1792 Bouchette Plan of Toronto Harbour

This was a plan of Toronto Harbour, one of several produced by Joseph Bouchette, showing the site of Toronto immediately before Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe arrived in 1793 to establish the new capital of Upper Canada, York.

Joseph Bouchette in 1805, Watercolour by John Engleheart

Bouchette was only 19 at the time of Simcoe’s order to perform the surveys and soundings of the harbour. His description of the assignment and the bay follows:

“It fell to my lot to make the first survey of York Harbour in 1793. Lieutenant-Governor the late Gen. Simcoe, who then resided at Navy Hall, Niagara, having formed extensive plans for the improvement of the colony, had resolved upon laying the foundations of a provincial capital. I was at that period in the naval service of the Lakes, and the survey of Toronto (York) Harbour was entrusted by his Excellency to my performance.

I still distinctly recollect the untamed aspect which the country exhibited when first I entered the beautiful basin, which thus became the scene of my early hydrographical operations. Dense and trackless forests lined the margin of the lake and reflected their inverted images in its glassy surface.

The wandering savage had constructed his ephemeral habitation beneath their luxuriant foliage (the group then consisting of two families of Mississagas) and the bay and neighboring marshes were the hitherto uninvaded haunts of immense coveys  of wild fowl. Indeed, they were so abundant as in some measure to annoy us during the night.”

- Joseph Bouchette, The British Dominions in North America, 1831, V1, Quarto Ed.

Click the image to view a full-size version (4 MB).

Plan of Toronto Harbour, With the Rocks, Shoals & Soundings Thereof, Surveyed & Drawn by Joseph Bouchette. 1792.

Original image scan courtesy City of Toronto Archives: MT101. Large version liberated by W. Xavier Snelgrove.
Winearls, MUC no. 2013

Bouchette’s work was key to opening up the bay to future navigators and lake captains -- the entry to Toronto harbour was difficult to navigate in Simcoe’s time. Bouchette would later go on to become Surveyor General.

Following is another plan by Bouchette in 1793, a hydrographic chart which also an entry for 'Old Toronto Fort'—the site of the French Fort Rouillé. Of note, the town plot for York, and a proposed fortification on the western tip of the peninsula. Click to expand:

Plan of Toronto Harbour with the Rocks, Shoals, & Soundings etc. surveyed & drawn by J. Bouchette
Winearls, MUC no. 2013 (2)

Image courtesy Library and Archives Canada: NMC4436
[See also: TPL T[1792]/4Msm

And lastly, compare below the 1797 Bouchette Plan of York Harbour - Courtesy TPL: T1815/fold.
Winearls, MUC no. 2013 (4)

Click to expand:

The inscription is a bit of braggadacio, marking a notable youthful exploit of Bouchette’s (circa 1792) wherein he rescued an abandoned 80 ton flagship that had embarrasingly run aground on a shoal at the entrance of the harbour:

a. H.M. Schooner Anandaga 14 Guns wrecked but raised by Lieut. Joseph Bouchette and brought to b. where she again grounded but was afterwards brought to c. The dotted lines d.e.f.g. shew the breaking of the Ice in the Spring.

Bouchette was promoted on May 12, 1794 to Second Lieutenant at the age of 20 as a result of his daring.

The above map appeared in a book of Bouchette’s published in 1815. York is shown as it was around 1797.

Some other Bouchette links
Bouchette’s text quoted above was used by Sarah Nind in her public art commission at the Harbourfront, Pine Cones.
Another Toronto Harbour Plan by Aitken with soundings by Bouchette.

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1851 Fleming Topographical Plan of the City of Toronto

Sandford Fleming
Image courtesy LAC, C-001164

‘While Sandford Fleming worked as a land surveyor in 1851, he drew this plan with engravings of the principal buildings of the city around the edges. Toronto's main business and commercial section ran from Princess Street to Bay Street and extended to the water's edge with wharves and warehouses. The area west of Bay Street was not as densely settled, especially along the waterfront, and many houses were shown on large wooded lots. South of Front Street was open land with only a few wharves.’

- TPL, All Aboard Toronto

‘Despite a doubling of population in the nine years since the 1842 [Cane] map was made, Toronto had not expanded much in physical area. New building had mainly extended the area of the compact urban core. The university land to the west and the large estates to the east channeled growth up Yonge Street. As in the 1842 map, the views in the border are of churches, banks, and other institutions that suggest the building of a sober and stable society.’

