Fort Ontario - The Modern Fort

The Modern Fort

2nd Brigade of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division called Fort Ontario home until the brigade was inactivated on June 1, 1940.

During World War II, Fort Ontario was home to approximately 982 Jewish refugees, from August 1944 to February 1946. The Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter was the only attempt by the United States to shelter Jewish refugees during the war. After the end of the war the refugees were kept in internment due to disagreements concerning whether or not to allow them to become United States citizens. In January 1946, the decision was made to allow them to become citizens, and by February all of the Jewish refugees were allowed to leave Fort Ontario.

The restored fort is open to the public as a state historic site. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. In 2010, Fort Ontario was one of the state-funded historical sites named by Governor David Paterson as being potentially unfunded due to the budget crisis faced by New York State. In response, many of the citizens of Oswego and students of the State University of New York at Oswego have joined together in support of the historical site.

Fort Ontario was built with two other forts in the period, Fort George and Fort Oswego.