Between 1853 and 1881, six suburban communities in the province of Ontario opted for municipal status. Incorporation permitted these communities to separate from the rural townships of which they were a part. By and large these rural townships, dominated by an almost exclusively agrarian population, tended to ignore the needs and wants of the more urban population within their borders. While these suburban communities were generally neglected by their rural neighbors, they were increasingly viewed by the cities they neighbored as targets for annexation. There was a general sense in Ontario during the 1880s that the amalgamation of suburb and city was inevitable. However, there was a prevailing sense that there was ultimately an ideal time for this occurrence and that until that time suburban government would ensure that the suburbs were able to develop as their ratepayers and councils saw fit.
John G. Scott, The Parkdale Register Containing a History of Parkdale from Its Incorporation to the Present Time (Toronto, 1881), 1, 4.
2.
In total about six suburban municipalities emerged in Ontario between 1887 and 1894. These municipalities and their dates of incorporation included the Toronto suburbs of Toronto Junction (1887-1909), East Toronto (1888-1908), and North Toronto (1889-1912), the Ottawa suburbs of Ottawa East (1890-1907) and Hintonberg (1894-1907), and the Barrie suburb of Allandale (1892-1897). Other suburban municipalities emerged after 1900 and included such places as the Village of Burlington Beach (incorporated 1907), which was annexed by Hamilton in 1957. However, these communities obtained municipal status in the late 1880s or 1890s after most of the first order of municipal suburbs—found in this study— were amalgamated with the neighboring cities. Similarly, these municipalities remained independent well into the twentieth century. Elizabeth Bloomfield, Urban Growth and Local Services: The Development of Ontario Municipalities to 1981 (Guelph, Ontario, 1983), 20-30.
3.
Kenneth Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States ( New York, 1985), 16-18; Gilbert A. Stelter, “ The City-Building Process in Canada,” in Gilbert A. Stelter and Alan F. J. Artibise , eds., Shaping the Urban Landscape: Aspects of the of Canadian City-Building Process (Ottawa, 1982), 3; Fred H. Armstrong and Daniel Brock, “ The Rise of London: A Study of Urban Evolution in Nineteenth-Century Southwestern Ontario ,” in F. H. Armstrong, H. A. Stevenson, and J. D. Wilson, eds., Aspects of Nineteenth-Century Ontario (Toronto, 1974), 84; and Gilbert A. Stelter, “The City-Building Process in Canada ,” 4. Stelter warned that accepting broad categorization as suggested by Gras “can become a dangerous operation . . .” given that such an approach often “violates the complexity of reality.” That having been said, however, Stelter suggested that such studies can help to illuminate broader trends and allows for comparative work in the city-building process. See also Leo Johnson, “Ideology and Political Economy in Urban Growth: Guelph, 1827-1927,” in Gilbert A. Stelter and Alan F. J. Artibise, eds., Shaping the Urban Landscape: Aspects of the of Canadian City-Building Process (Ottawa, 1982), 30, 63-64; and Frederick H. Armstrong, “ Metropolitanism and Toronto Re-examined, 1825-1850,” in Gilbert A. Stelter and Alan F. J. Artibise, eds., The Canadian City: Essays in Urban and Social History (Ottawa, 1984), 57-69.
4.
Gregory H. Singleton, “ The Genesis of Suburbs: A Complex of Historical Trends” in Louis H. Masotti and Jeffery K. Hadden, eds., The Urbanization of Suburbs ( Beverly Hills, 1973), 29.
5.
Jeffery K. Hadden and Josef J. Barton, “An Image that Will Not Die: Thoughts on the History of Anti-Urban Ideology,” The Urbanization of Suburbs, 79.
6.
