The Toronto Islands: Shaped by a Storm

Many of the picnickers, cyclists, swimmers and boardwalk strollers who visit the Toronto Islands, just a short ferry ride from downtown Toronto, would be surprised to learn that today's configuration of recreational parklands bears little resemblance to the series of sandbars, marshes and ponds that once jutted out from the city's mainland.

The fingerlike formation was actually a peninsula, connected to the shore by a narrow, curving spit of land that branched out into several points, forming a continuous buffer between the Lake and the Toronto harbour. The pleasant shoreline, with its sandy beaches, had long been a favoured site of native encampments.

In 1793, when Upper Canada's first Lieutenant Governor, John Graves Simcoe, arrived in the harbour to assess its suitability as a military outpost and administrative capital, he placed several cannons on the furthest tip of the peninsula. His wife, Elizabeth Postuma Simcoe, nicknamed the location Gibralter Point. A lighthouse was constructed on the point in 1809, and over the next few decades, as the town of York grew by leaps and bounds, the peninsula became a popular destination for picnics, hunting and horse-racing. Several hotels were constructed, including the Quinn establishment built on the narrow strip of land that joined the sweeping sandbars to the mainland.

A Gale Makes a Gap: In 1858, some residents of the newly-incorporated City of Toronto began calling for the construction of a canal to provide a shipping shortcut through the peninsula. But sudden, dramatic weather beat them to it. On the night of April 13, a hurricane-force gale sent wind and waves rushing at the fragile sandspit. By the time the storm subsided, the Quinn hotel had disappeared, and a 2-metre-wide channel had opened between the mainland and the peninsula. Within a month, the gap had been enlarged enough to accommodate 2 schooners. The Toronto peninsula had become the Toronto Island, and the newly-created "eastern gap" became known as one of the most important entrances to Toronto Harbour.

Over the years, dredging, filling and shoreline stabilization projects have reduced the movement of the sandbars, created deeper boating channels, and completely re-shaped the Island property. In the late 1800's, hotels, cottages and amusement areas were built (Ward's Island and Hanlan's Point are named for 2 prominent resort-operating families). Today, a small community of year-round Island residents is joined each summer by over a million visitors to the gardens, pools, trails, sports facilities, marinas, amusements and beaches operated by the City of Toronto.