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articles
timeline America The World at large links (opens in new window)
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Toronto
1810, known as York
Metropolitan Toronto covers a lot of land, but in 1793, it was little more than a survey and a collection of tents. The area however, had a long history tied to ancient trails that ran between Lake Frontenac (Ontario) and Lake Toronto (Simcoe). For many years it was known as the Toronto Carrying Place. Then it tentatively fell into French hands with a series of forts commanding the Humber River. When New France surrendered to the British, the land reverted to the Mississauga, only to find a new spurt of colonization following the American Revolution when Loyalists headed for Canada. At first Toronto was surveyed as a commercial and military town continuing its tradition as a gateway to the north, Lake Huron and points west. It had a natural harbour protected by a long stretch of marsh and islands to the east and south. A single fort to the west at Garrison Creek (CNE grounds) was all that was needed to defend the town. In 1793, Simcoe and 7 officers followed the shoreline around the Bay of Toronto, seeking a building site. The area was thick with forest, edged with marshes and crossed by numerous creeks and ravine while the shoreline dropped 12-20 foot to a "fine" harbour. The site Simcoe selected was a patch of land which on a modern map lies west of Parliament St and north of King. At this time, the acting capital of Upper Canada was in Niagara (Niagara-on-the-Lake) which Simcoe renamed Newark. A permanent capital was still at issue. The merchants of Kingston lobbied for their town, but like Niagara, ultimately it was considered too close to the American border and therefore unsafe. Simcoe set his heart on a central location and a new town (Georgina, now London, ON) to be built on La Tranche. Some claimed it was too inaccessible but the choice was doomed when Lord Dorchester claimed it was impossible to garrison two towns (Georgina and Toronto). This essentially left Toronto as the compromise winner. It had none of the favourable attributes offered by other towns, and none of their disadvantages. It existed as 10 muddy blocks with one or two houses and a good harbour at the cross-roads of two ancient Indian trails but no roads. Many people thought it would fail. In 1794 it officially became the capital of Upper Canada and officials were asked to move from Newark to the new town.
Another survey was arranged, this one by Alexander Aitkin, which covered the harbour and set out a grid of 10 square blocks bounded by George, Berkeley, Adelaide and Front streets. To the east land was set aside for Parliament buildings and a garrison. To the west the land was to be used for public buildings: the church, jail, hospital and market. North of Queen St, the land was divided into 100 acre lots which were given to government officials in recompense for coming to York. It was quickly noted that the very newness of Toronto gave Simcoe the opportunity to gift his friends with property. These lots were about 3 x 33 acres and filled the space between present day Queen St. and Bloor, inhibiting northern expansion of the city. Under Simcoe's plan, the town was confined by estates to the north, the lake to the south and military and government use to the east and west. In Simcoe's mind this would create a compact pattern of growth. Mr. and Mrs. Simcoe, their children, and sundry others moved up from Newark (formerly Niagara, now Niagara-on-the-Lake) and settled in under second-hand tents aquired from the estate of Capt. Cook (who once served under Simcoe's father at Quebec). One tent was designated "the canvas house" and became the first Government House of Upper Canada and Simcoe's home. It had two rooms, one of which was set aside for the children and their nurse. The tents were pitched where Fort York now stands and sheathed with wood against the winter. For the first few years of York's life, activity centered around clearing the land and building roads. A sawmill was built on the Humber (1794) and another on the Don (1795, Todmorden Mills) followed by a gristmill in 1796. For immigrants and visitors from Europe, the dense forests that hugged the site were awesome, monotonous and wearying. To people raised in North America, they were a familiar obstacle. No-one felt any compunction about cutting them down by the hundreds. Communication between York and other towns was by boat; the only land route in 1791 was an Indian trail along the shoreline and the old portage north. Simcoe planned two new roads: one north to Lake Simcoe (Yonge St.) and one that would pass through York (and London) from Quebec to Detroit (Dundas St). He also expanded the Indian trail from Burlington to Toronto, which at the other end connected to a rough road to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Starting in 1793 he had 100 soldiers from the Queen's Rangers (his old regiment) begin work on Dundas St. Thirty Queens Rangers began the construction of Yonge St., laying down 30 miles of roads in 6 weeks early in 1794 (ending just south of Eglinton). By 1804 all of these roads were under repair or being upgraded. One more road was constructed -- Kingston Road under contract to Asa Danforth went from Toronto to the Bay of Quinte, and was completed by July 1, 1800. The road was 33 feet wide on a 16 inch bed. Two townships were sold to pay him and 40 labourers for the work. Danforth received $90/mile and his workers each received wages and 200 acres of Crown land on completion. Roads within and around the town were made and maintained by the citizens. Those who refused to pitch in, were fined and the money used to pay someone else to do the work. This consisted of levelling the land, filling in the worst holes and sometimes adding a gutter to collect melt and rain water. Most of the raods and paths were dirt (or mud in spring). Here and there a merchant put in a flagstone sidewalk. The public footpath was irregular in width and height and some people were more inclined to take care of their section than others. The first laws to regulate their condition were not passed until 1816.