Robert Fishman , Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise and Fall of Suburbia (New York, 1987), 3-10, 12; John R. Stilgoe, Borderland: Origins of the American Suburb, 1820-1939 (New Haven, 1988), 102-103. 7. Henry C. Binford , The First Suburbs: Residential Communities on the Boston Periphery, 1815-1860 (Chicago, 1985), 1-2; and Harry Jebsen Jr., “Preserving Suburban Identity in an Expanding Metropolis: The Case of Blue Island, Illinois,” Old Northwest7 (1981), 127. Jebsen explained that “[s]uburbs have not always developed as a spin-off of urban population, for some have been independent communities slightly beyond the range of the central city, becoming suburbs when the city spread out and engulfed them” (Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, 76-86). The planned “garden” or “romantic” suburb only began to emerge in the United States in the 1850s and 1860s with Llewellyn Park, New Jersey and Riverside, Illinois, and did not become popular until the 1870s and 1880s. They were built largely as a reaction to the strict grid-iron patterns that dominated urban developments across the continent; John Archer, “Ideology and Aspiration: Individualism, the Middle Class, and the Genesis of the Anglo-American Suburb,” Journal of Urban History14 (February 1988), 214-253.
7.
Larry McCann , “Suburbs of Desire: The Suburban Landscape of Canadian Cities, c. 1900-1950,” Changing Suburbs: Foundation, Form and Function (London, 1999), 114.
8.
G. D. de T. Glazebrook, The Story of Toronto (Toronto, 1971), 15; and Henry Scadding , Frederick H. Armstrong, ed., Toronto of Old ( Toronto, 1987), 220.
9.
Ron Brown, Toronto's Lost Villages (Toronto, 1997 ), 60; Scadding, Toronto of Old , 282-285, 381; Sandra M. Moore, “Yorkville 1808-1883” (Unpublished senior undergraduate thesis, University of Toronto), 4; Scadding, 186; and Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, 16-18, 24, 29. The presence of the Potters Burial Ground within Yorkville's corporate limits did not sit well with village fathers who saw it as a potential health risk as well as an unpleasant blight within the middle of their community. Yorkville Council quickly dealt with the problem by passing bylaws to have it removed, although limits were placed on the season during which bodies were disinterred. Yorkville, Bylaw 54, May 5, 1856. The citizenry of London's eastern suburb of London East also faced similar problems as the Anglican Church had established St. Paul's Cemetery in the 1850s in what later became London East. In December 1879, London East Council passed a bylaw prohibiting the internment of the dead within their corporation, and gradually the bodies already interred at St. Paul's were transferred to new cemeteries developed to the southwest of London. London East, Bylaw 70, December 11, 1879.
10.
Moore, “ Yorkville 1808-1883,” 5, 13; Scadding , Toronto of Old, 120, 295-296; and Robert J. Burns , “William Botsford Jarvis,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography: Volume IX 1861-1870 (Toronto, 1976), 411.
11.
Canada 1861 Manuscript Census, Yorkville, Canada West, preamble by J.P. Ball and T. H. Ball.
12.
Yorkville Directory 1876-77 DBW MFH F 1003.C5 no. 33658, 14.
13.
Mary Frances Mallon, “The Village of Brockton,” York Pioneer71, no. 2, 1-2; C. Pelham Mulvany, Toronto: Past and Present (Toronto, 1884), 258-259; Margaret Laycock and Barbara Myrvold , Parkdale in Pictures: Its Development to 1889 (Toronto, 1991 ), 8; and Sidney Thomas Fisher, The Merchant-Millers of the Humber Valley: A Study of the Early Economy of Canada ( Toronto, 1985), 97-98. The area immediately to the west of Brockton along the Humber River was dominated by the milling elite whose rural estates and milling establishments served not only the immediate hinterland, but Toronto as well; Yorkville Directory, 1876-77, 18, 37, 49; W.H. Smith, Canada: Past, Present, and Future , 2 vols (Toronto, 1851-2), 2: 745-6.
14.
Laycock and Myrvold, Parkdale in Pictures , 9; and Mallon, “The Village of Brockton,” 4.
15.
Toronto Daily Mail, November 22, 1878, 4; Mallon, “ The Village of Brockton,” 2; Toronto Daily Mail, November 22, 1878; Globe , January 4, 1879; and Toronto Daily Mail , January 4, 1879.
16.
