Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/16

10 KINGSTON shoes, wooden ware, brooms, pianos, ale and beer, &c. There are three branch banks, and a loan and trust company. Kingston is divi- ded into seven wards, is governed by a mayor, board of aldermen, and common council, and has a fire department and a police force. Among the charitable institutions are the house of industry, orphans' home, general hospital, IIotel-Dieu hospital and orphan asylum, and house of refuge. The provincial penitentiary is about a mile W. of the city, and beyond the penitentiary is the Rockwood lunatic asylum. It is the seat of Queen's university and college (Presbyterian), with seven professors, and hav- ing an observatory connected with it ; of Regi- opolis college (Roman Catholic) ; and of a med- ical college, with 11 professors. There are 10 academies and schools, a diocesan library, two daily and two weekly newspapers, ^and IT churches, including the Roman Catholic cathe- dral. Kingston is one of the oldest places in Ontario. A settlement was begun here by the French as early as 1672, under the name of Fort Cataraqui, which was subsequently changed to Fort Frontenac. The fort was destroyed by an expedition under Col.Bradstreetinl758, and in 1762 the place fell into the hands of the British, from whom it received its present name. It became a city in 1838, and from 1841 to 1844 was the capital of Canada. KINGSTON, a mari- time city and the capital of the island of Jamai- ca, in the county of Sur- rey, on the S. coast, 12 m. E. N. E. of Spanish Town, the former capital ; lat. 18 possess any architectural beauty. The bay or roadstead has a mean depth of six fathoms, and affords good mooring ground for 1,000 ves- sels of any size. It is bounded S. by a long and narrow strip of land named the Palisades, on the extreme point of which stands Port Royal, the naval station ; but the entrance is considerably narrowed by a sand bank stretch- ing in front of Fort Augusta, and the shelter is imperfect, owing to the lowness of the coast. The environs are covered with fine sugar plan- tations, interspersed with picturesque villas. The region to the west is extremely marshy, and to the east rises Long mountain. The climate is hot, and generally unhealthy for Eu- ropeans ; the thermometer ranges from 70 to 95 ; but alternate sea and land breezes in the morning and evening temper in a measure the almost suffocating atmosphere. The situation of Kingston, between Europe and the centre of the American continent, has rendered it an 50' W. ; pop. about 35,000. It is situated on the gentle slope of a branch of the Blue moun- tains, and stands on the N. shore of a magnifi- cent bay defended by two forts. It is built in the form of an amphitheatre, with wide and regular streets; the houses, mostly of two sto- ries, are solidly constructed of brick or wood, and painted green and white. The houses in the centre of the city form blocks or squares, and in the principal streets are furnished with verandas below and covered galleries above; while those in the outskirts are detached, and surrounded by delightful gardens. Besides the English church, the handsomest in the town, there are a Scottish, some Methodist, and several Roman Catholic churches, and two synagogues ; but neither these nor the other public edifices, such as the theatre, hospital, courthouse, new penitentiary, workhouse, com- mercial subscription rooms, barracks, and jail, Kingston, Jamaica. N., Ion. 76 ! important commercial entrepot. The chief exports are coffee, sugar, tobacco, dyewood, and its highly esteemed rum ; and the imports mainly consist of manufactured goods, flour, wine, ale, and salted meat. The total value of the exports for the year ending Sept. 30, 1870, was $6,315,813 ; of the imports, $6,600,- 146. It is connected by rail with Spanish Town. Kingston was founded in 1693, after the destruction by earthquake of Port Royal ; it was made a bishopric in 1856. In Febru- ary, 1782, the town was almost completely destroyed by fire ; and another disastrous fire which commenced on March 29, 1862, and in which a few persons perished, destroyed prop- erty to the value of $1,250,000. Yellow fever has at times committed fearful ravages here ; and about one eighth of the population was carried off by cholera in 1850. KINGSTON, a town of England. See KINGS- TON-UPON-THAMES.