History

From Fur Trading Post to Muddy York

As in most cities, the influences of geography, trade, and communications shaped Toronto and its history. Although the city today possesses a downtown core, it also sprawls across a large area -- a gift of geography, for there are no physical barriers to stop it. When European settlement began, the broad plain rising from Lake Ontario to an inland ridge of hills (around today's St. Clair Ave.), and stretching between the Don River in the east and the Humber in the west, made the location ideal.

Native Canadians had long stopped here -- at the entrance to the Toronto Trail, a short route between the Lower and Upper lakes. In 1615, French fur trader Étienne Brûlé was the first European to travel the trail. It wasn't until 1720 that the French established the first trading post, known as Fort Toronto, to intercept the furs that were being taken across Lake Ontario to New York State by English rivals. Fort Rouillé, built on the site of today's CNE grounds, replaced the trading post in 1751. When the 1763 Treaty of Paris ended the Anglo-French War after the fall of Québec, French rule in North America effectively ended, and the city's French antecedents were all but forgotten.

Only 32km (20 miles) across the lake from the United States, Toronto has always been affected by what happens south of the border. When the American Revolution established a powerful, potentially hostile new nation, Toronto's location became strategically more important, or so it seemed to John Graves Simcoe. He was lieutenant governor of the newly formed province of Upper Canada, which had been established in 1791 to administer the frontiers -- from Kingston and Quinte's Isle to Windsor and beyond -- settled largely by Loyalists fleeing the Revolution. To Simcoe, Toronto was more defensible than Fort Niagara and a natural arsenal for Lake Ontario, which also afforded easy access to Lake Huron and the interior.

The governor had already purchased a vast tract of land from the Mississauga tribe for the paltry sum of £1,700, plus blankets, guns, rum, and tobacco. In 1793, Lieutenant Governor Simcoe, his wife Elizabeth, and the Queen's Rangers arrived. Simcoe ordered a garrison built; renamed the settlement York; and laid it out in a 10-block rectangle around King, Front, George, and Berkeley streets. Beyond stretched a series of 40-hectare (100-acre) lots from Queen to Bloor, which were granted to mollify government officials who resented having to move to the mosquito-plagued, marshy outpost. Its muddiness was prodigious, and in fact a story is told of a fellow who saw a hat lying in the middle of a street, went to pick it up, and found the head of a live man submerged below it! In 3 short years, a hamlet had grown, and Simcoe had laid out Yonge Street -- then a 53km (33-mile) oxcart trail. Four years later, the first Parliament meeting confirmed York as the capital of Upper Canada.

From Muddy York to the Family Compact

The officials were a more demanding and finicky lot than the sturdy frontier farmers, and businesses sprang up to serve them. By 1812, the population had grown to 703 and included a brewer-baker, blacksmith, watchmaker, chair maker, apothecary, hatter, and tailor.

During the War of 1812, despite initial victories at Queenston and Detroit, Canada was under siege. In April 1813, 14 ships carrying 1,700 American troops invaded York, blew up the incomplete fort, burned the Parliament buildings, and carried off the mace (which was not returned until 1934). The British general burned a 30-gun warship, the Sir Isaac Brock, which was under construction, and retreated, leaving young minister John Strachan (the new rector of St. James' Cathedral) to negotiate the capitulation. This event did much to reinforce the town's pro-British, anti-American attitude -- a feeling that persists, to some extent, to this day. In retaliation for the burning of Fort York, some Canadians went to Washington and torched the American president's residence. (The Americans later whitewashed it to hide the charred wood -- hence, the White House.)

A conservative pro-British outlook permeated the official political oligarchy that dominated York, a group dubbed the Family Compact. Many of the names on street signs, subway stops, and maps derive from this august group of early government officers and their families. Among them were William Jarvis, a New England Loyalist who became provincial secretary; John Beverley Robinson, son of a Virginia Loyalist, who became attorney general at age 22 and, later, chief justice of Upper Canada; and Scottish-educated Dr. John Strachan, a schoolmaster who became an Anglican rector and, eventually, the most powerful figure in York. Anglo-Irish Dr. William Warren Baldwin, doctor, lawyer, architect, judge, and parliamentarian, laid out Spadina Avenue as a thoroughfare leading to his country house; the Boultons were prominent lawyers, judges, and politicians -- Judge D'Arcy Boulton built a mansion, the Grange, which later became the core of the art museum and still stands today.

