The Toronto Project - A History of Toronto

1795, François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, meets with Simcoe

6/22/1795

 
In June 1795, François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, met with Simcoe in Niagara during his travels in the United States and Upper Canada.
Frédéric learned a great deal about the country, "the attainment of which was greatly facilitated by the generous openness of Governor Simcoe."
The plan conceived by General Simcoe for peopling and improving Upper Canada seems, as far as he has communicated it to us, extremely wise and well arranged.
...
A chief town or capital must not be seated on the frontiers, and much less under the guns of the enemy's fort. He has since thought of York, situated on the northern bank of Lake Ontario, nearly opposite to Niagara; it is in this place he has quartered his regiment, and he intends to remove thither himself when he shall withdraw from the frontiers.
York, from its extent, security, and situation, offers an excellent road. The communication between Lake Ontario and Lake Huron is facilitated by several rivers and small lakes. The surrounding territory possesses a good soil, and affords all possible means to improve the trade on the lake. Even in a military point of view its situation is very advantageous. The banks of Lake Ontario are likely to be first peopled by the Americans, and to become most populous; and Lower Canada will always prove to them an object of jealousy and evny rather than Upper Canada. On this ground it is extremely important, to choose a situation, which renders it more easy to succour such points as are most exposed to an attack. Yet Governor Simcoe seems to have relinquished the idea of establishing his residence, and the seat of government, at York.
Frédéric then described Simcoe's plans for the establishing of a capital, London, to be located on a river he has renamed from De la Franche to the Thames. Later on, he wrote that:
Governor Simcoe intends to make York the centre of the naval force on Lake Ontario.

1795, François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, describes York

6/22/1795

 
In 1795, François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, described York.
During our residence in Naryhall, Messrs. Dupetitthouars and Guillemard took the opportunity of the return of a gun-boat, and made an excursion to York. Indolence, politness to the Governor, and the conviction that I should meet with nothing remarkable in that place, united to dissuade me from this journey. My friends informed me on their return, that this town, which the Governor had fixed upon as the capital of Upper Canada, before he thought of building a capital on the Thames, has a fine extensive road, detached from the lake by a neck of land of unequal breadth, being in some places a mile, in others only six score yards broad; that the entrance of this road is about a mile in width; that in the middle of it is a shoal or sand-bank, the narrows on each side of which may be easily defended by works erected on the two points of land at the entrance, where two block-houses have already been constructed; that this is two miles and a half long, and a mile wide; and that the elevation of the shore greatly facilitates its defence by fortifications to be thrown up on the most convenient points.
Governor Simcoe intends to make York the centre of the naval force on Lake Ontario. Only four gun-boats are, at present, on this lake; two of which are constantly employed in transporting merchandize; the other two, which alone are fit to carry troops and guns, and have oars and sails, are lying under shelter until an occasion occurs to convert them to their intended purpose. It is the Governor's intention to build ten similar gun-boats on Lake Ontario, and ten on Lake Erie. The ship-carpenters, who construct them, reside in the United States, and return home every winter.
There have not been more than twelve houses hitherto built in York. They stand on the bay near the River Dun. The inhabitants do not possess the fairest character. One of them is the noted BATY, the leader of the German families, who, according to the assertion of Captain Williamson, were decoyed away by the English, to injure and obstruct the prosperity of his settlement.
Notwithstanding the navigation of this river, there is a portage of thirty miles between York and Lake Simcoe, by which the merchandize, that comes from Lake Huron, might reach that place in a straighter line. The barracks, which are occupied by the Governor's regiment, stand on the road, two miles from the town, and near the lake; desertion, I am told, is very frequent among the soldiers.
In a circumference of one hundred and fifty miles the Indians are the only neighbours of York. They belong to the tribe of the Missassogas.
Later, while discussing Lord Dorchester's plan to transfer the seat of government in Upper Canada to Kingston:
The friends of Kingston further allege... that York is an unhealthy place, and will long remain so, from the nature of the ground, which separates the bay from the lake.
Dupetitthouars, who is a zealous partizan of York, as far as he considers it in the light of an establishment for the navy, cannot help allowing, that it has the air of being an unhealthy place. General Simcoe apparently possesses the love and confidence of all the inhabitants and soldiers. But his projects are deemed too extensive; and, above all, too costly, in proportion to the advantages, which England is likely to reap from their being carried into effect.