- Isobel Ganton & Joan Winearls, MAPPING TORONTO'S FIRST CENTURY 1787-1884

Click image to view full-size version (5 MB).

TOPOGRAPHICAL PLAN OF THE CITY OF TORONTO, IN THE PROVINCE OF CANADA, From actual Survey, by J. STOUGHTON DENNIS, Provin’l. Land Surveyor. Drawn and Compiled by SANDFORD A. FLEMING, Provin’l. Land Surveyor. 1851. // THIS PLAN IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE WORSHIPFUL THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN, AND COMMONALTY OF THE CITY OF TORONTO, BY THE AUTHOR. PUBLISHED BY HUGH SCOBIE, ADELAIDE BUILDINGS, KING STREET EAST. TORONTO. Engraved on Stone by Sandford A. Fleming, Land Surveyor, 67, Yonge St.
Lithograph, colour; backed with linen. 12 chains to one inch

Image courtesy of Toronto Public Library: T1851/4Mlrg. Winearls, MUC no. 2090
[The catalogue copy is a lower resolution. Ahem. -N.]

In hopes of securing a better image, I took a trip to the Toronto Reference Library to examine the map in person, at the Baldwin Room. I took photographs, but the copy is kept inside a plastic protective sleeve, resulting in horrible glare; hence the odd angles and white splotches. Nevertheless, the fine engraving details are a delight to take in:

And here’s the map section, in 4 parts:
Click images to view full-size versions.

Inscription: ‘This plan is most respectfully dedicated to the worshipful the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city of Toronto, by the author. Inset: The harbour of Toronto and adjoining coast. Includes engravings of principal buildings in margins (list of bldgs. on back of page). Includes index to public buildings and index to places of worship.’

Surveyor: John Stoughton Dennis (1820-1885)
Publisher: Hugh Scobie
Drawn & Compiled by: Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915)

‘John Stoughton Dennis (1820-1885) became a Provincial Land Surveyor in 1842. He was responsible for the surveying of more than 25 subdivisions in Toronto including the curvilinear plan for Rosedale which may have been his idea and for the training of many young surveyors in the 1840s and 1850s. He became Surveyor General of Canada in 1871.’ (Ganton/Winearls)

Hugh Scobie was an energetic Scotsman who published a newspaper, The British Colonist out of a book and stationery store at 16 King E. in Toronto. He listed his services as: “Bookseller, and stationer, printer, bookbinder, lithographer, copperplate and woodengraver.” 

This business eventually later became Copp, Clark & Co., which published the 1876 P.A. Gross Bird’s Eye View of Toronto.

During the preparation of this map over the course of 1850, Scobie expressed dissatisfaction with Fleming’s pace on the project, and conflict arose over payment. A major source of tension was the attribution: in an early version, Sandford Fleming was uncredited.

‘I have no heart to go on with the map unless I get credit for my work. If I don’t choose to finish it, send down the storm,’ wrote Fleming. [Sir Sandford Fleming: His Early Diaries, 1845-1853]

In the end the dispute was settled, and Fleming’s name appears thrice on the map.

Bonus Map - 1852 Military Reserves Boundaries
Fleming also worked on the following ‘Verification Plan’, which is too interesting not to share as a bonus:

Click image to view full-size version (PDF).
 

Verification Plan shewing the Boundaries as marked on the ground of the Military Reserves belonging to the Ordnance in the City of Toronto, County and Township of York, Canada West as surveyed by Mr. Sandford Fleming Provincial Land Surveyor between the months of November 1851 & May 1852 and verified by Lieut. Berdoe A. Wilkinson, Royal Engineers and Mr. Nelson Walker. Survr. Draftsn. Royal Engineer Depart. 1852.

Image courtesy Library and Archives Canada: MIKAN 4138834. [See also U of T Map and Data Library.]
Another version by Fleming: LAC MIKAN4138833 [At U of T].

See Also: 1857 Fleming Ridout & Schreiber Plan of the City of Toronto

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1862 HJ Browne Plan of the City of Toronto

“This map shows the great increase in subdivided land as a result of the boom years of the 1850s. Building lagged well behind subdivision, however, and many of the lots shown here were still vacant decades later.

This type of plan, known as a "compiled plan" first appeared in the 1850s. It was put together from the official plans in the Registry Office, and was very helpful- to speculators, builders, and ordinary citizens trying to locate lots.