These men, extremely conscious of rank, were conformist, conservative, pro-British, Tory, and Anglican. Their power was broken only later in the 19th century, as a larger and more diverse population gave reformers a chance to challenge their control. But even today, their influence lingers in the corporate world, where a handful of companies and individuals control 80% of the companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The Early 1800s: Canal, Railroad & Immigration

The changes that eventually diluted the Family Compact's control began in the early 19th century. During the 1820s, 1830s, and 1840s, immigrants -- Irish Protestants and Catholics, Scots, Presbyterians, Methodists, and other nonconformists -- poured in to settle the frontier farmlands. By 1832, York had become the largest urban community in the province, with a population of 1,600. Already well established commercially as a supply center, York enjoyed another boost when the Erie Canal was extended to Oswego on Lake Ontario, giving it direct access to New York, and the Welland Canal was built across the Niagara Peninsula, allowing access to Lake Erie and points beyond. In 1834, the city was incorporated, and York became Toronto, a city bounded by Parliament Street to the east, Bathurst to the west, the lakefront to the south, and 366m (1,200 ft.) north of the current Queen Street (then called Lot) on the northern edge. Outside this area -- west to Dufferin Street, east to the Don River, and north to Bloor Street -- laid the "liberties," out of which the city would later carve new wards. North of Bloor, local brewer Joseph Bloor and Sheriff William Jarvis were already drawing up plans for the village of Yorkville.

As more immigrants arrived, the population grew more diverse, and demands arose for democracy and reform. Among the reformers were such leaders as Francis Collins, who launched the radical paper Canadian Freeman in 1825; lawyer William Draper; and perhaps most famous of all, fiery William Lyon Mackenzie, who was elected Toronto's first mayor in 1834.

Mackenzie had started his Colonial Advocate to crusade against the narrow-minded Family Compact, calling for reform and challenging their power to such an extent that some of them dumped his presses into the lake. By 1837, Mackenzie, undaunted, was calling for open rebellion.

A severe depression, financial turmoil, and the failure of some banks all contributed to the 1837 Rebellion, one of the most dramatic events in the city's history. On December 5, the rebels, a scruffy bunch of about 700, gathered at Montgomery's Tavern outside the city (near modern-day Eglinton Ave.). Led by Mackenzie on a white mare, they marched on the city. Two days later, the city's militia, called out by Sheriff Jarvis, scattered the rebels at Carlton Street. Both sides then turned and ran. Reinforcements arrived, pursued the rebels, and bombarded the tavern with cannonballs. Mackenzie fled to the United States, and two other leaders -- Lount and Matthews -- were hanged. Their graves are in the Necropolis cemetery.

Between 1834 and 1884, the foundations of an industrial city were laid: Toronto gained a waterworks, gas, and public transportation. Many municipal facilities were built, including a city hall, the Royal Lyceum Theatre (1848) on King near Bay, the Toronto Stock Exchange (1852), St. Lawrence Hall (1851), an asylum, and a jail.

During the 1850s, the building of the railroads accelerated the economic pace. By 1860, Toronto was at the center of a railroad web. It became the trading hub for lumber and grain imports and exports. Merchant empires were founded, railroad magnates emerged, and institutions such as the Bank of Toronto were established.

Despite its growth and wealth, Toronto still lagged behind Montréal, which had twice Toronto's population in 1861. But Toronto increasingly took advantage of its superior links to the south, and that edge eventually helped it overtake its rival. Under the Confederation of 1867, the city was guaranteed another advantage: As the capital of the newly created Ontario province, Toronto in effect controlled the minerals and timber of the north.

During this mid-Victorian period the growth of a more diverse population continued. In 1847, Irish famine victims began flooding into Toronto, and by 1851 and 1852, the Irish-born were the city's largest single ethnic group. While many of them were Ulster Protestants who did not threaten the Anglo-Protestant ascendancy, the newcomers were not always welcomed -- a pattern that repeated whenever a new immigrant group threatened to change the shape and order of society. As the gap between the number of Anglicans and Catholics closed, sectarian tensions increased, and the old-country Orange and Green conflicts flared into mob violence.

Late- & High-Victorian Toronto

Between 1871 and 1891, the city's population more than tripled, shooting from 56,000 to 181,000. The burgeoning urban market helped spawn two great Toronto merchants -- Timothy Eaton and Robert Simpson -- who moved to Toronto from Ontario towns to open stores at Queen and Yonge streets in 1869 and 1872, respectively. Eaton developed his reputation on fixed prices, cash sales only, and promises of refunds if the customer wasn't satisfied -- all unique gambits at the time. Simpson copied Eaton and competed by providing better service, such as two telephones to take orders instead of one. Both enterprises developed into full-fledged department stores, and both entered the mail-order business, conquering the country with their catalogs.

