All you want to know about your city, Toronto

Called “Muddy York”, it was a modest city of 9,000  to start with as it was then the commercial and financial hub of its large agricultural county. The history of the City of Toronto is the history of not only the city government but also of the people, organizations, and businesses that have shaped the city.

On August 27, 1793,  the town of York was founded by Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada John Graves Simcoe. And on March 6, 1834, it was  incorporated as the City of Toronto. On April 15, 1953, Toronto became one of 13 municipalities in the new Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto

Forest Hill and Swansea amalgamated with Toronto on January 1, 1967.Toronto ceases to be an individual municipality and becomes part of the amalgamated City of Toronto on  January 1, 1998.

 Do you know the history of voting in Toronto? The power was with the provincial government to decide who could vote in the municipal elections.   In 1867, when Ontario entered Confederation, only males who owned a specific amount of property or earned an equal amount of income could vote. The same right was bestowed upon unmarried women and widows who met the same property or income qualifications as men in 1884. In 1888, Ontario enacted “universal manhood suffrage,” that is, all resident men aged 21 or over could vote. The 1917 Women’s Municipal Franchise Act extended the vote to all women aged 21 or over.

Women in the armed forces and women with male relatives in the forces got the right to vote in federal elections as of 1917. As of 1918, all women aged 21 and over could vote in federal elections. The right for women to hold office was granted in Ontario in 1919.

In the United States, there are Torontos in Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas. Australia also has a Toronto.

Do you know those with big families got special recognition in Toronto in the old days.

The first “stork derby” was started by Charles Vance Millar, an eccentric and wealthy Toronto lawyer who died on October 31, 1926. In his will, Millar left most of his estate “to the Mother who has since my death given birth in Toronto to the greatest number of children.” Ten years later, four women, who had each given birth to nine children in the allotted time period, shared the $750,000 prize.

Mayor Thomas Foster, who died on December 10, 1945, mimicked the first race. The prizes were $1,250 for first, $800 for second, and $450 for third. Four ten-years periods began and ended on his death date, and ran from 1945-55, 1948-58, 1951-61, and 1954-64.

Oldest house

Do you know which one is the oldest house in Toronto? There are a few claimants for this honour. Scadding Cabin, on the Exhibition grounds, is said to have been built east of the Don River, south of Queen Street, around 1794 and moved in 1879. The John Cox house at 469 Broadview Avenue is believed to be from 1807 or before, and is still on its original site. Drumsnab 1830 at what is now 5 Drumsnab Road in Rosedale, is another very old home. A log cabin on the grounds of the Guild Inn in Scarborough was once thought to be from the 1700s, but archaeological dig found evidence of it being much younger.

St. Lawrence Market is the oldest continually operated market on the same site in North America. There has been a market on the site since 1803. The brick building that is part of the entrance is what remains of Toronto’s first city hall, built in 1844 and used until Old City Hall was finished in 1899. The current building was built around the core of the old city hall around 1900.

Population

Toronto’s population has increased over the years, but so has the geographical area within the city’s borders. When it was incorporated as a city in 1834, Toronto’s population was 9,254.

In 1861, the City of Toronto’s population was 44,821. The geographic area that is now occupied by the City of Toronto had a population of 65,085.

In 1901, the City of Toronto’s population was 208,040. The geographic area that is now occupied by the City of Toronto was 238,080.

In 1951, the City of Toronto’s population was 675,754. The geographic area that is now occupied by the City of Toronto was 1,117,470.The suburban boom had started, increasing the population outside the city.

In 2001, the population of the amalgamated City of Toronto was 2,481,494.

In 2011, the population of the amalgamated City of Toronto was 2,615,060.

In 2016, the population of the amalgamated City of Toronto was 2,731,571.

Maple Leaf Gardens: Its construction was announced in 1929, and the building was started and completed in 1931. It opened November 12, 1931.

