Government building.

Details of Site Location: The east side of Main Street just north of Swanwick (between Kingston Road and the Danforth.

Boundary History: Large double building lot.

Current Use of Property: Kimberley Public School.

Historical Description: As a municipality, East Toronto absorbed earlier communities and was incorporated 1 January 1888. Prior to that it had been part of the Township of York. John Ross Robertson refers to the municipality as East York, a usage certain to distress residents of Canada’s former and only borough of that name. Both happen to be east of the Don River, but one is north of the Danforth and one is south. At incorporation, the population stood at 750 and the new community was not in good shape. Most of its roads were just sand, with the exception of Main Street, and of the few sidewalks even fewer were made of wood. An election was called, and Mr. D.G. Stephenson was elected Reeve, a job he continued in until 1894. The first Council meeting was held on 16 January 1888, and for nearly all that year, village meetings were held in Morton’s Hall beside St. Saviour Anglican Church. On 21 February, Council decided to take over the second floor of the village fire hall and used it from 1888 to 1909. The building was a wooden two-storey structure with a cupola on top with a bell. The Town Hall was on the second floor, and the first floor was the fire hall. The first floor had two big doors for fire wagons and a window on the south side. The roof had wooden shingles and a brick chimney on the peak near the rear. For the first year, the main business was the repair of roads and sidewalks and setting the municipality in order. By 1893, the Scarborough Electric Railway was running along Kingston Road between Woodbine and Scarborough, with a spur line directly into the village. When the village had increased sufficiently in size, it was re-incorporated as a town on 1 January 1903, with Dr. W.R, Walters as its first Mayor. The final Mayor was Andrew McMillan, who served in 1908. On 1 January 1909, East Toronto was annexed to the City of Toronto.

Relative Importance: In any town, the municipal building is important, and should be preserved or commemorated if it has been lost, since these buildings can continue to serve needs within the local community. In the case of East Toronto, it was a community of communities, each with its own distinctive history and character. Residents of today and the future deserve to know that history and of the role of the humble building that took the area through formative years.

Planning Implications: A plaque at the front of the school yard is recommended, and it should state that the community was East Toronto before it was Toronto.

Reference Sources: John Ross Robertson, Landmarks of Toronto (1914); files of the Beach and East Toronto Historical Society.

Acknowledgements: Maps Project; Beach and East Toronto Historical Society.