Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York - Home to the Safe Haven Museum & Education Center

Oswego, New York is situated right on the shores of Lake Ontario (About A Half An Hour North of Syracuse, New York). The Oswego River, which flows northward into Lake Ontario, divides the city. A state university (SUNY-OSWEGO) is located on the western side of the city and Fort Ontario is located on the eastern side. The Safe Haven Museum & Education Center is in fact located on the grounds of Fort Ontario. It was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who found a refuge in the United States for so many immigrant refugees during the second world war. The immigrant refugees most likely traveled by train cars from Manhattan, New York to Oswego, New York. All of the new citizens at Fort Ontario lived in barracks. There was evidently barred wire all around the fort. Some people felt that they were in another concentration camp. The residents in the barracks were kept at the fort until the second world war was over. These particular people were all guests in a strange new land. They all forged new lives in this particular land of the free (and home of the brave).