Airports

Lester B. Pearson Airport: The first plane landed at what was then known as the Malton Airport in August 1938 (the same year as the Island Airport). It was renamed Toronto International Airport in 1960, and in 1984 renamed again to Lester B. Pearson International Airport, in honour of Canada’s 14th prime minister.

Island Airport: The airport opened for business in 1938. It was improved in 1957 with a new 4,000-feet paved runway, lighting, and heated hangar. It is officially known as the “Port George VI, Toronto Island Airport.”

Salary of Mayor

First Mayor and his income: William Lyon Mackenzie, Toronto’s first mayor (1834), earned £100 per year.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s salary stayed the same in 2022 as it did in years previous, at $208,974.00. Ford made just a bit more than former Toronto Mayor John Tory, who took home $202,818.23 in 2022.

Chinese and Toronto

In 1985 – Olivia Chow was elected to Toronto School Board. In 1991, voters sent her to Toronto City Council where she served until 2006. She was elected Member of Parliament for the Trinity Spadina riding in 2006.

A Toronto city directory of 1878 shows Mr. Sam Ching among the first Chinese working in Toronto. He ran a laundry downtown, at 9 Adelaide Street East. Over the next several decades, the directories show Chinese-run laundries spreading through the city.

A weekly bulletin from the Toronto YMCA in 1882  mentions that nine of 16 Chinese living in Toronto were attending Bible classes on Queen Street West. A 1910 report from Cooke’s Presbyterian Church noted that its classes after Sunday evening service attracted over 100 Chinese students. Students learned the alphabet and simple words, as well as hymns and scripture lessons.

The Laundry Association asked Toronto City Council in 1902 to levy a license fee on all laundries. It wanted to stop Chinese newcomers from starting more laundries. By then, about 100 Chinese-run laundries were operating in Toronto.

The City’s Property Committee approved a license fee of $50. The Chinese opposed the amount and wanted a lower fee reflecting the number of workers at a workplace. In the end, a fee of between $5 and $20 was adopted. The amendment was made by Alderman William Peyton Hubbard, Toronto’s first African-Canadian politician.

City assessment rolls of 1911 show Mr. Gip Kan Mark was the first Chinese to own property on Elizabeth Street. On the first floor of 16 Elizabeth Street, a three-storey building, was a wholesale grocer, Ying Chong Tai. Its neighbours included a blacksmith, dairy, veterinary surgeons and horse stables.
Census returns show that from 1911 to 1941, Toronto had the third most populous Chinese community in Canada, after Vancouver and Victoria. To oppose the 1923 Canadian law that blocked Chinese immigration, a national organization emerged in this city because Toronto was closer to Ottawa.

City officials in 1928 ordered Chinese café owners to fire their white waitresses. In 1914, Ontario had passed a law making it illegal for Chinese employers to hire white women. Ontario’s Chinese raised $2000 to fight the law. The Consul General from China intervened, and the law was not enforced until 1928.  The law addressed unfounded fears that Chinese employers would take advantage of white women. Restaurants in Chinatown tended to serve Chinese cuisine, while Chinese-run cafes in other parts of Toronto usually served western food.

Was Toronto Dry ever?

The ratepayers of West Toronto (also known as the Junction) voted in 1904 to outlaw the selling of alcohol within its borders. West Toronto was annexed to Toronto in 1909, but stayed dry until November, 1998.

Toronto’s First

First execution took place  on October 11, 1798, when John Sullivan, a tailor, was hanged for cashing a forged note.

William Peyton Hubbard, who was born in Toronto in 1842, was the   first Black  to be elected to City Council in 1894 and served on it for 15 years.

Constance E. Hamilton was the first woman elected to Toronto City Council. She sat in 1920-21.

City Halls

Toronto has had three purpose-built City Halls. The first was the brick building that is now the core of St. Lawrence Market at 95 Front Street East. It was designed by Henry Bowyer Lane, and its cornerstone was laid in 1844. The second City Hall, now known as Old City Hall, was designed by E.J. Lennox, and was built between 1891 and 1899. The current or present  was designed by Viljo Revell and built between 1958 and 1965.

Prabhjot Singh