The restored home of publisher William Lyon Mackenzie reveals 500 years of printing technology, rarest in the museum’s collection is the Louis Roy Press, oldest in Canada and one of the few original wooden presses remaining in the world!

The Best Hands-on Museum in Upper Canada Mackenzie Printery & Newspaper Museum in Queenston is a place that played a brief, but important role in Canadian history. The beautiful limestone building was the home of William Lyon Mackenzie and from here he began his career as publisher and agitator for political reform.

See the oldest wooden printing press in Canada and one of only seven left in the world at the Mackenzie Printery. The press was used to print Ontario’s first newspaper as well as some of Canada’s earliest laws, including the 1793 Act Against Slavery. While the act did not free the enslaved, it prevented enslaved people from being imported to or exported from Canada. It also ensured that children born to enslaved mothers were freed at the age of 25. It was this act that would slowly work towards the elimination of slavery in Canada.

This historic building is not wheelchair accessible.