─it worked.