Historical Development of the Fort
Fort Niagara, 1798
- 30 Officers' Quarters (French Castle), 1726
- 31c Bakehouse, 1762 possibly altered 1773-80
- 32 South Redoubt, 1770
- 33 North Redoubt, 1770-71
- 34b Provisions Storehouse, 1762
- 35 Powder Magazine, 1757
- 408b Barracks, pre-1755 or 1757-59
- 417b Barracks, 1755-56 or 1756-57
- 422 Ordnance Storehouse, 1757
- 423 Storehouse or Shed, 1795-98
- 427b Officers' Quarters, 1757 altered 1780-95
- 428b Barracks, 1757 altered 1780-95
- 429b Commandant's Quarters, 1757 altered 1780-95
- 431 Old Chapel, 1757
- 441b Commandant's Quarters, 1768 altered 1780-95
- 442c Officers' Quarters, 1768 altered 1780-95 and 1795-98
- 443b Bombproof and Magazine, 1780-95
- 445c Officers' Privy, 1772-73 enlarged 1780-95
- 449c Barracks, 1780 altered 1780-95 and 1795-98
- 451 Bombproof and magazine, 1780-95
- 452 Stable, 1780-95
- 453 Barracks, 1780-95
- 454 Barracks, 1780-95
- 456 Blacksmith Shop (or Stable), 1780-95
- 457b Quartermaster Storehouse, 1795-98
- 458b Storehouse, 1795-98
- 459a Barracks or Storehouse, 1780-95
- 460a Barracks, 1780-95
- 462 Drain Outlet, 1795-98
Intensive renovation and construction continued at Fort Niagara until the end of the American Revolution. New barracks (453, 454, 459a, and 460a), storehouses (458b and 423) and bomb-proofs (443b and 451) were constructed, and the British garrison improved existing buildings and fortifications. Activity halted with the end of the war, however. In July 1784 Lieutenant Colonel Arent Schuyler DePeyster recieved orders that "No works whatever shall be undertaken on this side of the water." Fort Niagara had been ceded to the United States by the peace treaty, and there was little point in the British further improving the post for them.
Although the British occupied Fort Niagara until 1796, little was done to improve the buildings or walls. The place was kept in a state of security but was usually described as being in poor condition. Elizabeth Simcoe found the fort's quarters "very indifferent" in 1792. The only significant repairs were made in 1794-95. Blockhouses were constructed in the outer ditch, batteries were constructed and the earthworks were faced with plank to slow chronic erosion. This was so poorly done, however, that American Major John J.U. Rivardi complained, in 1799, that he believed British engineers built "their works in Such a Manner & of Such materials that they are Sure to be in constant employmennt as the repairs are constantly wanting." These were the last additions British troops would make to Fort Niagara.
When the British peacefully relinquished the post to the United States on August 10, 1796, it contained the greatest number of structures in its history. A few even survived from the French regime. The clutter of wooden structures concerned American commandants who feared that if enemy troops should ever get into the fort, the old buildings and narrow streets would provide both cover and incindiery materials.
This sketch is a simplified composite of U.S. Major John Jacob Ulrich Rivardi's two plans of June 10,1798. It does not show the wooden stockades, depicted in his plans, that had been erected around each of the redoubts sometime after 1780 to improve their value as strong points. Nor does it include the gardens and many other small details from Rivardi's painstaking drawings. Note also that the arrangment of the interior continued to be influenced by the remnants of the old gully. Filling would continue into the early years of the American occupation.