Did you know?

[Paul]

An interesting fact:

In 1797 Toronto (at this time was called York) had only 241 inhabitants!

[lookingforjob]

And I bet 90% of these people were British soldiers :). This is very impressive if you compare it with the current size of GTA - I believe more than 5 million people live here and GTA is in the top 10 biggest cities in North America.

[RSTech]

When I was in high school (about 15 years ago) I worked in a Pharmacy and one of the previous owners of the Pharmacy told me about when he went to the College of Pharmacy in Toronto. The College of Pharmacy is part of University of Toronto not far from Spadina Circle. When he went to school there he said he would walk out the front door of the school and there was a corn field in front of the building. Anyone familiar with the area knows there is nothing resembling a field anywhere close to Spadina. I can't imagine Toronto ever being that way!

[newincanada]

When I was in high school (about 15 years ago) I worked in a Pharmacy and one of the previous owners of the Pharmacy told me about when he went to the College of Pharmacy in Toronto. The College of Pharmacy is part of University of Toronto not far from Spadina Circle. When he went to school there he said he would walk out the front door of the school and there was a corn field in front of the building. Anyone familiar with the area knows there is nothing resembling a field anywhere close to Spadina. I can't imagine Toronto ever being that way!

Do you know when that was? I can't imagine that; Spadina is in the heart of Toronto...

I've read somewhere that the first settlers were British, soldiers and labourers.
Toronto sure grows fast.

[RSTech]

Well, I'm guessing he was about 65 years old when he told me that story (15 years ago) and he probably went to school around 18 years old (possibly a little younger back then). If my math doesn't fail me we're looking at about 62 years ago, 1944.

A quick search brought me to this site http://www.toronto.ca/archives/ve1.htm that has some pictures of Toronto in 1945 when the end of WWII was announced. Looking at the pictures I'm starting to doubt the story myself; Spadina is not that far from Yonge street (picture below) and I find it hard to believe there are fields just beyond those buildings.

http://www.toronto.ca/archives/images/f1266_it96241small.jpg

[newincanada]

Maybe he was sharing his father's memories. I wasn't even born 1945 and those pictures that you dig are really remarkable.

[Paul]

The population in Toronto grew very fast. By the 1812 it had more than 700 residents. Many new buildings were built, including inns and hotels, military houses and a jail! They had to build a jail :eek: ; this reminds me of the cowboy movies - 2 blocks of houses, a pub and a jail...Anyway it is interesting to know how one of the biggest cities in North America was founded!

[Ascended]

i knew it was called york, didn'tknow exact pop, but yah that seems awfully low even at that time ... although more expansion in 1800s

[Tsveta]

Do you know when Edmonton was established and who were the first settlers?

[Ascended]

well colonists from the UK first settled at fort edmonton, meti communities settled around st.albert in the 1860s i believe after confederation, but the aboriginals were the first there .. although difficult to define 'settle'

[georgebuffet]

Hi There !!

Really !! It is a new information to me. Thanks :)