Village of Yorkville/Yorkville Town Hall
Village of Yorkville
Once crossed by an ancient aboriginal trail (Davenport Road), the area known today as Yorkville was first permanently settled by those of European descent in the early 1800s. The Red Lion Inn, one of the first buildings in the area, was a stagecoach stop and vital gathering place. Economic growth was spurred by brick-making and brewing industries established from the 1830s.
The community was linked in 1849 to the City of Toronto by H.B. Williams' horse-drawn omnibus service. In 1853 it was incorporated as the Village of Yorkville. Despite annexation by the city of Toronto in 1883, Yorkville remained a quiet community of predominantly middle- and working-class people well into the 20th-century.
In the 1950s, artists and actors transformed the area into a thriving arts community. By the mid- to late 1960s, Yorkville had become famous for its 'hippies', folk music, and coffee houses. Redevelopment has since altered much of the old incorporated Village. Still, streets north of Yorkville Avenue, west of Avenue Road (now part of the Annex) retain much of their 19th- and early 20th-century character.
Yorkville Town Hall
Designed by William Hay, one of Toronto's most important early architects, the Yorkville Town Hall was built by William McGinnis, and opened on this site in 1860, fronting onto Yonge Street. High Victorian in style, it was constructed of local 'white' (yellow) bricks with red and blackened brick trim, and boasted three stained glass rose windows that illuminated a third-floor public hall seating 500.
In its second-floor Council Chamber, local politicians debated, among other things, 'the running at large of Pigs and Swine and Poultry', the planking of sidewalks and the 'prevention of immoderate driving'. In 1861, the privately owned horse-drawn Toronto Street Railway commenced service from the Town Hall to the St. Lawrence Market. After the clock tower was completed in 1889, the Town Hall's bells sounded the working day and rang for fire alarms.
After annexation in 1883 ended Yorkville's village government, the Council Chamber was used as a public library. The building also housed the Yorkville Company of the York Rangers, the Naval Club, and the offices of the Toronto Street Railway, and had space for community use.
The Yorkville Town Hall was destroyed by fire on November 12, 1941. All that remains in the carved stone coat-of-arms, since mounted on the Yorkville Fire Hall.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Toronto Plaques. Full page here.