The business of the city was business, and amassing wealth was the pastime of such figures as Henry Pellatt, stockbroker, president of the Electrical Development Company, and builder of Casa Loma; E. B. Osler; George Albertus Cox; and A. R. Ames. Although these men were self-made entrepreneurs, not Family Compact officials, they formed a traditional, socially conservative elite linked by money, tastes, investments, and religious affiliation. And they were staunchly British. They, and the rest of the citizens, celebrated the Queen's Jubilee in 1897 with gusto and gave Toronto boys a rousing send-off to fight in the Boer War in 1899. The prominent businessmen also had a fondness for clubs -- the Albany Club for the Conservatives and the National Club for the Liberals. As in England, their sports clubs (notably the Royal Yacht Club, the Toronto Cricket Club, the Toronto Golf Club, and the Lawn Tennis Club) carried a certain cachet.

The boom spurred new commercial and residential construction. Projects included the first steel-frame building -- the Board of Trade Building (1889) at Yonge and Front -- George Gooderham's Romanesque-style mansion (1890) at St. George and Bloor (now the York Club), the provincial parliament buildings in Queen's Park (1886-92), and the city hall (1899) at Queen and Bay. Public transit improved, and by 1891, the city had 109km (68 miles) of tracks for horse-drawn cars. Electric lights, telephones, and electric streetcars appeared in the 1890s.

From 1900 to 1933

Between 1901 and 1921, the population more than doubled, climbing from 208,000 to 521,893. The economy continued to expand, fueled by the lumber, mining, wholesale, and agricultural machinery industries, and, after 1911, by hydroelectric power. Toronto began to seriously challenge Montréal. Much of the new wealth went into construction, and three marvelous buildings from this era can still be seen today: the Horticultural Building at the Exhibition Grounds (1907), the King Edward Hotel (1903), and Union Station (1914-19). Most of the earlier wooden structures had been destroyed in the Great Fire of 1904, which wiped out 5.6 hectares (14 acres) of downtown.

The booming economy and its factories attracted a wave of new immigrants -- mostly Italians and Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe -- who settled in the city's emerging ethnic enclaves. By 1912, Kensington Market was well established, and the garment center and Jewish community were firmly ensconced around King and Spadina. Little Italy clustered around College and Grace. By 1911, more than 30,000 Torontonians were foreign-born, and the slow march to change the English character of the city had begun.

It was still a city of churches worthy of the name "Toronto the Good," with a population of staunch religious conservatives, who barely voted for Sunday streetcar service in 1897 and, in 1912, banned tobogganing on Sunday. As late as 1936, 30 men were arrested at the lakeshore resort of Sunnyside because they exposed their chests -- even though the temperature was 105°F (41°C)! In 1947, cocktail lounges were approved, but it wasn't until 1950 that playing sports on Sunday became legal.

Increased industrialization brought social problems, largely concentrated in Cabbagetown and the Ward, a large area that stretched west of Yonge and north of Queen. Here, poor people lived in crowded, wretched conditions: Housing was inadequate; health conditions were poor; and rag picking, or sweatshop labor, was the only employment.

As industry grew, unionism also increased, but the movement, as in the United States, failed to organize politically. Two major strikes -- at Bell, in 1907, and in the garment industry, in 1912 -- were easily broken.

As it became larger and wealthier, Toronto also became an intellectual and cultural magnet. Artists such as Charles Jefferys, J. H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, Tom Thomson, Lawren Harris, Frederick Varley, and A. Y. Jackson, most associated with the Group of Seven, set up studios in Toronto. Their first group show opened in 1920. Toronto also became the English-language publishing center of the nation, and such national magazines as Maclean's (1896) and Saturday Night (1887) were launched. The Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Alexandra Theatre all opened before 1914.

Women advanced, too, at the turn of the 20th century. In 1880, Emily Jennings Stowe became the first Canadian woman authorized to practice medicine. In 1886, the University of Toronto began to accept women. Clara Brett Martin was the first woman admitted to the law courts. The women's suffrage movement gained strength, led by Dr. Stowe, Flora McDonald Denison, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

During World War I, Toronto sent 70,000 men to the trenches; about 13,000 were killed. At home, the war had a great impact economically and socially: Toronto became Canada's chief aviation center; factories, shipyards, and power facilities expanded to meet the needs of war; and women entered the workforce in great numbers.

After the war, the city took on much more of the aspect and tone that characterize it today. Automobiles appeared on the streets -- the Canadian Cycle and Motor Company began manufacturing them in 1906 (the first parking ticket was given in 1908), and one or two skyscrapers appeared. Although 80% of the population was of British origin, ethnic enclaves were clearly defined.

The 1920s roared along, fueled by a mining boom that saw Bay Street turned into a veritable gold-rush alley where everyone was pushing something hot. The Great Depression followed, inflicting 30% unemployment in 1933. The only distraction from its bleakness was the opening of Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931. Besides being an ice-hockey center, it was host to large protest rallies during the Depression and later to such diverse entities as the Jehovah's Witnesses, Billy Graham, the Ringling Bros. Circus, and the Metropolitan Opera.

