Old Toronto is the part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that corresponds to the boundaries of the City of Toronto prior to 1998. It was incorporated as a city in 1834, after being known as the town of York, and being part of York County. Toronto periodically grew in size by annexing adjacent land and municipalities.
In 1954, the City of Toronto and the surrounding suburban towns and townships of southern York County were joined in a federation known as the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (Metro). Later, the lower-tier city annexed two towns until it reached its final boundaries in 1967. In 1998, the municipalities of Metro Toronto were amalgamated into the present-day single-tier City of Toronto, which continues legally from the predecessor City of Toronto, although the by-laws of each municipality remained in force.
Historically, "Old Toronto" referred to Toronto's boundaries before the Great Toronto Fire of 1904, when most urban development was to the east of Yonge Street. Since the 1998 amalgamation, the 1967–1998 city proper is referred to as "Old Toronto" or the "former city of Toronto". It is sometimes less accurately referred to as "downtown" or "the core" as Downtown Toronto is located within Old Toronto, which functioned as a downtown and inner city for Metro Toronto overall before amalgamation. Old Toronto has a population density of approximately 8,659 residents per square kilometre, which would rank as Canada's densest (North America's second-densest) city with a population over 100,000 if it were still a distinct city.
History
The former town of York was incorporated on March 6, 1834, reverting to the name Toronto to distinguish it from New York City, as well as about a dozen other localities named "York" in the province (including the county in which Toronto was situated), and to dissociate itself from the negative connotation of "dirty Little York", a common nickname for the town by its residents. The population was recorded in June 1834 at 9,252.Careless, p. 54
In 1834, Toronto was incorporated with the boundaries of Bathurst Street to the west, 400 yards north of Lot (today's Queen) Street to the north, and Parliament Street to the east. Outside this formal boundary were the "liberties", land pre-destined to be used for new wards. These boundaries were today's Dufferin Street to the west, Bloor Street to the north, and the Don River to the east, with a section along the lakeshore east of the Don and south of today's Queen Street to the approximate location of today's Maclean Street. The liberties formally became part of the city in 1859 and the wards were remapped.Careless, p. 126
William Lyon Mackenzie, a Reformer, was Toronto's first mayor, a position he only held for one year, losing to Tory Robert Baldwin Sullivan in 1835.Careless, p. 59 Sullivan was replaced by Dr. Thomas David Morrison in 1836. Another Tory, George Gurnett, was elected in 1837. That year, Toronto was the site of the key events of the Upper Canada Rebellion. Mackenzie would eventually lead an assault on Montgomery's Tavern, beginning the Upper Canada Rebellion. The attacks were ineffectual, as British regulars and the Canadian militia in Toronto went out to the camp at Montgomery's Tavern and dispersed the rebels. Mackenzie and some other Reformers escaped to the United States, while other rebel leaders, such as Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews, were hanged. Toronto would thenceforth elect a succession of Tory or Conservative mayors—it was not until the 1850s that a Reform member would be mayor again.Careless, p. 60 Shortly after the rebellion, Toronto was ravaged by its first great fire in 1849. The fire was one of two great fires to occur in the city, with the other occurring in 1904.
In their efforts to control the city and its citizens, the Tories were willing to turn to extra-governmental tools of social control, such as the Orange Order in Canada. As historian Gregory Kealey concluded, "Following the delegitimation of Reform after the Rebellions were suppressed, the Corporation (of Toronto) developed into an impenetrable bastion of Orange-Tory strength." By 1844, six of Toronto's ten aldermen were Orangemen, and, over the rest of the 19th century, twenty of twenty-three mayors would be as well. A parliamentary committee reporting on the 1841 Orange Riot in Toronto concluded that the powers granted the corporation made it ripe for Orange abuse. Orange influence dominated the emerging police force, giving it a "monopoly of legal violence, and the power to choose when to enforce the law." Orange Order violence at elections and other political meetings was a staple of the period. Between 1839 and 1866, the Orange Order was involved in 29 riots in Toronto, of which 16 had direct political inspiration.
At its height in 1942, 16 of the 23 members of city council were members of the Orange Order.Leslie Howard Saunders. An Orangeman in public life: the memoirs of Leslie Howard Saunders. Britannia Printers, 1980. pg. 85 Every mayor of Toronto in the first half of the 20th century was an Orangeman. This continued until the 1954 election when the Jewish Nathan Phillips defeated radical Orange leader Leslie Howard Saunders.
Annexations and amalgamations
The boundaries of Toronto remained unchanged into the 1880s. Then followed a series of expansions lasting to the 1910s: Toronto expanded to the west by annexing the Town of Brockton in 1884, the Town of Parkdale in 1889, and properties west to Swansea (such as High Park) by 1893; to the north by annexing Yorkville in 1883, The Annex in 1887, Seaton Village in 1888, Rosedale in 1905, Deer Park in 1908, the City of West Toronto, Bracondale, and Wychwood Park in 1909, Dovercourt Park and Earlscourt in 1910, and Moore Park and North Toronto in 1912; and to the east by annexing Riverdale in 1884, a strip east of Greenwood in 1890, Town of East Toronto (including East Danforth and Upper Beaches) in 1908, an extension east to Victoria Park Avenue in 1909, and the Midway (bounded by Danforth Avenue in north, Greenwood Avenue to west, Queen Street to south and East Toronto western boundaries to the east) in 1909.Careless, p. 125 By 1908, the named wards were abolished, replaced by a simple numbering scheme of Ward 1 to Ward 6.