Only the major buildings in the city are shown and, as before, they are mainly churches, banks, and institutions.”

- Isobel Ganton & Joan Winearls, MAPPING TORONTO'S FIRST CENTURY 1787 - 1884

Click the image to view a full-size version (10+ MB).

PLAN OF THE CITY OF TORONTO showing THE GOVERNMENT SURVEY and the Registered SUBDIVISION into LOTS, according to plans filed in the Office of the City Registrar. Compiled and drawn from surveys made expressly for the purpose by H. J. BROWNE under the direction of J. O. BROWNE CIVIL ENGINEER AND P.L. SURVEYOR. 1862. FULLER & BENCKE LITH. TORONTO.

Original image scan courtesy City of Toronto Archives (MT 845). Winearls, MUC no. 2139
Large version liberated by W. Xavier Snelgrove.

Lovely, isn’t it?

Harry John Browne was the son of John Ownsworth Browne.

The TPL has this (T1862/4Mlrg) uncolored, markedly less ragged version (at a lower but still useable resolution):

Click the image to view a full-size version.

Delightful!

See also LAC: NMC 16921 for a mediocre B&W scan.

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1842 Cane Topographical Plan of the City and Liberties of Toronto

“This, the first major map of the city and the first detailed portrayal of Toronto since 1818, indicates that the village had become a city. The urban core, which had moved west to King and Yonge, consisted of compact rows of shops and dwellings. The "house in a garden" had moved to the suburban fringe. The inverted-T shape of Toronto's built-up area was already evident as growth followed the main roads out of the city: Yonge Street, Lot (Queen) Street, and Kingston Road. Note the oversupply of building lots - typical after subdivision booms, such as that of the 1830s.

The main buildings on the map - churches, banks, and institutions are keyed to the list on the left. On the right is a list of societies without prominent buildings, as well as other information about the city.

A few features, such as the diamond-shaped square on Spadina, and Richmond Square near Lot and Parliament, were never implemented.”

- Isobel Ganton & Joan Winearls, MAPPING TORONTO'S FIRST CENTURY 1787-1884

In August of 1842, Cane wrote to Toronto City Council to ask for assistance in the printing and publication of the map, but several weeks later withdrew his request. It was the first major map of the city.

I really enjoy the delicate lines, tinting and details in this map!

Click the image to view a full-size version.

Topographical Plan of the City and Liberties of Toronto, In the Province of Canada, Surveyed Drawn and Published by James Cane Tophl Engr 1842 / Dedicated by special permission To His Excellency The Right Hon. Sir Charles Bagot, G.C.B. Gov'r Gen'l of British N. America by his very obedient, humble & devoted servant James Cane.

Engraved and printed by Sherman & Smith (NY). Lithograph; 1 inch to 7 chains.

Image courtesy TPL: T1842/4Mlrg c1. Winearls, MUC no. 2077

The Toronto Archives has a very high-resolution scan that is not coloured. This scan is excellent for examining the tiniest of details:

Click the image to view a full-size version (4+ MB).

Original image scan courtesy City of Toronto Archives (1933 Duplicate: Fonds 200, Series 372, Subseries 15, Item 76; Original is MT255, Records Centre box 591507). Large version liberated by W. Xavier Snelgrove. Also: U of T has a mediocre scan here.

“James Cane was a civil engineer and artist, who worked in Toronto and Montreal in the late 1830s and 1840s. This plan was printed in New York for lack of local lithographers of maps. In 1846 he produced a similar map of Montreal. Little is known about his background, but the great care with which the map has been executed suggests considerable training in surveying and map-making.”

- Ganton/Winearls, ibid.

The coat of arms graphic is fascinating to examine:

This graphic is a stylized version of Toronto’s old coat of arms, which was chosen by William Lyon Mackenzie and city council during his term as Toronto’s first mayor.

“The shield consisted of four quarters between a white cross charged with a red maple leaf. The first quarter was red and charged with three golden lions as an allusion to the coat of arms of England, the second was blue with a white stylized rose to allude to York, the third was also blue with a white cog wheel for industry and the final fourth quarter showed a scene of a steam boat in red and gold to represent the importance of the lake and water ways in and around the city. The crest was a beaver atop a gold mural crown. The supporters were a First Nations warrior (likely representing the local Mississaugas) with bow on the viewer’s left and the personification of Britannia with trident and shield painted with the Union Jack to the viewer’s right. The motto was “Industry, Intelligence, Integrity”.