As in the United States, hostility toward new immigrants was rife during the '20s. It reached a peak in 1923, when the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, banning Chinese immigration. In the 1930s, antagonism toward Jews intensified. Signs such as NO JEWS, NIGGERS, OR DOGS were posted occasionally at Balmy and Kew beaches. In August 1933, the display of a swastika at Christie Pits Park caused a battle between Nazis and Jews.

After World War II

In 1939, Torontonians again rallied to the British cause, sending thousands to fight in Europe. At home, plants turned out fighter bombers and Bren guns, and people endured rationing -- one bottle of liquor a month, and limited supplies of sugar and other staples -- while they listened to the war-front news delivered by future Bonanza star Lorne Greene.

Already prosperous by World War II, Toronto continued to expand during the 1940s. The suburbs alone added more than 200,000 to the population between 1940 and 1953. By the 1950s, the urban area had grown so large, disputes between city and suburbs were so frequent, and the need for social and other services was so great that an effective administrative solution was needed. In 1953, the Metro Council, composed of equal numbers of representatives from the city and the suburbs, was established.

Toronto became a major city in the 1950s, with Metro providing a structure for planning and growth. The Yonge subway opened, and a network of highways was constructed. It linked the city to the affluent suburbs. Don Mills, the first new town, was built between 1952 and 1962; Yorkdale Center, a mammoth shopping center, followed in 1964. American companies began locating branch plants in the area, fueling much of the growth.

The city also began to loosen up. While the old social elite (still traditionally educated at Upper Canada College, Ridley, and Trinity College) continued to dominate the boardrooms, politics, at least, had become more accessible and fluid. In 1954, Nathan Phillips became the first Jewish mayor, signifying how greatly the population had changed from the days when immigrants were primarily British, American, or French. In 1947, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 was repealed, opening the door to relatives of Toronto's then-small Chinese community. After 1950, the door swung open farther. Germans and Italians were allowed to enter, adding to the communities that were already established; then, under pressure from the United Nations, Poles, Ukrainians, Central European and Russian Jews, Yugoslavs, Estonians, Latvians, and other East Europeans poured in. Most arrived at Union Station, having journeyed from the ports of Halifax, Québec City, and Montréal. At the beginning of the 1950s, the foreign-born were 31% of the population; by 1961, they were 42%, and the number of people claiming British descent had fallen from 73% to 59%. The 1960s brought an even richer mix of people -- Portuguese, Greeks, West Indians, South Asians, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Chilean refugees -- changing the city's character forever.

In the 1960s, the focus shifted from the suburbs to the city. People moved back downtown, renovating the handsome brick Victorians so characteristic of today's downtown. Yorkville emerged briefly as the hippie capital -- the Haight-Ashbury of Canada. Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell sang in the coffeehouses, and antiwar protests took over the streets. Perhaps the failure of the experimental, alternative Rochdale College in 1968 marked the demise of that era. By the mid-1970s, Yorkville had been transformed into a village of elegant boutiques, galleries, and high-rent restaurants, and the funky village had moved to Queen Street West.

In the 1970s, Toronto became the fastest-growing city in North America. For years, the city competed with Montréal for first-city status, and now the separatist issue and the election of the Parti Québécois, in 1976, hastened Toronto's dash to the tape. It overtook Montréal as a financial center, boasting more corporate headquarters. Its stock market was more important, and it remained the country's prime publishing center. A dramatically different city hall opened in 1965, a symbol of the city's equally new dynamism. Toronto also began reclaiming its waterfront with the development of Harbourfront. The city's new power and wealth came alive in new skyscrapers and civic buildings -- the Toronto Dominion, the 72-story First Canadian Place, Royal Bank Plaza, Roy Thomson Hall, the Eaton Centre, the CN Tower -- all of which transformed the 1930s skyline into an urban landscape worthy of world attention.

Unlike the rapid building of highways and other structures completed in the 1950s, these developments were achieved with some balance and attention to the city's heritage. From the late '60s to the early '80s, citizens fought to ensure that the city's heritage was preserved and that development was not allowed to continue as wildly as it had in the '50s. The best examples of the reform movement's success were the stopping of the proposed Spadina Expressway in 1971 and the fight against several urban-renewal plans.

During the 1970s, the provincial government also helped develop attractions that would polish Toronto's patina and lure visitors: Ontario Place in 1971, Harbourfront in 1972, and the Metro Zoo and the Ontario Science Centre in 1974. Government financing also supported the arts and helped turn Toronto from a city with four theaters in 1965 to one boasting more than 40 today.