[ssiguy]

London was never seriously considered for the capitol of Upper Canada. Lord Simcoe certainly wanted it when he founded the settlement at the fork of the Thames but I think that was more vanity than anything else. He named it London because he thought it would help his cause and obviously it didn't.

Strange thing is, that Simcoe's failed attempt at making London the capitol is actually what led to it's nickname which has now been around for 200 years. It was met with more laughter than anything else at Westminster. Due to London being on a non-navigable waterway and with no roads or rail in the middle of a solidly treed Southern Ontario, it was joked that "who would put a capitol city in the middle of the forest" which is where London got it's nickname, The Forest City.