William Lyon Mackenzie is worth the drive, if you can find him

William Lyon Mackenzie was born in Scotland and emigrated to York—later called Toronto—in 1820. Three years later, he moved to Queenston and ran a general store directly behind where the house is now. The next year, he started his newspaper. A government parks video about his life called it the most radical newspaper of its time and says freedom of the press, liberty, and free speech—at least as far as Canada is concerned—originated on this very spot, where his old printing press rolled out copies to some 250 subscribers. If you want a troublemaker in Canadian history, Mackenzie is your man. His newspaper tackled corruption in public office, patronage, rigged elections, and other grievances such as lousy roads, schools, and unfair customs duties. In his eyes, the source of the problem was the tight-fisted control of the province by the British Colonial Office and well-connected locals. All in all, that entity—the enemy—was the Family Compact. In 1824, he moved himself and his printing press to York, the capital of Upper Canada. After his initial electoral wins in the Legislative Assembly and as mayor of the town of York, he then chose not to run in the 1835 municipal election. In 1836, he ran again for the Legislative Assembly and lost. It was at this point he became convinced that the only way to get at those in power was armed revolt. Mackenzie became leader of the rebels, and voilà, we have the 1837 Rebellion of Upper Canada; hundreds of armed farmers and settlers marched down Yonge Street only to be polished off by government militia outside Montgomery’s Tavern. A number of insurgents and loyalists were wounded in the battle, which lasted all of 15 minutes. Depending on your sources, either one man or three were killed. And that, my friend, is our version of civil war. Nevertheless, Montgomery’s Tavern is now a national historic site. When it was all over, Mackenzie fled to the U.S., where he was arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison. But after 10 months, he got pardoned by U.S. President Martin Van Buren. With his newfound freedom, he remained a rabble-rouser south of the border and published books about government corruption in the state of New York. In 1849, Mackenzie returned to Canada, which wasn’t a country just yet, and lived in the now-restored Georgian house in Queenston. He planted five honey locust trees in front of the property, and two of them remain to this day. But the real attraction is what’s inside. They have a remarkable collection of old printing presses, some still operating. Their Louis Roy Press, dating from the 1760s, is the oldest printing press in Canada and one of the few original wooden presses still in existence. They even set linotype for you and print old-fashioned newspapers just like Mackenzie did. This is where a lot of history comes into the picture. In 1793, an act to restrict slavery was announced in The Upper Canada Gazette, a newspaper that was printed on a press like this old wooden one. It was Upper Canada that passed the first legislation to limit slavery in the British Empire. In 1833, slavery across the majority of the British Empire was abolished once and for all. At the Mackenzie Printery & Museum, you can buy a replica of the issue, along with replicas of his The Colonial Advocate. One only learns all this after locating the place, but it’s not easy. The main artery in these parts—the Niagara River Parkway—has no signs telling you about it, and neither does the Queen Elizabeth Way–the main highway in this part of Southern Ontario. For the record, the address is 1 Queenston Street and yes, there is a street sign—an itty-bity one—but by the time you see it you’re already there. Somehow, the whole thing seems very Canadian. This is our history, and for whatever reason, we like to cover it up and make it hard to find. On the other hand, that’s still better than rewriting it with a false narrative, which is the sad case with many of our historic figures today.