Social and medical history site.

Details of Site Location: Northwest corner of King and John Streets is the primary location.

Boundary History: The precise boundaries of the site are unknown, but the sheds occupied well over half an acre.

Current Use of Property: Parking lot. [Note: was a parking lot at time of Lost Sites publication. Now TIFF Lightbox / Metro Hall on SW corner]

Historical Description: The Irish, fleeing from the potato famines and other tragedies in Ireland, did not meet with a warm welcome in Toronto. They were hapless carriers of cholera, and the conditions on the ships that brought them to Canada were so terrible that most arrived in serious ill health. Roe’s Wharf was the main reception point for immigrants. The city was aware of the seriousness of health problems and passed sanitary regulation in June 1847. Quarantine sheds, the first in the city, were established at King and John for cholera, and other sheds set up near Bathurst for typhus. Dr. Widmer and other medical men attended the sick. Those who died were buried at the site, at the lot on Spadina, or in the cemetery at Queen and Power. As the health problems and numbers of immigrants kept growing, other sheds were built. Some migrants were housed in shanties, boarding houses, and even hotels. The problems belonged properly to the federal government, which later built the Dominion Government Immigration Sheds followed by a succession of other locations as this department changed. In the late 1850s, German, Scandinavian, and other immigrants arriving by boat generally went on by train to other places, including the northwestern United States. The poverty stricken Irish stayed, unable to proceed farther. While the Irish suffered terribly from cholera, and brought it to Toronto, there were several cholera epidemics for which the Irish cannot be blamed. Over 5,000 Irish never reached Toronto because of cholera, as the national park at Grosse Île attests. The real lack of proper sanitation systems in the city was a major factor in the spread of cholera to the general population, as well as in the spread of other plagues.

Relative Importance: The importance of this site is great. Despite later uses of the property, there is still considerable archaeological potential and concern for human remains or evidence of burials at the site. Because the burials were due to epidemics, there is an additional health concern remaining in the quality of the soils. Because throughout most of the 19th century, over 70% of Toronto’s population was of Irish origin, and because the Irish played major roles in the emerging city, this site has greater than average importance.

Planning Implications: Recommendations are for a full and complete archaeological investigation of the site to determine its full extent and to record what remains there. This investigation should be accompanied by careful soil testing. Any burials detected should be relocated and properly interred. The site should bear a plaque with full information about its history and the role of the Irish in Toronto, not all of whom passed through the sheds.

Reference Sources: Public Archives of Canada, immigration records; Archives of Ontario; City of Toronto Archives, especially Council Minutes; Goad’s Atlases.

Acknowledgements: Society for Industrial Archaeology; Community History Project.