The Kingston Penitentiary opens on June 1,…

The Kingston Penitentiary opens on June 1, 1835 as the "Provincial Penitentiary of the Province of Upper Canada".

Constructed in 1833–34, the institution is built on land described as "lot number twenty, in the first concession of the Township of Kingston".

The cells original measurements area 73.7 cm (26 inches) wide by 244 cm (8 feet) deep and 200.7 cm (6 feet, 7 inches) high.

The area has a 12 foot high wooden picket fence.

Six inmates are accepted when the penitentiary is opened.

Charles Dickens will visit Kingston in 1842 and comment in his American Notes, "There is an admirable jail here, well and wisely governed, and excellently regulated, in every respect. The men were employed as shoemakers, ropemakers, blacksmiths, tailors, carpenters, and stonecutters; and in building a new prison, which was pretty far advanced towards completion. The female prisoners were occupied in needlework." (Charles Dickens, Pictures from Italy: And American Notes for General Circulation, p. 362, G.W. Carleton & Company, 1874)

The site has been chosen for its access to water and fine limestone.

Towers, stock walls and the north gate house will be completed in 1859; the addition of a dome in 1861 will connect four cellblocks.

One of nine prisons in the Kingston area that range from low-security facilities to the maximum-security facilities Kingston Penitentiary and Millhaven Institution (which was initially built to replace Kingston Pen), the Kingston facility will be one of the oldest prisons in continuous use in the world at the time of its closure in 2013.