page_title: St. Lawrence, Toronto
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: St. Lawrence, Toronto / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A 95 x 203 mm pen and ink drawing of the first Upper Canada Parliament, destroyed in the War of 1812. The site was first developed for the colony's Parliament commencing in 1794, and the buildings were burned to the ground by American forces on 27 April 1813. This drawings dates to the 1890s. An interpretive centre was opened on the site, located in what is now Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 2012. According to the displays in the centre, the buildings were one storey, red brick, measuring 24 by 40 feet, built 75 feet apart. The walkway connecting the two building was made of wood and added later. Committees met in smaller wooden outbuildings, also added later.
context_page_description: St. Lawrence is a neighbourhood located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The area, a former industrial area, is bounded by Yonge, Front, and Parliament Streets, and the Canadian National railway embankment. The Esplanade off Yonge St., lined with restaurants, cafés and hotels runs through the middle of the area. In previous times, the area was sometimes referred to as 'St. Lawrence Ward' or more often today as 'St. Lawrence Market', synonymous with the large retail vendor market which is the neighbourhood's focal point. The area is the site of a large city-sponsored housing project of the 1970s, which revitalized an old 'brownfields' area. The boundaries of the St Lawrence Neighbourhood Association and the St Lawrence Market BIA are somewhat larger than those noted above. Both groups have boundaries that extend from Yonge to Parliament Streets and Queen Street East to the rail corridor.
context_section_description: The town of York was founded in 1793, on a site of ten blocks north of Front Street between George and Berkeley streets, in present day Old Town, Toronto. Much of the area of today's St. Lawrence neighbourhood was then located in Toronto Harbour, the shoreline being just south of Front Street. The area was infilled to provide more land for port and industrial uses adjacent. St. Lawrence was the first industrial area of York.
  The first parliament buildings in Upper Canada in 1793 were constructed on the southwest corner of Parliament and Front Street. The buildings have long since gone from the site, but a discovery was made in 2000 when a quick dig of the property revealed the old parliament building footings, in addition to some pottery from that time. The City of Toronto and the Government of Ontario now own most of the property. There is a marker for the First Parliament Buildings at Parliament Square Park, West of Parliament Street, East of Berkeley, and South of Front. The marker is actually south of the original site. The Ontario Heritage Trust set up the Parliament Interpretive Centre at Front and Berkeley to provide historical information about this parliament that was destroyed by American troops during the War of 1812.  The Centre was open from 2012 to 2015, in remembrance of the 200th anniversary of the war.
  A Saturday farmers' market began operation at Front and Jarvis in 1803. The current South Market building, south of Front, is open Tuesday through Saturday, selling foods and other goods.  The North Market building hosted a farmers' market on Saturdays and a flea market on Sundays until its demolition in 2016, at which time they both moved to a temporary building south of The Esplanade.  A new, larger North Market Building is being built on the original site, with planned completion in 2021.
  In 1834, Toronto's first city hall was built on the southwest corner of King St. East & Jarvis St. at the old 'Market' building from 1834 (the year of Toronto's incorporation from the former town of York) to 1844. This building was damaged during the great fire of 1849 and replaced with the grandiose St. Lawrence Hall and a market building (today's North Market).
  A larger city hall, also housing a police station and jail cells, opened in 1845 with a 140 feet (43 m) long facade running along the south side of Front Street. City Hall was moved out of the area in 1899 to what is now Old City Hall before moving once again to its current location. The 1845 city hall was integrated into the St. Lawrence Market South building in 1899. In 1972, the remains of the city hall were converted into the "Market Gallery". The old council chamber is all that remains of the original city hall and is located on the gallery's second floor.
  By 1840, the waterfront was completely taken over by government and merchant wharves. The Esplanade, a 100 feet (30 m)-wide road, was proposed, just south of Front Street, with new water lots made from cribbing and filling of the shore to the south. The waterfront was extended to a survey line from the point of the Gooderham windmill west to a point due east of the old Fort Rouillé. Ostensibly for carriages and carts, the roadway eventually became primarily the route for rail lines in the central core. In exchange for 40 feet (12 m) of the Esplanade, the railways underwrote the infilling of the harbour. The Esplanade and infill project was completed by 1865.
  Commercial activity along Toronto's bustling harbour provided employment and was the primary place of entry to the quickly growing, burgeoning city. The convergence of the railway lines and the wharves must have worked because in 1873 historian Henry Scadding so eloquently wrote in his book Old Toronto of The Esplanade "...It has done for Toronto what the Thames Embankment has done for London..."
  In the 1920s, the railway lines were relocated to a new, raised viaduct to the south of the Esplanade. This left the current section between Yonge and Berkeley Street.
  By the 1960s, the industrial uses of the area had declined, leaving numerous empty sites 
caption: The Upper Canada legislature southwest of Front and Parliament Street. Completed in 1794, the complex was razed in 1813, after the Battle of York.
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