Frontenac takes its name from Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac, a French courtier and Governor of New France. Louis de Buade established a number of forts on the Great Lakes, including Fort Frontenac, in what is now part of Ontario. Over a century later, Mr. And Mrs. Benjamin Wood, owners of what is now the central region of the City, visited this region and were charmed by the history and architecture they found there. They decided to name their property after the region.
The land owned by the Woods eventually sold off and turned into subdivisions, with Frontenac becoming a city in 1950.