Fort Frances

Town and administrative headquarters of Rainy River District, west Ontario, Canada; population (1991) 8,900. It is situated on Rainy Lake and the Rainy River, opposite International Falls, Minnesota, and 338 km/210 mi west-northwest of Thunder Bay. Mills produce wood and pulp products, and tourism and outdoor recreation are now also important to the local economy.

Fort St Pierre, a fur trading post, was established here in 1731; it took its present name in 1830. Its location on trade and westward migration routes, in conjunction with the 1870s building of a canal to circumvent the river's falls, helped to establish the town as a commercial and lumbering centre.