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Prescott, Ontario is a small town on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River in the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Canada. In 2016, the town had a population of 3965. The Ogdensburg–Prescott International Bridge, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east of Prescott at Johnstown, connects the town with Ogdensburg, New York. The town is about an hour from both Ottawa and Kingston.

The town was founded in the early 19th century by Edward Jessup, a Loyalist soldier during the American Revolution, who named the village after a former Governor-in-Chief, Robert Prescott. Prior to 1834, the town was a part of Augusta township; however, in that year the town became a police village, and severed its ties with Augusta. The land here was ideal for settlement during the 18th and 19th centuries as it was situated between Montreal and Kingston along the St. Lawrence River at the head of the rapids.

In the mid-to-late 1600s, the French occupied the area surrounding what was to become Prescott, Ontario. The first known location of a French settlement was a trading post in 1673 located east of Prescott in what is now Johnstown. By the 1680s, a small French fort was located in what is believed to be Prescott called Fort la Galette; according to O'Callaghan, the fortified post la Galette was located along the St. Lawrence River, north of Ogdensburg. Additionally, according to Queen's University Quarterly from 1895, the area around Prescott was sometimes referred to as la Galette which it attributed to references to the first fort taken from French diaries. The fort was built to protect their newly established trading posts from British invasion. It is unclear when or why this fort fell into disuse; however, Fort de La Présentation was built in close proximity in 1749 which could have been built to replace la Galette. The French left the area after the Battle of the Thousand Islands, and little to no trace of their settlements exist.

In 1760, the Battle of the Thousand Islands took place near present-day Prescott, Ontario. By 1760, tensions were high between the British and the French who both intended to settle the area located around Prescott. The French began building another fort, slightly east of Prescott on what is presently known as Chimney Island called Fort de Levis. The French forts were no match for the British. When the Battle of the Thousand Islands finally took place in August 1760, the British had 11,000 troops to the French's 300 men. Despite this, the French managed to hold back the British for a little over a week, sinking two British ships in the process. When the French ran out of ammunition on August 24, 1760 they surrendered to the British troops. Fort de Levis was renamed Fort Oswegatchie by the British, and was later used in the Revolutionary War. The island on which this fort stood was submerged during the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

In and around 1775 during the Revolutionary War, America was politically divided. Many American's were unsatisfied with British rule and sought their independence. Those who sided with the British or who remained neutral were considered to be rebels or traitors known as Loyalists, and this opposition was met with violence. As tensions escalated, the Loyalists were forced from their homes, fleeing north to what would become Upper Canada. The Loyalists were in a terrible position, as they had fled their homes with few to no possessions, and were unable to return to their homes as the Americans had threatened the lives of any Loyalists attempting to return or collect any belongings. The British attempted to negotiate and failed. Eventually, the British needed to do something to accommodate the misplaced soldiers and their families; in 1783, land was surveyed along the St. Lawrence River surrounding present-day Prescott to be divided amongst the Loyalists as land grants for their loyalty the Crown.

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