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12/30/2025

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Have you ever wondered how the old ferries worked to the Toronto Islands?

One thing to clear up is that the Islands did not exist at the time the first ferry service started, it was a peninsula still connected to the mainland. I’ll tell you more about this in a second.

In 1833, the very first ferry to cross Toronto Harbour used a boat called Sir John of the Peninsula.

And it didn’t run on steam.
It ran on horses.

It was a wood boat with horses walking on treadmills which engaged gears, spun side paddle wheels, and slowly pushing the ferry across the water.

Early ferries used two horses, walking in place.

Later versions got bigger, boats like the Peninsula Packet used up to five horses, all walking in a giant circular treadmill on a turntable to keep the boat moving.

No engines. No electricity.�Just horses walking to move a boat a few hundred metres.

It was slow, awkward, and unforgettable... but it worked.

And at the time, it wasn’t even essential…

because you could still walk to the peninsula across a narrow sandbar. Remember, it was still attached to the mainland as in this map from 1792.

By the 1840s and 1850s, steam-powered ferries took over, and the horse boats quietly disappeared.

Then in 1858, a massive storm ripped that land connection apart.
The peninsula became the Toronto Islands.

And from that moment on, ferries weren’t optional anymore.
They were the only way across.

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Toronto once planned a waterfront amusement pier that would rival those of Brighton or Atlantic City.A grand vision that...
12/23/2025

Toronto once planned a waterfront amusement pier that would rival those of Brighton or Atlantic City.

A grand vision that rose slowly, lived wildly, and fell in flames.

This is the story of Palace Pier.

In the early 1900s, waterfront cities around the world built pleasure piers...

Places of light, music, and attractions stretching far out over the water.

Toronto wanted one too, set to be Canada’s grandest pier.

Plans began as early as 1912, but the true launch wasn’t until the late 1920s.

The Provincial Improvement Corporation signed a 99-year lease at the mouth of the Humber River.

The vision was impressive:

A 537-metre pier into Lake Ontario.

A 30,000 sq ft ballroom for 3,000 dancing couples.

Roller and ice skating, bowling, covered walkways...

A theatre, outdoor bandstand, shops, and berths for steamships.

But the project struggled from the start.

Financing problems and the Great Depression delayed construction by four years.

Instead of stretching over 1km into the lake, only the ballroom was built and it sat vacant for a decade.

Despite its truncated form, Palace Pier finally opened in 1941 as a roller rink.

It became an entertainment hub: big band dances, roller skating, boxing matches, and even political rallies.

Then the tragic twist: January 7, 1963.

A fire, visible from Buffalo, erupted in the early morning, consuming the building.

40 firefighters fought it for hours, but by sunrise the pier was a smouldering shell.

The site sat vacant until the mid-1970s.

Two luxury condos were built and assumed the name: Palace Pier.

All that remains of the original structure is a small concrete pier.

Crossing Toronto Bay on the ice, foot of York Street in 1911.
12/21/2025

Crossing Toronto Bay on the ice, foot of York Street in 1911.

12/17/2025

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Did you know there’s a stone church in Toronto’s York Mills neighbourhood that dates back to when Toronto was a muddy town called York?

It’s almost hidden, located just north of Yonge and York Mills. This is St John’s Anglican Church and it’s the second oldest Anglican Church in the city with its founding dating back to 1816.

Most people wouldn’t expect this beautiful piece of Toronto history to be this far north. It was founded when York Mills wasn’t a residential neighbourhood, it was more of a frontier.

A tiny northern milling village, far removed from the growing city on Lake Ontario.

The current church was constructed in 1843, built out of white burnt brick in a restrained Gothic Revival style by architect John George Howard.

The churchyard cemetery dates back to the early 1800s and contains the graves of some of Toronto’s earliest families.

What’s fascinating is that even while the nearby area developed into a neighbourhood, highways, and condos, the church remained.

If you walk here today you feel the calm and stillness of the grounds, almost as if you’re back in the 1800s, far removed from city life.

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The Great Fire of 1904 aftermath on Bay St.The building with the clock is the Toronto Telegram building on Melinda Stree...
12/10/2025

The Great Fire of 1904 aftermath on Bay St.

The building with the clock is the Toronto Telegram building on Melinda Street, known as the "Grand Old Lady of Melinda Street." It was constructed around 1899, becoming the newspaper's home at the southeast corner of Bay and Melinda Streets until the paper moved in 1963.

It was demolished in the mid-1960s (around 1964) to make way for the construction of Commerce Court West.

