What I find remarkable about this map is the presence and formative power of Toronto’s rivers. The Humber, Garrison Creek, Taddle Creek, the Don -- they snake through the city like pulsing veins, in marked contrast to the orderly grid surrounding them.
This fluid state would not last. In less than a decade, Garrison Creek and Taddle Creek would begin to be covered, while the straightening of the Don River (aka the ‘Don Improvement’ project) would turn out to be a massive engineering undertaking that cost twice as much as originally estimated.
Plan of the city of Toronto, shewing proposed system of parks and boulevards to accompany Mayor McMurrich's report to council, 11th November 1882. City Engineer’s Office.
Click the image to view a full-size version.
Image courtesy of Toronto Public Library: T1882/4Mlrg
See also: LAC NMC19806
Mayor McMurrich went on to champion the Don Improvement project in the 1880s, taking inspiration from the straightening of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland.
‘Pitched as a way to relieve the Don’s unsanitary state and bring shipping upriver, the ‘Don Improvement’ actually brought the Canadian Pacific Railway into downtown Toronto and created new land for industry on the flood plain in the late 1880s. Sheet-piling and filling eliminated the Don’s meandering course between the Grand Trunk rail corridor and Riverdale Park.’
Click the image to view a full-size version.
River Don Straightening Plan shewing Lands to be expropriated
Surveyors: Unwin, Browne & Sankey, May 7, 1888.
Image courtesy City of Toronto Archives, Series 725 File 12 (via York University)
Villiers Sankey was appointed as City Surveyor the same year as this map, and would go on to produce the 1902 Plan of the City of Toronto.
Please ‘Like’ and Share these maps with other Toronto history enthusiasts! (+1s are also welcome!)
This fluid state would not last. In less than a decade, Garrison Creek and Taddle Creek would begin to be covered, while the straightening of the Don River (aka the ‘Don Improvement’ project) would turn out to be a massive engineering undertaking that cost twice as much as originally estimated.
Plan of the city of Toronto, shewing proposed system of parks and boulevards to accompany Mayor McMurrich's report to council, 11th November 1882. City Engineer’s Office.
Click the image to view a full-size version.
Image courtesy of Toronto Public Library: T1882/4Mlrg
See also: LAC NMC19806
Mayor McMurrich went on to champion the Don Improvement project in the 1880s, taking inspiration from the straightening of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland.
‘Pitched as a way to relieve the Don’s unsanitary state and bring shipping upriver, the ‘Don Improvement’ actually brought the Canadian Pacific Railway into downtown Toronto and created new land for industry on the flood plain in the late 1880s. Sheet-piling and filling eliminated the Don’s meandering course between the Grand Trunk rail corridor and Riverdale Park.’
- Chris Hardwicke & Wayne Reeves, Shapeshifters: Toronto’s changing watersheds, streams and shorelines in HTO
Click the image to view a full-size version.
River Don Straightening Plan shewing Lands to be expropriated
Surveyors: Unwin, Browne & Sankey, May 7, 1888.
Villiers Sankey was appointed as City Surveyor the same year as this map, and would go on to produce the 1902 Plan of the City of Toronto.
Please ‘Like’ and Share these maps with other Toronto history enthusiasts! (+1s are also welcome!)
