Antique Map of Toronto

The July 18th edition of the Toronto Star has an article about a map of Toronto Harbour drawn by the British military in 1818.

The map is a snapshot of Toronto Island of that time period and shows how much the islands, city shoreline and harbour have changed over the past 200 years.

At the left side along the shore, a white blob shows what may have been the remains of Fort Rouille, the French fur trading post located just west of what today is the CNE’s Dufferin Gate. It was built in 1750 and abandoned and burned in 1759 with the fall of New France.

Yonge St. is also visible and the map notes that it is 32 miles to Holland Landing. Lot St., which later became Queen St., is the most northerly east-west street marked. The centre of the town was clustered around Front and Jarvis Sts., where the market was the focus of life. Several thousand farmers and city dwellers were eager to meet on Saturdays to trade goods. Public auctions were held regularly in the market square, and not long after this map was made York offered its first civic amenity – a free town well near the market.

The map belongs to a retired Ontario Provincial Police officer, and was gifted to him by his father who, as a War of 1812 enthusiast, had paid $140 for the map. The retired officer finally dug it out of his basement recently, and had it properly framed.