Frederick H. Armstrong, The Forest City: An Illustrated History of London, Canada (Woodland Hills, 1986 ), 63, 68.
17.
Frederick T. Rosser, London Township Pioneers: Including a Few Families From Adjoining Areas (Belleville, Ontario , 1975), 20-21; Harriet Pridis, “The Naming of London Streets,” Transactions, London and Middlesex Historical Society (1909), 26; History of the County of Middlesex, Canada (Toronto, 1889; reprint, 1972), 1097-1098; History of Middlesex, 881; London Advertiser, November 18, 1884; Middlesex County Surrogate Court Register of Wills, v. 3, no. 169 (June 1858 to November 1860), 129-132, at J. J. Talman Regional Collections, DB Weldon Library, UWO; Samuel Peters, “ Petersville/Bridgetown Map,” (April 1854), J. J. Talman Regional Collections, U.W.O.; and Nancy Z. Tausky, Historical Sketches ofLondon: From Site to City (Peterborough, Ontario, 1993), 50.
18.
Michael Doucet , “Speculation and the Physical Development of Mid-Nineteenth Century Hamilton,” in Gilbert A. Stelter and Alan F. J. Artibise , eds., Shaping the Urban Landscape: Aspects of the Canadian City-Building Process (Ottawa, 1982), 177; London Township Assessment Rolls , 1857, 1862, St. George's Ward, reel M1614, “ Samuel Peters Land”; Armstrong , “The Rise of London,” 93; Petersville/ Blackfriar's Neighbourhood Association.The Petersville Neighbourhood Project (London, Ontario, 1994), 12; London Advertiser, February 11, 1865; Lovell's Canadian Dominion Directory for 1871 (Montreal, 1871), 656; and Benjamin S. Scott, “The Economic and Industrial History of the City of London, Canada From the Building of the First Railway 1855 to the Present 1930” (Unpublished MA thesis, University of Western Ontario, 1930), 224.
19.
Shirley E. Woods , Ottawa: The Capital of Canada ( Toronto, Canada, 1980), 20-21, 31-33, 39, 40, 56, 119; and Bruce S. Elliott , The City Beyond: A History of Nepean, Birthplace of Canada's Capital, 1792-1990 (Nepean, Ontario, 1991), 132-133.
20.
A.H.D. Ross , Ottawa Past and Present ( Toronto, 1927 ), 174.
21.
Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of Carleton (Including City of Ottawa) Ontario (Toronto, 1879 ; reprint, 1971), xxxi. The establishment of McKay's mills had been the major basis for the settlement. Many milling establishments throughout what would become Ontario sprang up in the interior areas to both spur settlement and serve the needs of the settlements that clustered about them. While these milling sites often had government backing, they were very much the enterprises of individual families, who tended to dominate the communities that grew up around their establishments. Fisher, The Merchant-Millers , xiii-xxiii; W.P.J. Millar, “ George P. M. Ball: A Rural Businessman in Upper Canada,” Ontario History66 (June 1974), 65-77.
22.
Ross, Ottawa Past and Present, 174.
23.
Woods, Ottawa, 118; Ottawa Citizen, December 2, 1854 and December 23, 1854; Nick and Helma Mika, Places in Ontario: Their Name Origins and History Part III N-Z (Belleville, 1983 ), 30; and H.V. Nelles, “ Thomas Coltrin Keefer,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. 14 1911 to 1920 (Toronto, 1998), 552-555. McKay's one son-in-law, Thomas C. Keefer (1821-1915) had married Elizabeth McKay in 1848, and following his father-in-law's death, he managed the McKay estate and consolidated his position by marrying his widowed sister-in-law Annie (McKay) MacKinnon in 1873 after the death of his first wife.
24.
Ottawa Union, January 18, 1860, 2.
25.
Charles Roger , Ottawa Past and Present: A Brief Account of the First Opening Up of the Ottawa Country (Ottawa, 1871), 73. As a note of interest Charles Roger was also the author of the “Rise of Canada from Barbarism to Civilisation.”
26.
Ottawa Citizen, June 22, 1871, 3; Ibid., June 26, 1871 , 3.