Harbour, c. 1793

8/1/1793

 
Picture
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Description: Watercolour painting of Harbour, circa 1793, looking west from the mouth of the Don River.
Author: Elizabeth Simcoe

Harbour, 1793 and today

8/1/1793

 
Picture
Picture

1793, July 30, Elizabeth Simcoe arrives at Toronto

7/30/1793

 
In her diary on Monday, July 29th, 1793, Elizabeth Simcoe described leaving Niagara and arriving at Toronto for the first time the next morning.  In July of 1793, Toronto was just a bay covered in forest and no town had been established yet.  Her husband,  the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, had a soldiers' camp set up at the site of present-day Fort York.
Mon. 29th - We were prepared to sail for Toronto this morning, but the wind changed suddenly.  We dined with the Chief Justice, and were recalled from a walk at nine o'clock this evening, as the wind had become fair.  We embarked on board the "Mississaga," the band playing in the ship.  It was dark, so I went to bed and slept until eight o'clock the next morning, when I found myself in the harbour of Toronto.  We had gone under an easy sail all night, for as no person on board had ever been at Toronto, Mr. Bouchette was afraid to enter the harbour till daylight, when St. John Rousseau, an Indian trader who lives near, came in a boat to pilot us.

Harbour, 1793

7/30/1793

 
Picture
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Description: Watercolour painting of Harbour in 1793, looking west to the Queen's Rangers camp. The camp would eventually develop into Fort York.
Date: 30 July, 1793
Author: Elizabeth Simcoe

1793, May 2, Simcoe visits Toronto

5/2/1793

 
According to Henry Scadding in Toronto of Old, on Thursday, May 9th, 1793, the Niagara-based Upper Canada Gazette reported the following:
On Thursday last his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, accompanied by several military gentlemen, set out in boats for Toronto, round the Head of the Lake Ontario, by Burlington Bay; and in the evening his Majesty's vessels the Caldwell, and Buffalo, sailed for the same place.
The Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, had left for Toronto on May 2nd, and would return to Niagara on the 13th, as reported in the May 16th Gazette. An earlier letter, dated April 5th, 1793, from Simcoe to the Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Quebec, Major-General Clarke, suggests that Simcoe's May visit to Toronto was his first.

1761, relations and trade between British, First Nations at Toronto

7/25/1761

 
In 1759, Sir William Johnson had described in his diary the initial discussions of peace and trade in the region between the British and First Nations, particularly with the withdrawal of the French from Fort Rouillé, also known as Fort Toronto.

Two years later, on July 25th, 1761, at Fort Niagara, Johnson wrote the following in his diary:
Captain Butler from Toronto arrived here, and gave a very good account of the behavior of the Mississagays, Chippawas, Michilimakinacs, &c., during their residence there, and by their speeches, and everything else, seemed to be very hearty in our interest. He is to set off from here on the morrow.
Then, on August 3rd, he wrote:
Captain Fonda arrived here from Toronto, where he said the trade was over for this season; and that they had a great deal of goods yet on hand, which he offered to sell at prime cost, but could not dispose of them. He says the Indians all behaved extremely well who came there to trade; that they sell gunpowder at a bear skin for a pound.
And on August 5th:
Captain Fonda came to acquaint me he was going to Toronto, as he could not dispose of his cargo here...

1760, Major Robert Rogers at Toronto

9/13/1760

 
In his Journals, Major Robert Rogers, who was on his way from Montreal to Detroit to oversee the surrender of the French fort to the English, wrote the following:
I embarked at Montreal the 13th Sept. 1760 (with Captain Brewer, Captain Waite, Lieutenant Brheme, Assistant Engineer, Lieut. Davis of the royal train of artillery, and two hundred Rangers) about noon in fifteen whaleboats...

...
The wind being fair the 30th, we embarked at the first dawn of day, and with the assistance of sails and oars made great way on a south-west course, and in the evening reached the river Toronto, having run seventy miles. Many points extending far into the lake occasioned a frequent alteration of our course. We passed a bank of twenty miles in length, but the land behind it seemed to be level, well timbered with large oaks, hickories, maples, and some poplars. No mountains appeared in sight. There was a track of about 300 acres of cleared ground round the place where formerly the French had a fort that was called Fort Toronto. The soil here is principally clay. The deer are extremely plentiful in this country. Some Indians were hunting at the mouth of the river, who run into the woods at our approach, very much frightened. They came in however in the morning, and testified their joy at the news of our success against the French. They told us "that we could easily accomplish our journey from thence to Detroit in eight days: that when the French traded at that place, the Indians used to come with their poultry from Michilimackinac down the river Toronto: that the portage was but twenty miles from that to a river falling into Lake Huron, which has some falls but none very considerable." They added that there was a carrying place of fifteen miles from some westerly part of Lake Erie, to a river running without any falls thro' several Indian towns into Lake St. Clair.

I think Toronto a most convenient place for a factory, and that from thence we may very easily settle the north side of Lake Erie.

We left Toronto the 1st of October steering south right across the west end of Lake Ontario. At dark we arrived at the south shore, five miles west of Fort Niagara, some of our boats being now become exceedingly leaky and dangerous.

1759, July 30, destruction of Fort Rouillé, also known as Fort Toronto, confirmed

7/30/1759

 
In his private diary entries of 1759, Sir William Johnson provided information about the fall of Fort Rouillé, also known as Fort Toronto.

