Industrial site.

Details of Site Location: The east bank of the Humber south of Bloor Street, facing the island.

Boundary History: The site occupied a small part of Lot 41, Concession 1, from the Bay, approximately an acre and a half at most.

Current Use of Property: Semi-wild, used by hikers following the riverbank and by children playing.

Historical Description: John Dennis (1758–1832) was born in Philadelphia, and as a Loyalist moved to Beaver Harbour, New Brunswick, for five years. He became a master builder and moved to Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake). Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe felt that Newark was too close to the Americans and recommended Dennis move to York. In 1796 he was granted land on the east side of the Humber, where he set up a ship-building business. His lumber was supplied by the King’s Mill near by. Between 1796 and 1801, Dennis had at least three ships on the stocks, including the 50′ schooner HMS Toronto ordered by the government in 1799. During a storm in 1811, the ship sank off Hanlan’s Point; its skeleton was visible up to the 1940s. John Dennis moved his family to Kingston so that he could work at the Naval Shipyards there. Mathias Sanders then took over the Dennis yard, and he also married one of Dennis’s daughters. In 1813, Sanders was killed in the explosion of the magazine at Fort York during the American invasion. In 1818, a traveller cited the Dennis yard as a landmark. John Dennis returned to Toronto in 1815 after the war and built a house on the northeast corner of King and Yonge. He died there of cholera in 1832. This house was torn down when the Ridout brothers built a hardware store on the site. John’s son Joseph (1789–1867) was born in New Brunswick and was his father’s heir. Although he was a shipbuilder, he was more interested in sailing the ships than building them. Eventually, he moved to Weston.

Relative Importance: The site is important inasmuch as the first ship built in the British Regime was made here. In 1999, a celebration of that event was held at the Humber.

Planning Implications: The site has enormous implications for archaeology and must be flagged for investigation. Once the dig is completed, the site should be plaqued, commemorating both Dennis and the HMS Toronto.

Reference Sources: Edith G. Firth, The Town of York 1815–1834 (1966); John Ross Robertson, Landmarks of Toronto; Kathleen Lizars, The Valley of the Humber (1913); The Pier Museum.

Acknowledgements: Maps Project; The Pier Museum.