Kingston City Council Proceedings 1886-1894

In 1846 Kingston was incorporated as a city. There had from the beginning been considerable dissatisfaction with the original incorporation act. It had been felt that there were too few councilors, and there was no provision for proper assessment. After 1846 the council increased in size and the councilors were elected annually. The city limits were extended and the whole was divided into five wards: Cataraqui, Frontenac, Sydenham, Ontario and St. Lawrence. By the 1849 Baldwin Act, city limits were again increased and Rideau and Victoria wards were added. At that time the Council consisted of the mayor, fourteen aldermen and fourteen councilmen. In 1867 the Council was reduced to the mayor and twenty-one members, three from each ward, and all were called aldermen. The items to be described are two volumes of handwritten City Council minutes from 1886-1897. These minutes will be of particular value once transcribed as we have never received indices for 1880 to 1896. All other years are indexed making the information more findable.