MACKENZIE HERITAGE PRINTERY

On the Niagara Parkway just below Brock’s monument, Queenston

The birthplace of the Colonial Advocate was in Queenston, Upper Canada. William Lyon Mackenzie lived here in 1823-24 when he first arrived in the province. The stone engraved on the doorstep reads: “Home of William Lyon Mackenzie - the Birthplace of Responsible Government”. Mackenzie began publication of the Colonial Advocate on May 18, 1824 voicing the grievances of settlers about the abuses of the colonial administration. In November of 1825 he moved to York (Toronto). The present home is a reconstructed version which was formally opened in June 1938 by then Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.

This is currently the home of the Mackenzie Heritage Printery. When the Queenston home was opened as a museum on 18 June 1938, Mackenzie’s original press was exhibited. The present whereabouts of the press are not known. In June 1990 the Printery began operation as a joint venture of the Niagara Parks Commission and a volunteer non-profit committee concerned with the preservation of printing equipment and raising awareness about printing and its social, historic and cultural role.