Remembering the Toronto Islands: April 13: Snapshots in History
On April 13 and beyond, take a moment to remember the Toronto Islands that make up an important portion of the City of Toronto’s waterfront. Individuals who follow Toronto’s history may be interested to know that “(t)he Toronto Islands were not always islands but actually a series of continuously moving sand-bars originating from Scarborough Bluffs and carried westward by Lake Ontario currents”. The Royal Navy surveyed the sandbars initially in 1792 (See below: Plan of Toronto Harbour with the rocks, shoals & Soundings), but prior to that, local Indigenous peoples accessed the sandbars for recreation and leisure purposes. By the 1800s, the main sandbar (consisting of alluvial deposits from the erosion of the Scarborough Bluffs) was nine kilometres in length, extending southwest from Woodbine Avenue through Ashbridge’s Bay and the marshes of the lower Don River, thereby resulting in a natural harbour between Lake Ontario and the mainland. The main sandbar formed a peninsula that became known to European settlers as the “Island of Hiawatha” (known as Menecing (“On the island”) in the Ojibwa language). The flow from the Niagara River to the south side of Lake Ontario resulted in an east-to-west current that created a sand spit at the south end of Toronto Harbour.
The peninsula was prone to erosion from severe storm and concentrated wave actions. An 1852 storm flooded some sand pits on the peninsula, creating a channel east of what is now Ward’s Island. Repairs were attempted to close the gap but the storm of April 13, 1858 completely detached the peninsula from the mainland and the resulting Eastern Gap was not repaired or filled in. The Globe newspaper carried a short article in the April 14, 1858 issue on page 3, entitled “THE ISLAND HOTEL WASHED AWAY”. Here is an excerpt from that article:
“A disaster which has for some time been anticipated, occurred yesterday morning…the washing away of Mr. Quinn’s hotel on the Island. The storm commenced early on the afternoon of the previous day…towards night the breeze freshened, and continued blowing steadily from the north-east…Towards morning the waves were breaking on the beach in rear of the house…the water made a complete breach over the island, undermining the house and leaving it a total wreck…at the same time, making a channel four or five feet in depth, which will make a convenient eastern entrance to the harbour…”
To view the article in full, please access the Globe and Mail Historical Newspaper Archive database with a valid Toronto Public Library card.
Sediment deposits on the Toronto Islands stopped in the 1960s with the expansion of the Leslie Street Spit (or the Outer Harbour East Headland) beyond the southern edge of the Toronto Islands. If the Toronto Islands had been left to natural developments in this newer context, they would have grown smaller in size but land reclamation and reinforced shoreline efforts have served to protect and increase the size of the Toronto Islands. Dredging sand from the shallow harbour bottom was used to increase the size of Ward’s Island and to create Algonquin Island (formerly referred to as Sunfish Island). Harbour sands were used from the western channel to create landfill originally for an amusement park that is now the site of the Billy Bishop (i.e. Toronto Island) airport.
The Toronto Islands saw new challenges in 2017 with high rainfall levels and above-average water levels on Lake Ontario which flooded part of the islands and resulted in the cancellation of city permits in the late spring/early summer of 2017. In May 2017, Lake Ontario rose to a one hundred year high in water levels and 46,000 sandbags were placed on the Toronto Islands. Environmental activist and post-doctoral fellow James Steenberg discussed these developments in his July 12, 2017 article in Spacing magazine entitled “Mapping the flood vulnerability of the Toronto Islands”. Nonetheless, the Toronto Star reported on July 30, 2017 that Toronto Island Park would be re-opening even though Olympic Island remained closed and some areas would be marked as off-limits due to the presence of groundwater.
Consider the following titles for borrowing from Toronto Public Library collections:
Book, 2016
Book, 2013
Book, 2010
Book, 1999
Book, 1972
Consider the following maps for viewing from the Toronto Reference Library, Baldwin Collection:
Toronto Island, plan of park improvement and proposed water ways to accompany a report of commissioner of parks, dated Dec. 15th, 1903.
Map, 1903, English
Notes
Signed by Villiers Sankey, City Surveyor and by John Chambers, Commissioner of Parks. Photostat copy available.|1903 Date Created year accurate; month and day unknown for 1903; Publisher: Rolph and Clarke, Toronto; Rights and Licenses: Public Domain ; Medium: 1 map: lithograph, colour; backed with linen. Extent: 400 ft. to 1 in.
(Credit: Toronto Reference Library, Baldwin Collection; Call Number / Accession Number: T1903/4Mlrg)
"Toronto Island". Plan of the subdivision of "The Eastern Point".
Map, 1880, English
Notes
The bearings are magnetic and are calculated from the bearing of the line in rear of lots 1 and 2. Rights and Licenses: Public Domain; Medium: 1 map: printed, black and white. Extent: 3 chains to an inch
(Credit: Toronto Reference Library, Baldwin Collection; Call Number / Accession Number: T1880/4Msm)
Garrison reserve [ and ] town of York.
Map, 1816, English
Notes
Photostat copy available. Rights and Licenses: Public Domain; Medium: 1 map: lithograph, black and white; backed with linen. Extent: 20 chains to an inch.
(Credit: Toronto Reference Library, Baldwin Collection; Call Number / Accession Number: T[1816]/4Msm)
Plan of Toronto Harbour with the rocks, shoals & Soundings.
Bouchette, J. [ Joseph ] (1774-1841)
Map, 1792, English
Notes
Photostat copy available.|1792? Date Created year accurate; month and day unknown for 1792; Rights and Licenses: Public Domain; Medium: 1 map: lithograph, black and white; backed with linen. Extent: 33.5 x 43.5 cm; sheet 45.5 x 58 cm; Contributor: Bouchette, J. [ Joseph ] (1774-1841)
(Credit: Toronto Reference Library, Baldwin Collection; Call Number / Accession Number: T[1792]/4Msm)
Please see also the following blog posts on weather-related local history topics:
Remembering the Toronto Flood of 2013: July 8: Snapshots in History
Remembering the December 20-23, 2013 Ice Storm: Snapshots in History
Remembering Hurricane Hazel: October 15: Snapshots in History
Remembering the “Great” Snowstorm of 1944: December 11-12: Snapshots in History
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