Click on the title to connect to the Ireland Park Foundation website.
In the summer of 2007, the Irish Park Foundation of Toronto opened
the Irish Famine Memorial at the southeast corner of Bathurst Quay
on Lake Ontario. It’s purpose is to acknowledge and honour the
thousands of Irish immigrants who arrived in Toronto at the peak of
the potato famine in the summer of 1847. At the time, the population
of the city was about 20,000. The newcomers numbered about 39,000.
Almost half a million Irish people had already come to British North
America beginning in the 1790’s. They were the back bone of rural
and urban Upper Canada. However, the ‘Great Famine’ which was
experienced all over Europe, was most seriously felt in Ireland.
Thousands of desperate people looked to escape the horror.
Eleven hundred of the 39,000 who arrived in Toronto that summer
died in ‘fever sheds’ on the harbour because the city couldn’t
accommodate the influx of people and because disease and hunger
were rampant among them. About 75 per cent of the dead were
buried in the Catholic Cemetery, 305 at St. James Anglican
cemetery and the remainder at Potter’s Field (Bloor and Yonge).
Until that time, Irish immigrants to Canada had been primarily
protestant.
Toronto politicians feared that the immigration would continue, but
in 1848, those leaving Ireland chose the United States as their
destination. And most of the immigrants who had arrived the
previous year left Toronto to find work or to be reunited with
other family members elsewhere in British North America or the
United States. It has been estimated that less than one thousand
of the newcomers remained in Toronto permanently. However,
the unfortunate result of the summer of 1847 was that future Irish
immigrants were met with hostility in the city.
To view photos of the Irish Famine Memorial and for further history
of the arrival of the Irish in Toronto in 1847, written by Professor
Mark G. McGowan with Michael Chard, St. Michael's College,
University of Toronto, see the Ireland Park Foundation website -
http://www.irelandparkfoundation.com/index.php
Showing posts with label Toronto History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toronto History. Show all posts
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
1853 TAX ASSESSMENT ROLLS - Toronto
Column 28 - “Statue Labour – Persons 21-60”
The book and CD version of the 1853 Tax Assessment for Toronto
provides the following information about Statute Labour.
“Prior to the development of a comprehensive system of property
taxes, repair work on bridges and roads was the responsibility of
the fronting property owners. This work was described as ‘statute
labour.’ As an alternative, the property owner could make a cash
payment in lieu of physical work. Overtime, cash payments
became the norm and the work was carried out by contract labour.
This column records the number of days each occupant was
assessed. Persons over sixty were exempt which was why the age
column was used.
“Column 24 was the taxable income of the person or proprietor.”
The first column in this assessment roll gives a number for each
property. Hugh Peacock is listed below a Mr. Horwood,
hotel keeper along with a number of other men. They all have a
different property number than the hotel, therefore the properties
were separate, and each of the men was required to do 10 days of
statute labour in lieu of property taxes. Column 24 provides
no taxable income for these men.
The book and CD version of the 1853 Tax Assessment for Toronto
provides the following information about Statute Labour.
“Prior to the development of a comprehensive system of property
taxes, repair work on bridges and roads was the responsibility of
the fronting property owners. This work was described as ‘statute
labour.’ As an alternative, the property owner could make a cash
payment in lieu of physical work. Overtime, cash payments
became the norm and the work was carried out by contract labour.
This column records the number of days each occupant was
assessed. Persons over sixty were exempt which was why the age
column was used.
“Column 24 was the taxable income of the person or proprietor.”
The first column in this assessment roll gives a number for each
property. Hugh Peacock is listed below a Mr. Horwood,
hotel keeper along with a number of other men. They all have a
different property number than the hotel, therefore the properties
were separate, and each of the men was required to do 10 days of
statute labour in lieu of property taxes. Column 24 provides
no taxable income for these men.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
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
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
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