In 1759, British forces had laid siege to Fort Niagara. Initially second-in-command, Johnson was in charge after the death of Brigadier-General John Prideaux, and on July 25th the French garrison at Fort Niagara surrendered.

On July 28th, Johnson would write the following:
The evening of the 27th, I sent 3 whale boats with a party of above 30 men to reconnoitre Fort Toronto, and on their return, propose to send to destroy it.
And on the 30th:
At night Lieutenant Francis returned from Toronto, and reported that the enemy had burned and abandoned that post, and destroyed many things which they could not take along, viz. working utensils, arms, &c.

On August 22nd, Johnson described a meeting with "the Chippaway sachem, Tequakareigh," and other members of the Six Nations. At that meeting, trade and peaceful relations between the English and Six Nations were proposed, as long as relations with the French were broken off. Tequakareigh...

also desired I would send some person to the Mississagay town, near where Toronto stood, to hear what he should say to that nation...

1759, Fort Rouillé, also known as Fort Toronto, destroyed

7/1/1759

 
Picture
Credit: Photo reproduced with the kind permission of Alan L. Brown at www.ontarioplaques.com.

By 1759, British forces were putting increased pressure on French positions in the area. Fort Niagara had fallen in July after a nineteen day siege. Québec City would be placed under siege for three months before falling in September.

Feeling that Fort Rouillé could not be defended, the decision was made in July 1759 by the fifteen troops stationed there to set fire to the fort and retreat to Montréal.

When it was destroyed, the fort was approximately 180 x 180 feet, and was made up of five buildings:  the senior officers' quarters, the soldiers' quarters, a smithy, a magazine house and a kitchen.

1754, Fort Rouillé, also known as Fort Toronto, prospers

1/1/1754

 
Established in or about 1750, Fort Rouillé, also known as Fort Toronto, prospered.

In 1754, the inhabitants of the French Fort Rouillé included:
- one officer;
- two sergeants;
- four soldiers; and
- one storekeeper.

The fort consisted of a guardhouse, storeroom, barracks, store, blacksmith, officers' quarters, and outbuildings.

1750, Fort Rouillé, also known as Fort Toronto, established

1/1/1750

 
Picture
Credit: Photo reproduced with the kind permission of Alan L. Brown at www.ontarioplaques.com.
Click here for the full-size image.

Fort Rouillé, also known as Fort Toronto, was a French trading post established in or about 1750.  The fort was named after Antoine-Louis Rouillé (1689-1761), the Count of Jouy, appointed in 1749 by Louis XV to oversee France's colonies.

The Governor of New France, the Marquis de la Jonquière, had hoped that the fort would capture some of the trade between the Aboriginal population, many of whom were using the Humber River as a transport route, and the English fur-trading post located at the opposite side of Lake Ontario, at present-day Oswego, New York.

The fort was located in the area that is occupied today by the C.N.E., next to the Windshare turbine, where a monument, as well as the outline of the original fort, can be found.

1250, Iroquois Ossuary at Taber Hill

1/1/1250

 
1250, Iroquois Ossuary at Taber Hill
Credit: This image very kindly made available for reproduction by Simon Pulsifer (SimonP) under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license found here, with the original Wikipedia image post found here. This image may only be reproduced under the terms of the original license.

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Taber Hill (sometimes spelled Tabor Hill) is located at Bellamy Road and Lawrence Avenue in Scarborough.

A plaque at the top of the hill has the following:
TABER HILL
SITE OF AN ANCIENT INDIAN OSSUARY OF THE IROQUOIS NATION. BURIALS WERE MADE ABOUT 1250 A.D.  THIS OSSUARY WAS UNCOVERED WHEN FARM LANDS WERE DEVELOPED INTO RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES IN 1956. THIS COMMON GRAVE CONTAINS THE REMAINS OF APPROXIMATELY 472 PERSONS.


The ossuary was found to be 50 feet long, 7 feet wide, and 1 foot deep.

The May 1960 issue of INDIAN RECORD discussed the plan to set up a memorial at Taber Hill. Scarborough Councillors A.W. Bailley and L.W. Stewart would be approaching the Canadian Government in relation to placing a 10 to 20-ton memorial stone at the site. Joseph Logan, chief of the Six Nations Confederacy, had indicated to council that chiefs of the confederacy had chosen an 18-line verse by Indian poet White Cloud to be carved on the stone.

The Commissioner of Parks and Recreation, Scarborough submitted a report regarding Taber Hill dated May 13, 1998 to the Scarborough Community Council, that included the following information:
- the burial site was discovered on August 17, 1956 and the area was purchased as parkland;
- the Provincial Ministry of Travel and Publicity declared the area a historic site and, on October 20 and 21, 1956, a reburial service was performed at the site by the Hereditary Chiefs;
- in 1961, Scarborough dedicated a cairn and plaque in the presence of First Nations and Provincial representatives;
- in 1966, the Feast of the Dead ceremony was re-enacted; and
- in 1974, Taber Hill was designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.

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