The Beginnings of French Toronto
Between the 1660s and 1759, the Humber River gained importance in the struggle between France and Britain for control of the fur trade with Aboriginal peoples. That struggle led the French to establish a presence in what is today Toronto.
In the 1670s, French trading posts opened at Kingston and Niagara to intercept Aboriginal traders paddling fur-laden canoes along the shores of Lake Ontario, en route to British outposts to the south. In 1720, a less significant post or magasin royal was built by the Sieur Douville near the former site of Teiaiagon, just up the river from here, to further attract Aboriginal fur traders coming down le passage de Toronto along the Humber. The post was staffed by a clerk and perhaps two soldiers, and lasted fewer than ten years due to British competition.
In 1750, the French returned to the south end ofle passage de Toronto, and a new trading post, Fort Toronto, was built by the Sieur de Portneuf near here, closer to the mouth of the river. Within a year, that building was replaced by the more substantial Fort Rouillé (also known as Fort Toronto) on the site of today's Exhibition Place. It was burned and abandoned in 1759 after the British took control of Lake Ontario. The fort's remains were still visible to the first settlers in the Town of York (now Toronto) in 1793.
Some of the French soldiers and traders stationed here - Toronto's first year-round European inhabitants - may still lie in undiscovered graves near the former French forts.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Toronto Plaques. Full page here.