Accommodation and refreshment; stagecoach stop.
Details of Site Location: Yonge Street north of Eglinton Avenue near Montgomery Avenue.
Boundary History: “Lot 1, 1st concession, west side of Yonge, short distance north of Eglinton” (City Directory). The tavern occupied about half an acre at the extreme end of Lot 1, which was 200 acres.
Current Use of Property: Postal Station K, 2384 Yonge Street.
Historical Description: John Montgomery, in the early 1830s, built a two-storey Georgian wooden tavern on the west side of Yonge. It had a central door on the first floor with two windows on each side, and the second floor had five windows. It was called Montgomery’s Tavern or the Sickle and the Sheath. The area was then called Eglinton. Montgomery, who was described as heavy, dour, straight-lipped man, ran the tavern until 1 December 1837, when he leased it to a Tory by the name of Linfoot. Montgomery then moved to his farm a short distance away; however, he kept a room for himself at the tavern. Montgomery’s Tavern was used as one of the meeting places for William Lyon Mackenzie’s Reformers off and on during 1836 and 1837, and when Mackenzie decided to attack Toronto, the tavern was to be a rendezvous point. The attack was supposed to be on 7 December 1837 and he expected 5,000 rebels to back him. Dr. John Rolph, President of “Mackenzie’s Republic,” changed the date to 4 December. The rebels started to arrive during the evening of 4 December. Captain Moody shot at the rebels and was killed by them. About 2 o’clock on 5 December, the rebels marched down Yonge Street. Most Of the fewer than 800 men, most had only pikes, pitchforks, and cudgels, although a few dozen had rifles. The battle at Yonge and Maitland Streets was a fiasco: the rebels and the men led by Sheriff William Botsford Jarvis fired one volley of shots each and then left the area. On 7 December, a troop of 1,000 Provincial Troops marched up Yonge Street to Montgomery’s Tavern. They fired their cannons at the tavern and the rebels fled. The soldiers, under the orders of Lieutenant-Governor Bond Head, burned Montgomery Tavern.
Relative Importance: Montgomery Tavern was one of the important parts of the 1837 Rebellion and the struggle for Responsible Government.
Planning Implications: There is now a plaque on the site. However, somehow the people of Toronto need to know more about the rebellion; about Moody, who led the government forces; about Bond Head, who ordered troops to fire on their own citizens; about Mathews and Lount, who were caught and hanged as traitors but buried later as heroes; about the Baldwins’ diplomacy in achieving the goals sought by the rebels. Perhaps a re-enactment would help.
Reference Sources: John Ross Robertson, Landmarks of Toronto; 1837 Rebellion Remembered, Papers presented at the 1837 Rebellion Remembered Conference of the Ontario Historical Society, 1987; Colin Reed and Ronald Stagg, The Rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada (Champlain Society, 1985).