In an even earlier version, a beaver was in place of the white rose and a sheaf of wheat instead of the cog wheel. As well the earlier coat of arm's First Nations supporter was a Chief holding an axe and both supporters were facing directly across to one another.” [Wikipedia]

It makes for an interesting contrast to the current coat of arms. Full description here.

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1857 Fleming Ridout & Schreiber: Plan of the City of Toronto

This map shows the boundaries of the city, all streets, ward boundaries, parks and some notable buildings. Printed at the edges of the map is information concerning fire alarms and cab districts and fares.

The original of this map hung in room 14, a boardroom in Old City Hall. It now hangs on display in the second floor boardroom of the City of Toronto Archives.

‘Fleming, Ridout & Schreiber’ refers to Sir Sandford Fleming, Thomas Ridout, and Collingwood Schreiber. Both Sandford Fleming and Collingwood Schreiber were railway engineers as well as surveyors, so it is no surprise their map is the benchmark for recording the railway building in the 1850s.

It showed how completely the railways enveloped Fort York, with the GWR and GTR being the chief offenders. The GTR's cruciform Engine House dominated the fort's east end. It was constructed on part of the ten acres of land that the GTR had reclaimed from the lake. Another ten acres at the depot and the rail corridor to the west was formerly Ordnance land.

Click the image to view a full-size version (7+ MB).

Plan of the City of Toronto Canada West 1857. // Published by Fleming Ridout & Schreiber / Lithographed by J. Ellis 8 King St. Toronto C.W.
Original image scan courtesy City of Toronto Archives: Fonds 2, Series 88, Item 13.
Winearls, MUC no. 2131

Large version liberated by W. Xavier Snelgrove.

For comparison, the following map appeared as an addendum in Thomas Blackwell’s Report of the Grand Trunk Railway Company for the year 1859. Published by Waterlow & Sons Lith., it seems to be closely based on the Fleming Ridout & Schreiber map. [The 'ca. 1857' and the green highlighting are, I believe, modern amendments to the file]

Click the image to view a full-size version.

Toronto Canada West
by Waterlow & Sons Lith. London, 1860

Map available at Library and Archives Canada: MIKAN 4138854.

See Also: 1851 S Fleming Topographical Plan of the City of Toronto

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1858 WS Boulton: Atlas of the City of Toronto and Vicinity

“Sometime in 1858, William Somerville Boulton (1830-1860) and his brother Henry Carew Boulton (1833-1898), young Provincial Land Surveyors, completed this massive 30-sheet map or "atlas" of the City of Toronto. At one inch to 100 feet, this was the largest scale map of Toronto produced to that date and the first to show buildings in detail. The massive printing job was undertaken by John Ellis, a leading local map printer. It is no wonder the "atlas" took a prize at the Upper Canada Provincial Exhibition in 1858.

The maps indicated the construction material of buildings from stone through brick (red) to frame (grey and white). The legend also indicates a further classification of buildings (by use of 1s and 2s) into 1st and 2nd class buildings in that category. Information on fire alarms is also given.

With its detailed information on building materials, the "atlas" may be considered a forerunner of the fire insurance plans of the 1880s.”

- Isobel Ganton & Joan Winearls, MAPPING TORONTO'S FIRST CENTURY 1787-1884

The Boulton Atlas covers an area south of Bloor from roughly Dufferin in the west, to the Don River in the east. To create the following key map, I committed a slight cartographic atrocity by overlaying the plate areas on top of the 1857 Fleming, Ridout & Schreiber Plan of the City of Toronto -- the Boulton Atlas does not have a key.

Click any number to view the corresponding plate. 



[Atlas of Toronto] [Imprint on most sheets]: Surveyed & Compiled by W.S. & H.C. Boulton Toronto. / Lithographed & Published by Jno Ellis 8, King Street.
Images from this set are courtesy of the Toronto Public Library: 912.71354 B594 1858.
Winearls, MUC no. 2133

To see how the physical structure of the city changed between 1858 and 1880, compare the Boulton plates to those of Goad’s Atlas of Toronto.

Update—zoomable, scrollable version
Try out this stitched-together version my friend and I created! View the map in full page mode here.


[read: the background story on this version]

Notes on specific plates
(via Ganton/Winearls)

Plate 25: The New Town in 1858
Although this area had been a centre for provincial government buildings since the 1830s, development slowed after the government left Toronto in 1841. After the government returned in 1855, development of the area continued with row housing, rear lanes, and new streets in evidence.

