The operators of several forwarding companies were the entrepreneurs of their day and contracted to send the travelers and cargo to their destinations at Brockville, Kingston, York (now Toronto) and other ports on the lakes.  The cargo was shifted to schooners and, after 1820, to steamboats to carry it to its destination further upriver and into the Great Lakes.   When the boats stopped in Prescott, many people decided to stay rather than continue their journey.  Business grew quickly as immigrants poured into Upper Canada, and the forwarding companies flourished.  However, it was a real blow to this trade when a canal was opened at the foot of steamboat navigation in 1842 at Cornwall.

This structure is rectangular in shape and of rubble stone construction covered with stucco.  The gable roof is of medium pitch with simple eave returns. The building is nestled into the side of a hill so that 1 1/2 stories are visible from Water Street but the south wall facing the St. Lawrence River is 2 1/2 stories high.  This building was built in the late 1820's by prominent forwarder, William Gilkison.  Its main purpose was to be a warehouse for goods brought by bateaux.

The building was used as an American Consul, a lawyer's office, a Laundromat until the Grenville Historical Society took it over in 1970.  It is now the Forwarders' Museum. the only one of its kind along the St. Lawrence River.

This is a unique museum that tells the story of the forwarding trade that flourished in Prescott from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century. This trade was vital to the settlement of Upper Canada.

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