TO’s first movie house, the Theatorium, in 1906. The customers posed for the shot.
Here’s why Twitter is a good thing. Thousands of people who could not tell you what day this City was incorporated are now history smarties thanks to the Hashtag TO181. Take a look. There’s lots of action there. Seriously, Toronto the Good was stamped, sealed and delivered on March 6, 1834 and took the name Toronto at that time. It is a first nations word meaning meeting place. Toronto began as the Town of York, a community which grew up around Fort York beginning in 1793. At incorporation, the City had a population of less than 30-thousand inhabitants. A highlight of the City’s first century includes gas-fed street lamps which were installed in 1841. In 1849, King’s College was renamed the University of Toronto. In 1861 streetcar service began but they were horse-powered vehicles in the most literal sense of the term. The first Eaton’s store opened in 1869. The CNE was first held in 1879 and in 1893 Union Station (not the present building) opened.