By the 1920s, Toronto stopped annexing suburbs. In 1954, the municipalities in York County south of Steeles Avenue were severed from the county to form the aforementioned Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (a precursor to later regional municipalities), which included Toronto and numerous suburbs. Metropolitan Toronto operated as an upper-tier municipal government whereas Toronto continued to operate as a lower-tier government within Metropolitan Toronto. In 1967, provincial reform of lower-tier municipalities in Metropolitan Toronto saw Toronto annex the municipalities of Forest Hill and Swansea. The City of Toronto remained this size until 1998, when it was formally dissolved and its area amalgamated into the new single-tier City of Toronto. The new City of Toronto was formed from Old Toronto, the five other dissolved municipalities that made up Metropolitan Toronto, and that upper tier itself in 1997.
Demographics
Panethnic groups in Old Toronto (1996−2021)Panethnic group2021 Canadian census2016 Canadian census2011 Canadian census2006 Canadian census2001 Canadian census1996 Canadian census European 492,470 509,355 484,190 456,540 462,110 457,725 East Asian 99,190 89,985 76,020 74,360 74,935 68,740 South Asian 66,265 47,085 36,635 32,365 31,325 27,340 African 48,100 38,565 32,755 34,510 35,295 33,650 Southeast Asian 37,190 31,120 30,950 24,825 27,740 27,450 Latin American 25,550 18,135 15,720 14,135 12,615 11,720 Middle Eastern 22,865 17,370 12,040 8,120 8,520 7,685 Indigenous 9,670 9,385 7,215 5,630 4,425 3,245 Other/multiracial 25,980 19,310 14,440 11,810 10,345 8,920 Total responses 827,280 780,310 709,965 662,295 667,325 646,480 Total population 841,236 797,642 730,656 679,236 676,352 653,734
Culture
The first Crystal Palace in Toronto, officially named the Palace of Industry, was modelled after the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, England, and was Toronto's first permanent exhibition hall. Completed in 1858, it was located south of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, northwest of King and Shaw streets. It was dismantled in 1878, and the ironwork was used to construct a new Crystal Palace on what would later become Exhibition Place. The second Crystal Palace hosted Toronto's first Industrial Exhibition (the predecessor to the Canadian National Exhibition or CNE) in 1879. By the time it was destroyed in 1906 by fire, it was officially known as the CNE Transportation Building. It was replaced by the Horticulture Building in 1907.
Institutions Health care
Old Toronto was home to a number of hospitals, including Bridgepoint Active Healthcare (originally named House of Refuge, see below), Casey House, Mount Sinai Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (originally named Princess Margaret Hospital), St. Joseph's Health Centre, St. Michael's Hospital, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Grace Health Centre, Toronto Western Hospital and Women's College Hospital. Two health care institutions were also established in 1998 by amalgamating previously separate hospitals: the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
The Toronto General Hospital is the oldest operating hospital established in Toronto. It started as a small shed in the old town and was used as a military hospital during the War of 1812, after which it was founded as a permanent institution, York General Hospital, in 1829, at John and King streets. In 1853–1856, a new home for the hospital was built on the north side of Gerrard Street, east of Parliament, using a design by architect William Hay, and relocated to University Avenue at College Street in 1913.
The House of Providence on Power Street (between King and Queen streets) was opened by the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1857 to aid the plight of the desperately poor. It was demolished in 1962 to make way for the Richmond Street exit from the Don Valley Parkway. By that time it was a nursing home, and its residents moved to a new facility at St. Clair and Warden Avenues, known today as Providence Healthcare.
The House of Refuge was built in 1860 as a home for "vagrants, the dissolute, and for idiots". The building became a smallpox hospital during an epidemic during the 1870s. It was demolished in 1894, and a new structure called the Riverdale Isolation Hospital was built on the site in 1904, which evolved into the Rivderdale Hospital and later Bridgepoint Health.
Public library
Toronto has operated the Toronto Public Library system since 1884. Its collection originated from The Mechanics Institute, which was founded in 1830 by reform Alderman James Lesslie to provide technical and adult education. In 1853 the Institute erected a new permanent home at the corner of Church and Adelaide streets, but it struggled to attract new paying members. In 1883 the institute was thus transformed into a municipally supported public reference library. The idea was promoted by alderman John Hallam, but it met considerable resistance in city council. No other city in Canada at this time had a completely free public library. Hallam brought the initiative to a public referendum, and the citizens of Toronto voted in its favour on January 1, 1883. The 5,000-book collection of the Mechanics' Institute became the first books of the newly formed Toronto Public Library.
As a result of the 1998 amalgamation of Toronto, the other municipal libraries of Metropolitan Toronto were merged with Toronto Public Library. It also merged with the Metro Toronto Public Library, which operated one branch, the Toronto Reference Library in Old Toronto.
Education