Note that Government House and the Executive Council office, both in spacious grounds, were oriented to the north, rather than to the street grid. Upper Canada College and the Parliament Buildings followed the American tradition of being located in a square, rather than the British tradition of fronting on it.

The Royal Alexandra Theatre now sits on the Upper Canada College grounds and faces Roy Thomson Hall on the site of Government House.

Plate 16: "The Ward", 1858
This area immediately to the west of Yonge Street was built up with inexpensive housing by the time this plan was made. By the end of the century, the district had degenerated into a slum known as "The Ward".

This is one of few sections of the city where not only original buildings, but even many of the original streets have disappeared to make way for hospitals, the Eaton Centre, and City Hall. The few surviving buildings in this area are Osgoode Hall, Trinity Church, and the House of Industry (south of Elm at Elizabeth Street) [Only the north façade of the HoI remains. -N.].

The map shows how the present width of University Avenue was achieved by combining College Avenue with Park Lane, the street giving access to lots to the east.

Plate 17: A Good Address, 1858
The area east of Yonge was also built up by 1858, but with a more substantial type of housing in brick (in red), especially at the "good addresses" along Jarvis and Church.

Most of this area was subdivided according to the McGill plan of 1836 and much resubdivision into smaller lots is evident here.

In contrast, the amalgamation of some lots along Bond Street for large institutional buildings, such as St. Michael's Cathedral and the Normal School, posed a barrier to the eastward expansion of the Yonge Street commercial area.

Plate 28: The Old Town, 1858
The ten blocks of the original town and the blocks to the north had been built up well before the 1850s. Note the Bank of Upper Canada at George and Duke and the Post Office immediately to the east, both erected two to three decades earlier when this area was the centre of town. Although the commercial centre had moved away from the Old Town, it remained a respectable residential area for some time to come.

The bend of Britain Street marks the old detour around the marshes of Taddle Creek, the route used before Queen Street was completed in the 1840s.

The Bank of Upper Canada and the jail were among the few buildings in Toronto built of stone.

Bonus:
Plate 24 Jameson Villa. West of Brock and Wellington on this plate may be found the villa of Robert Jameson (labelled Widder). See here for some detailed history on this building.

Meta-commentary
For some time, I wanted to do a key-map for the Boulton Atlas as a follow-up to my previous mapping project, Goad’s Atlas of Toronto -- Online! The Boulton Atlas (as discussed above) can be thought of as a fore-runner of the Goad insurance plans, showing building outlines and construction materials.

I kept putting it off because it wasn’t a Goad work, and also because I couldn’t find a satisfactory ‘vertically-aligned’ contemporary map on which to overlay the panel outlines (I’m not one of those technical types who understands kml files and georeferencing). I realized the 1857 Fleming Ridout & Schreiber plan conveniently covered the same area, and could be repurposed accordingly.

Then I thought for completeness’ sake, I ought to also post the 1842 Cane Topological map somewhere, because it too shows many building and structural outlines.

These factors combined as the major impetus for initially assembling this site.

A historical tidbit for those of you who read this far: William Henry Boulton was the Mayor of Toronto in 1858. 

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Derek Jeter's Ups and Downs in 2011

It's a pretty common for a lot of men to wish they were Derek Jeter— probably a few women too.  Who wouldn't want to be the starting shortstop of the New York Yankees?  Rich, handsome, athletic and the idol of thousands of fans. There wasn't too much not to like about the basically untarnished image of the Yankees Captain until 2011 rolled around.

There was a lot of good, bad and great things for Jeter in 2011.

The past year was probably the most turbulent and public twelve months in both Jeter's personal and baseball life.  The virtuous Jeter started showing a few chinks in his armor.

Coming off the Yankees losing to the Texas Rangers in the 2010 ALCS, Jeter ushered in 2011 after contentious contract negotiations with the Yankees— the only pro team he has ever played for.

The leaking of the private negotiations led to a public feud with GM Brian Cashman and Hal and Hank Steinbrenner and left a bitter taste in Jeter's mouth.  A three-year, $51 million deal was deemed an overpayment by many for the 36-year old player on his last legs.

At a press conference, Jeter bared his fangs but tempered his anger at how the talks were handled by management. 

Not a good way to start the new year even with 51 million reasons to be happy.

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