Step back to Toronto’s earliest days with vivid scenes of court, community, and everyday life.
This historical collection offers a window into the social life and key events that shaped early Toronto. Through incidents from the old Court House and the people who formed the town, readers glimpse how law, politics, and daily life intertwined in a young Canadian city.
- Learn about court proceedings, juries, and notable trials that colored the town’s memory.
- Meet early Toronto figures, from aldermen to judges, and the roles they played in shaping the community.
- Explore connections to larger events in Canadian history, including emigration and frontier life.
- See how streets, buildings, and local landmarks looking different today were once part of daily life.
Ideal for history buffs, genealogists, and readers curious about the social texture of Ontario’s capital in its formative years.
Henry Scadding wrote the definitive history of early Toronto in 1873. His detailed portrait of the city is a goldmine of sights and insights into a Toronto long-since disappeared. The later version Toronto of Old, edited by Frederick H. Armstrong, is shorter than the original, with Scadding's references to outside cities and characters shortened or omitted to give the book a sharper focus on Toronto. This second edition is an updated and corected version of the 1966 edition.