[URBAN NOTE] On the 182nd anniversary of the foundation of the City of Toronto

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Sun's Mike Filey, a popular urban history, had a brief article noting this anniversary.

Sunday marks the 182nd anniversary of the very day back in 1834 that the Legislature of the Province of Upper Canada (after 1867 the Province of Ontario) passed 4th Wm IV, Chap. 23 being an act to extend the limits of the Town of York; to erect the said town into a city and to incorporate it under the name of the City of Toronto.

Now with the legislated ability to run the community under financial rules afforded to cities, Toronto could now institute methods by which it could raise money to pay for infrastructure improvements (sidewalks, sewers, roads, etc. sound familiar?) — actions that were heretofore impossible as a town. First on the list was the implementation of something called property tax. And so the story begins. Next came Toronto’s first municipal election day, when the first representatives were voted into office. That date was March 27, 1834, at which time William Lyon Mackenzie was elected as Toronto’s first mayor.

Filey was even nice enough to include a vintage map.

The map was prepared in June of 1834 by the multi-talented William Chewett (1753 – 1849), one of the Province of Upper Canada’s pioneer surveyors. It depicts the layout of Toronto just weeks after it was elevated from town status (York) to that of city with a new name, Toronto. Some of the features of our present-day city and obvious on Chewett’s map are the meandering Don River (to be straightened into its present confines late in the 1880s), the site of the military garrison (now Fort York) and the new community’s main east-west thoroughfare that was initially called Lot St. so named in recognition of the parcels of land — Lots — that fronted on that street. Lot St. was renamed Queen St. soon after and in honour of the newly crowned Queen Victoria. Near the top left of the map, the land set aside for King’s College is identified. This higher school of learning had received its charter in 1827 and by 1850 had been restructured and renamed the University of Toronto. To allow for expansion, land surrounding the new city’s boundaries was set aside and named the Liberties. More maps showing the growth of our city over the past two centuries can be found at Nathan Ng’s fascinating website oldtorontomaps.blogspot.ca

The Toronto Star and Metro also had brief articles, the Star noting some minor celebrations including an art festival at Yonge and Dundas, Metro featuring an interview with a person who argued that Toronto should get over its insecurities and unfounded negative stereotypes.