Prescott was the home of the British Fort Wellington, which is now a tourist destination. During the War of 1812, troops stationed at Fort Wellington crossed the frozen river and burned Ogdensburg in retaliation for an American raid further up the river; the American citizens of Ogdensburg, who were profiting by supplying the British army with food and other necessities, drove out their own American military detachment after the raid so that they could continue doing business with the British army in Prescott.
Prescott was originally an important transhipment point for cargo moving from the Great Lakes eastwards towards Montreal, Quebec and the Atlantic Ocean, but the construction of the Saint Lawrence Seaway ended the forwarding trade. Prescott is on the mainline of the Canadian National Railroad connecting Toronto, Ontario to Montreal, Quebec, and is at the junction of the east-west Highway 401 and Highway 416 north to Ottawa, Ontario.