12/10/2025

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Did you know there’s a wooden lighthouse in Toronto that once guided hundreds of thousands of ships into the city’s harbour, but now sits land-locked.

Walk down Fleet Street and you’ll spot it: a small red octagonal tower, almost out of place, like someone forgot to take it back to the lake after the shoreline moved.

The Queen’s Wharf Lighthouse we see today was built in 1861, and it once stood at one of the most important points on the entire waterfront.

With its octagonal wooden tower and red lantern, it worked in tandem with a second “white light” lighthouse, when both lights aligned, incoming vessels knew exactly how to navigate the narrow channel, avoid sandbars and safely reach the dock.

For decades, it did its job: guiding more than 300,000 vessels into Toronto’s harbour, becoming a quiet but crucial part of the city’s pulse of trade.

The 1861 lighthouse was actually the second built for the Queen’s Wharf, a replacement for an earlier 1838 structure.

Starting in the 1880s, the area west of Queen’s Wharf began to be filled in, literally.

Dredged lake material, landfill, and industrial expansion pushed the shoreline farther and farther out.

By 1925 the waterfront had moved and the once-watery wharf had become solid ground. The lighthouse found itself stranded 1,400 feet inland, and it no longer had a purpose.

Rather than tear it down, the city made a choice: they saved it. In 1929, the structure was moved carefully, on rollers to its current site on Fleet Street, where it remains today, encircled by the streetcar loop that now bears the traffic and pulse of modern Toronto life.

Today, the Queen’s Wharf Lighthouse stands as one of only two surviving 19th-century lighthouses in Toronto (the other is the stone Gibraltar Point Lighthouse on the islands).

It’s been restored many times: the wood repaired, lantern refurbished, shingles replaced, paint refreshed, but its history remains, a tiny relic from the days when Toronto was a muddy harbour town.

So when you walk by, glance at that little red wood tower.

A piece of 19th century Toronto history that we should be thankful the city kept.

12/09/2025

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The Toronto Towers project of 1927 was a proposed, but never built, two-building development on King Street West that would have included a 40-storey office tower (the Toronto Towers Building) and the Brock Hotel.

Approx 1900 in Toronto.The original Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) building on Temperance Street in Toronto was demoli...
12/09/2025

Approx 1900 in Toronto.

The original Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) building on Temperance Street in Toronto was demolished in 1924.

12/07/2025

Did you know there’s a wooden lighthouse in Toronto that once guided hundreds of thousands of ships into the city’s harbour, but now sits land-locked.

Walk down Fleet Street and you’ll spot it: a small red octagonal tower, almost out of place, like someone forgot to take it back to the lake after the shoreline moved.

The Queen’s Wharf Lighthouse we see today was built in 1861, and it once stood at one of the most important points on the entire waterfront.

With its octagonal wooden tower and red lantern, it worked in tandem with a second “white light” lighthouse, when both lights aligned, incoming vessels knew exactly how to navigate the narrow channel, avoid sandbars and safely reach the dock.

For decades, it did its job: guiding more than 300,000 vessels into Toronto’s harbour, becoming a quiet but crucial part of the city’s pulse of trade.

The 1861 lighthouse was actually the second built for the Queen’s Wharf, a replacement for an earlier 1838 structure.

It was designed by Kivas Tully, one of the most influential early architects in Ontario.

Starting in the 1880s, the area west of Queen’s Wharf began to be filled in.

Dredged lake material, landfill, and industrial expansion pushed the shoreline farther and farther out.

By 1925 the waterfront had moved and the once-watery wharf had become solid ground. The lighthouse found itself stranded 1,400 feet inland, and it no longer had a purpose.

In 1929, the Toronto Harbour Commission transferred ownership to the City of Toronto.

Rather than tear it down, the city made a choice: they saved it. In 1929, the structure was moved carefully, on rollers to its current site on Fleet Street, where it remains today.

Today, the Queen’s Wharf Lighthouse stands as one of only two surviving 19th-century lighthouses in Toronto (the other is the stone Gibraltar Point Lighthouse on the islands).

A tiny relic from the days when Toronto was a muddy harbour town.

So when you walk by, glance at that little red wood tower.

A piece of 19th century Toronto history that we should be thankful the city kept.

Join 94,000 Torontonians who enjoy InsiderToronto. If you liked this post, click the link in our bio for our free newsletter:
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Toronto in 1912: Bay Street looking north.Taken from the roof of the Union Bank building showing a view looking north up...
12/05/2025

Toronto in 1912: Bay Street looking north.

Taken from the roof of the Union Bank building showing a view looking north up Bay Street to the Old City Hall clock tower.

The Temple Building is still standing.

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