27.
Ian Christopher Ross, “London East, 1854-1885: The Evolution, Incorporation, and Annexation of a Satellite Municipality” (Unpublished MA thesis, University of Western Ontario, 1977 ), 5-16.
28.
Armstrong Forest City, 121; Ross, Ottawa Past and Present, 16-18.
29.
Ibid., 18, 20.
30.
History of Middlesex, 368; Christopher L. Hives, “Flooding and Flood Control: Local Attitudes in London, Ontario 1790-1952” (Unpublished MA thesis, University of Western Ontario, 1981 ), 14. Until a deadly and destructive flood struck Kensington and Petersville in 1883, flooding of these lands was generally viewed as an inevitable natural process, which was more of a nuisance than a threat; London Advertiser , June 29, 1872 and April 7, 1873; and London Free Press, April 8, 1873.
31.
A.S. Meaden , “Memories of My Boy-Hood Days in London: From My Arrival, As a Boy, in the Year 1872,” Western Ontario Historical Notes9 (September 1951), 91-92; John Lutman, The South and West of London: An Historical and Architectural Guide (London, Ontario, 1979), 54; and Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, 76-86.
32.
Parkdale Record, February 10, 1898; and Laycock and Myrvold, Parkdale in Pictures, 10.
33.
Laycock and Myrvold, Parkdale in Pictures , 10.
34.
Scott, The Parkdale Register, 1.
35.
AO F 163 Wadsworth Family Papers, MU 3077, B-I-2, Life History and Memoirs of V.B. Wadsworth, February, 1926, typed and leather bound manuscript, 21, 102; for issues of middle- and upper-class views of nineteenth-century suburban experience see Archer, “ Ideology and Aspiration,” 214-253.
36.
Richard Harris and Peter J. Larkham, eds., Changing Suburbs: Formation, Form and Function (New York, 1999), 11-12. See also Barry Salussolia , “ The City of Burlington and Municipal Incorporation in Vermont,” Vermont History54 (1986), 5-19. As Salussolia argued the emergence of urban municipalities in Vermont allowed for these municipalities to develop infrastructure and promote development in ways that rural governments, based on the direct democracy of the New England town meeting could not. While township government in Ontario was not run in the same way as in Vermont, the erection of unorganized villages into municipal corporations did permit similar leeway in development potential.
37.
Ann Durkin Keating , Building Chicago: Suburban Developers and the Creation of a Divided Metropolis (Columbus, 1988), 79-83.
38.
McCann, “Suburbs of Desire” 116.
39.
C.F.J. Whebell , “Robert Baldwin and Decentralization 1841-9 ,” in F. H. ArmstrongAspects of Nineteenth-Century Ontario: Essays Presented to James J. Talman (Toronto, 1974), 48, 61-62; and Bloomfield, Urban Growth, 12.
40.
Bloomfield, Urban Growth, 13-14; and Statutes of Ontario, 1873 , 36 Vic., c. 48, sec. 8, p. 194-195.
41.
Statutes of Ontario, 1873, 36 Vic., c. 48, sec. 68, 69, p. 211-212.
42.
London Free Press, June 29, 1897. The time that the ratepayers of London West finally opted to join the City of London, the Free Press argued that the whole experiment in municipal independence had been a disaster and that the village should never have chosen that path but simply opted to join the city immediately. Such an overture does not appear to have been on the table at the time.
43.
Beyond the obvious reliance the grist mills in particular had on the farming population in the farming districts, these communities were also sites of commerce and supply depots for these same farming people. In the instance of Petersville it was noted that until the 1890s, people in southwestern London Township patronized the suburbs' stores and other businesses, which were more readily accessible to them than the businesses located in central London. W. W. Judd, ed., Annotated Memoirs of Albert H. Dobson (1888-1969) Concerning His Life from 1888 to 1923 in London Township and Petersville, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada (London, Ontario, 1993), 1; and Frederick Andrewes , “The West Side Some Years Back,” typed memoir, J. J. Talman Regional Collections, University of Western Ontario. Throughout the five-page, typed manuscript Andrewes made references to “City folks” and made distinctions between the physical and legal entity of London West and the City of London ; V. B. Wadsworth, February, 1926 , typed and leather bound manuscript, 21, 102.
