Queen's York Rangers Museum and Officers Mess
LCol Kruger opens the curtains to reveal the original 18th century colours once owned by Simcoe.
It was an exceptional opportunity for the class to visit the Fort York Armory, where the Queen's York Rangers Museum is situated along side the officer's mess. Boasting a long history, the Queen's York Rangers trace its origin back to Robert Rogers in 1756, and thrived under none other than John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant General of Ontario and the founder of Toronto. Dubbed the 1st American Regiment, the Queen's York Rangers is the Canadian Army Primary Reserve and has been active throughout the many periods since, most recently sending troops to Afghanistan.
The visit to the Museum and the Officer's mess of the Rangers was a rare treat since Lt. Colonel Diane Kruger, JD. (former regimental council and deputy assistant judge advocate general) gave us a wonderful and insightful tour of the facilities and the museum. The tour touched upon many important aspects of the early history of Canada, and the controversial figure of Rogers and the recent American depiction of Simcoe as a villain in the popular TV series Turn by AMC, sparked interesting conversations as to how we define heroes both historically and in contemporary societies.
Some of the highlights of the tour was definitely the original military colours (two oversized banner/flags that was once owned by John Simcoe himself), and a 1777 map of the region gifted by general Lafayette, as well as beautiful water colors of York, Upper Canada by Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of John Simcoe, who was an artist and diarist in her own right and left valuable documents of the colonial life in 18th century Canada.
