TORONTO - Mid 19th Century

Old Town Toronto – material for publicity for Marcus Garvey Event, 2007
By Karolyn Smardz Frost
In 1793, the Town of York was laid out by engineers of the Queen’s
Rangers regiment, under Britain’s first Lieutenant Governor of
Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe.

At the foot of Berkeley Street were constructed Upper Canada’s
first Parliament Buildings. Cooper’s Wharf at the foot of Church
Street was the main public docking facilities and here ships
disembarked their passengers and vast quantities of goods.

Along Front Street were several hotels and taverns, as well as mer-
chants and craftsmen that serviced the shipping industry. The
Old Town of York remained the city centre for many years.

The shops that lined King St., the main commercial street, were
Elegant and well-stocked, according to Charles Dickens who visited
in 1842. “The town itself is full of life and motion, bustle, business,
and improvement. The streets are well paved, and lighted with gas;
the houses are large and good; the shops excellent…...” he wrote in
his American Notes.

The district to the east, south of King Street as far as the Don River
was “Government Park where the already-polluted marshes of the
Don Mouth were located. Industry early took advantage of the low
land prices……. Annexed to the newly-incorporated Toronto in 1834,
this area was known as St. Lawrence Ward. Many working class
families settled along the muddy and unpaved streets and kept cattle
and horses, as well as large vegetable gardens.

The Catholic Irish tended to settle north of King Street in the district
that later would be called “Cabbagetown,” after their habit of planting
the vegetable in every bit of available soil. They mainly attended St.
Paul’s Church at Queen and Power Streets, first constructed in 1824.

The Protestant or “Ulster” Irish lived south of King Street. When the
Irish Potato Famine forced thousands to the New World, so many
came to St. Lawrence Ward that part of it received the name,
“Corktown,” after County Cork.

In 1842 “Little” Trinity Church, Toronto’s oldest surviving church
building was built. Next door stands Enoch Turner Schoolhouse,
Toronto’s first free school. The City Hall, built in 1844 on Front
Street, housed the City Council Chambers, Police Department and
municipal offices. Some of this building can still be seen within the
South St.Lawrence Market building today.

Much of Old Town Toronto was destroyed in the Great Toronto
Fire of 1849. In 1850 a beautiful structure rose at the corner of
King and Jarvis, the St. Lawrence Hall, a public building and
meeting space still used today. Here in 1851 the Anti-Slavery
Society of Canada was founded, Jenny Lind, the “Swedish
Nightingale,” sang, and, later, speeches demanding equal rights
for women rang out.

The Great Fire also destroyed St. James Cathedral, (Anglican)
which was rebuilt 1853. In 1859 the Toronto Board of Education
built Palace Street School at the corner of Front and Cherry Street..

http://www.oldtowntoronto1793.com/pages/Old_Town_Toronto_1793_pg168.aspx