The town grew very slowly under Simcoe. The elite built their townhomes and a few cleared part of their estates to run dairy farms. Few buildings went up. Land continued to be cheap and landowners worried that if the town didn't prosper, and it looked like it might fail, they would lose everything. Only after the end of the War of 1812, did demand begin to outstrip supply. Some of the estates were broken into lots for sale and as the burgeoning city of Toronto prospered, those who held onto land longest found it was finally valuable. Little effort was made to level the land or fill in the ravines that made building difficult. Wooden bridges spanned the creeks where necessary and if they weren't wide and were not always above water, that was too bad. Again, this would change after the war. By 1842 only Garrison Creek remained. The others had been filled in. In York/Toronto, in 1810, the population of around 630 was divided by class and ethnicity. There were some 85 servants, a few free black people, a few French Canadians and a number of ex-soldiers, some Germans and other immigrants. Officially there were no slaves since Simcoe had abolished slavery in Upper Canada. The top tier of society was formed by a handful of educated families that intermarried and controlled the government. The next tier included merchants, and the bottom tier was formed of labourers and tradesmen. Apart from these lived the 3 companies of the 41st Regiment in the Garrison. By 1825 there were still only 1677 people in town, but by 1833, there were 9000. Paralleling the expansion in population was the increase in building. Each town lot was one acre in size. In 1793 there 12 houses in York and a new fort. In 1810 there were 74 town lots and the buildings included
On back lots were a number of buildings occupied by craftsmen: furniture makers, saddlers, carpenters, wheelwrights, tinsmiths, iron-mongers, bricklayers and plasterers. The government rented offices in private houses as needed. Some attempt was made to keep the buildings on the south side of the town residential only with businesses and workmen's houses on the northern limits. But the original layout of 10 blocks had expanded north to Duchess St and west to Victoria St and obviously, people didn't relocate. Outside the town were 4 saw and grist mills on the Don and Humber Rivers and of course the military buildings. In 1797, the new Lt.Gov of Upper Canada, Peter Russell, one of the Family Compact built a 2-storey defensible barracks in York near the garrison. And a Governor's Residence or Government House was built near the Garrison in 1800. Every family was responsible for disposing of their own garbage, often burying or burning it on their lots. There were few regulations until the cholera epidemic of 1831-32. An 1802 edict ensured that wood leavings were burned only on Wednesday and Saturday at sunset; butchers had to bury their offal or remove it from town. The streets were not cleared of dung from the many horses and other animals that passed. Despite Simcoe's recommendations about building styles and set-backs, most people chose to build in whatever style suited their background and skills. Every building was unique and carpenters were in such demand and paid so well that embellishments were limited. Most of the homes were plain log (usually squared logs) or frame one storey buildings. Only two buidings were brick. Most had cedar shingles and some may have had earth floors, although most would have wooden ones.
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