Archaeological site, marine history.

Details of Site Location: At the original shoreline at the foot of Frederick Street.

Boundary History: As Allan’s, this was a small wharf, enlarged later.

Current Use of Property: The site was buried with infill upon which later buildings have been constructed.

Historical Description: William Allan was an entrepreneur of the first order, but he had a tragic personal life. Of his eight sons, only George survived to carry on his businesses. William built this wharf in 1802, the first to be built by a private individual in the city’s history. Until Allan, all wharves had been built by the military. In 1803, a year after building the wharf, Allan received the patent to the water lot where the wharf was located. His clients were operating vessels under sail, and the cargoes shipped included potash, pearl ash, and flour being exported to the U.S.A. or Britain. In addition, William Allan was “Collector of Duties and Inspector of Pot Ashes and Pear Ashes and Flour,” an appointed position. On 8 June 1826, while William Lyon Mackenzie was away in Queenston, Samuel Peters Jarvis led a group of the town’s well-heeled young bloods who broke down the door of Mackenzie’s office, destroyed his printing press, and heaved it with the type into the harbour from this wharf. Allan was also postmaster, President of the Bank of Upper Canada, Acting Magistrate, Commissioner, and a colonel in the militia. Allan’s home was Moss Park, and the Allan name is attached to the lands donated for the development of Allan Gardens.

Relative Importance: As the builder of Toronto’s first privately owned wharf, Allan has a special place in history. That historical importance is heightened by the episode involving the destruction of Mackenzie’s printing operation. The press and type have never been retrieved, and there is a strong possibility that they are buried, along with some marine history and the wharf itself, in the infilled material on the site.

Planning Implications: The property should be flagged for future archaeological investigation at such time as the buildings on the site are to be replaced. The site should be plaqued as Toronto’s first non-military wharf and the beginning of commercial shipping, and as the location of Mackenzie’s printing equipment.

Reference Sources: City of Toronto Archives; map by James Cane (1842); Toronto Reference Library.

Acknowledgements: Maps Project.