The majority of the 1.4 million tourists who visit the Toronto Islands each year don’t stray far from the beaten path of Center Island and Hanlan’s Point. They thus miss a unique community of some 600 people who resist the urban frenzy, like the village of the diehard Gauls.
The first tent city was at Ward Island
The First Nations were familiar with the series of continuously moving sandbars that originated from the Scarborough Cliffs, pushed by the currents of Lake Ontario. In 1858, a violent storm separated the peninsula from the coast, forming the Eastern Canal on the east side of Ward Island.
In the mid-1800s, seasonal fishermen began camping on the island. Beginning in the 1850s, with the advent of public ferry transportation, their families joined them during the summer months. This created Toronto’s first tent city.
In 1878, a hotel was built by John Hanlan at the northwest end of the island, which became Hanlan’s Point. William Ward, son of the fisherman who settled at the east end, also built a hotel in 1882.
On the rest of Center Island, wealthy Torontonians were building their second homes. We think, among others, of George Gooderham (who built the Distillery district) and EJ Lennox (to whom we owe Casa Loma and the old Town Hall).
#Canada