44.
Alexander von Hoffman, Local Attachments: The Making of an American Urban Neighborhood, 1850 to 1920 (Baltimore, 1994), xv.
45.
Moore, “Yorkville 1808-1883,” 14; and Canada 1861 Census Aggregate Data, vol. 1, 500-501.
46.
Moore, “Yorkville 1808-1883,” 15.
47.
Globe, May 6, 1852, 218.
48.
Ottawa Citizen, June 25, 1866; Ibid, June 26 and June 28, 1866; Canada 1871 Census , New Edinburgh; and Bloomfield, Urban Growth, 158. Five years after incorporation, New Edinburgh's population was 596.
49.
Ottawa Citizen, June 25, 1866; Ibid., July 7, 1866, 2; and Ibid. May 3, 1866. During this same period, Governor General Viscount Monck took up residence at Rideau Hall.
50.
Statutes of the Province of Canada, 1866, 29 Vic., c. 106, 539-542; and Ibid, 1866, 29 Vic., c. 81, 450-451.
51.
Ottawa Times, January 3, 1867.
52.
Ibid., January 9, 1867.
53.
London Free Press, December 29, 1873; Middlesex County Council Minutes, April 10, 1874; London Advertiser, March 16, 1874; and Ibid., June 5, 1874 .
54.
Daniel J. Brock, ed. History of the County of Middlesex, Canada. (Toronto, 1889; reprint, 1972), 410.
55.
History of County of Middlesex, Canada, 410; Ross, “ London East,” 28.
56.
AO GS 6482, York Township Minutes Books, 1872-1882; April 1, 1878; September 12, 1878; November 4, 1878; October 4, 1880; November 1, 1880; and March 20, 1882.
57.
Laycock and Myrvold, Parkdale in Pictures , 12-13.
58.
Globe, July 1, 1878.
59.
Laycock and Myrvold, Parkdale in Pictures , 12-13.
60.
Globe, June 27, 1878, 2.
61.
Toronto Daily Mail, July 9, 1880.
62.
Laycock and Myrvold, Parkdale in Pictures , 10; and Statutes of Ontario, 1873, 36 Vic., c. 48, sec. 8, p. 194-195.
63.
Toronto Daily Mail, July 6, 1880 and July 19, 1880.
64.
Ibid., July 23, 1880; Ibid. , July 24, 1880; and Ibid., July 19, 1880.
65.
Ibid., September 10, 1880; Globe, November 19, 1880. A second census was taken by a committee appointed by York County Council in November, which found the population to be at 800.
66.
Toronto Daily Mail, September 21, 1880; October 8, 1880; and October 22, 1880; and Globe, October 2, 1880 and October 8, 1880.
67.
Toronto Globe, November 19, 1880
68.
Globe, November 19, 1880 and November 29, 1880; and Toronto Daily Mail, November 26, 1880.
69.
Mulvany, Toronto: Past and Present, 258.
70.
Toronto Globe, June 27, 1878
71.
Globe, June 27, 1878, 2.
72.
John Lutman, The South and West, 9-10.
73.
Globe, October 4, 1880. The name of the post office was changed in 1880 from Don Mount to Riverside.
74.
Ibid., January 26, 1884, 10.
75.
Ibid., January 29, 1884, 6.
76.
Ibid., February 4, 1884, 6.
77.
Bloomfield, Urban Growth , 13.
78.
Globe, February 6, 1884, 8; and Bloomfield , Urban Growth, 20-30.
79.
Armstrong and Brock, “The Rise of London,” 95, 96.
80.
Yorkville Directory, 1876-77, 14; Parkdale Register, 1-4; Ottawa Union , June 22, 1859 and July 6, 1859; and London Advertiser, June 29, 1872.
81.
Eric H. Monkkonen , Police in UrbanAmerica (Cambridge, 1981), 54-55.
