Toronto

===19th century===
[[File:Battle of York airborne.jpg|thumb|An American squadron exchanging fire with [[Fort York]] during the [[Battle of York]], 1813. The American landing is depicted to the west (left foreground).]]
In 1813, as part of the [[War of 1812]], the [[Battle of York]] ended in the town's capture and plunder by United States forces.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.udata.com/users/hsbaker/york.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070820093114/http://www.udata.com/users/hsbaker/york.htm|archive-date=August 20, 2007 |title=Battle of York|access-date=July 10, 2007}}</ref> [[John Strachan]] negotiated the town's surrender. American soldiers destroyed much of the garrison and set fire to the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation. Because of the sacking of York, British troops retaliated later in the war with the [[Burning of Washington|burning of Washington, D.C.]]

York was incorporated as the City of Toronto on March 6, 1834, adopting the Indigenous name.{{citation needed |date=September 2023}} Reformist politician [[William Lyon Mackenzie]] became the first [[mayor of Toronto]]. Mackenzie would later lead the unsuccessful [[Upper Canada Rebellion]] of 1837 against the British colonial government.

Toronto's population of 9,000 included some [[African Americans|African-American]] slaves,{{citation needed |date=September 2023}} some of whom had been brought by the Loyalists, and [[Black Loyalist]]s, whom the Crown had freed (most of the latter were resettled in Nova Scotia). By 1834, refugee slaves from America's South were also immigrating to Toronto to gain freedom.<ref name=black>{{cite web |url=http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=53c9757ae6b31410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD&vgnextchannel=6c21226b48c21410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD 
 |title=Black history at the City of Toronto Archives |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202183847/http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=53c9757ae6b31410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD&vgnextchannel=6c21226b48c21410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD |archive-date=February 2, 2014 |publisher=City of Toronto |year=2009 |accessdate=March 13, 2009}}</ref> [[Slavery in Canada|Slavery]] was banned outright in Upper Canada (and throughout the British Empire) in 1834.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Will4/3-4/73 |title=Slavery Abolition Act 1833 (repealed November 19, 1998) |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=UK Government |access-date=September 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914081704/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Will4/3-4/73 |archive-date=September 14, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> Torontonians integrated people of colour into their society. In the 1840s, an eating house at Frederick and King Streets, a place of mercantile prosperity in the early city, was operated by a black man named Bloxom.{{sfn|Robertson|1894|p=25}}

[[File:TorontoCanadaWest.jpg|thumb|left|Toronto in 1854. The city was a major destination for immigrants to Canada in the second half of the 19th century.]]

As a major destination for immigrants to Canada, the city grew rapidly through the remainder of the 19th century. The first significant wave of immigrants were Irish, fleeing the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Irish Famine]]; most of them were [[Catholic Church|Catholic]]. By 1851, the Irish-born population had become the largest single ethnic group in the city. The Scottish and English population welcomed smaller numbers of [[Protestantism|Protestant]] Irish immigrants, some from what is now Northern Ireland, which gave the [[Orange Order]] significant and long-lasting influence over Toronto society. Almost every mayor of Toronto was a member of the Orange Order between 1850 and 1950, and the city was sometimes referred to as the "[[Belfast]] of Canada" because of Orange influence in municipal politics and administration.<ref>{{cite web |title=Orange Order in Canada {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/orange-order |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca |access-date=March 16, 2023 |archive-date=March 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316182908/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/orange-order |url-status=live }}</ref>

For brief periods, Toronto was twice the capital of the united [[Province of Canada]]: first from 1849 to 1851, following unrest in Montreal, and later from 1855 to 1859. After this date, Quebec was designated as the capital until 1865 (two years before Canadian Confederation). Since then, the capital of Canada has remained [[Ottawa]], Ontario.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.statoids.com/uca.html |title=Canada Provinces |website=Statoids.com |access-date=April 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110223215649/http://www.statoids.com/uca.html |archive-date=February 23, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:ParliamentBuildingsFrontStreet.jpg |thumb|The second Parliament of Upper Canada building on Front Street, 1856]]

Toronto became the capital of the province of Ontario after its official creation in 1867. The seat of government of the Ontario briefly returned to the same building that hosted the Third Parliament Building of Upper Canada, before moving to the [[Ontario Legislative Building]] at [[Queen's Park (Toronto)|Queen's Park]] in 1893. Because of its provincial capital status, the city was also the location of [[Government House (Ontario)|Government House]], the residence of the [[viceroy|viceregal]] representative of [[Monarchy of Canada|the Crown]] [[Monarchy in Ontario|in right of Ontario]].

Long before the [[Royal Military College of Canada]] was established in 1876, supporters of the concept proposed military colleges in Canada. Staffed by British Regulars, adult male students underwent a three-month-long military course at the School of Military Instruction in Toronto. Established by Militia General Order in 1864, the school enabled officers of militia or candidates for commission or promotion in the Militia to learn military duties, drill and discipline, to command a company at Battalion Drill, to drill a company at Company Drill, the internal economy of a company, and the duties of a company's officer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~theislands/photos6/ansonkeillmilcert.jpg|title=Province of Canada : Second Class Certificate|website=Freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com|format=JPG|access-date=June 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407162844/http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~theislands/photos6/ansonkeillmilcert.jpg|archive-date=April 7, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> The school was retained at Confederation, in 1867. In 1868, Schools of [[cavalry]] and [[artillery]] instruction were formed in Toronto.<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Preston |title=Canada's RMC: A History of the Royal Military College of Canada |publisher=RMC Club by U of Toronto Press}}</ref>
[[File:Yorkville Town Hall, Yonge St., west side, opposite Collier St. (16526085614).jpg |thumb  |A group in front of a horse-drawn streetcar in front of [[Yorkville Town Hall]] 1870. A [[Gas lighting|gas streetlamp]] is visible in the right foreground.]]
In the 19th century, the city built an extensive sewage system to improve sanitation, and streets were illuminated with [[gas lighting]] as a regular service.{{citation needed |date=September 2023}} Long-distance railway lines were constructed, including a route completed in 1854 linking Toronto with the Upper Great Lakes. The [[Grand Trunk Railway]] and the [[Northern Railway of Canada]] joined in the building of the first [[Toronto Union Station (1858)|Union Station]] in downtown. The advent of the railway dramatically increased the numbers of immigrants arriving, commerce and industry, as had the Lake Ontario steamers and schooners entering port before. These enabled Toronto to become a major gateway linking the world to the interior of the North American continent. Expanding port and rail facilities brought in northern timber for export and imported Pennsylvania coal. Industry dominated the waterfront for the next 100 years.

During the late 19th century, Toronto became the largest alcohol distillation (in particular, [[Distilled beverage|spirits]]) centre in North America. By the 1860s, the [[Gooderham and Worts]] Distillery operations became the world's largest [[whisky]] factory.{{citation needed |date=September 2023}} A preserved section of this once dominant local industry remains in the [[Distillery District]]. The harbour allowed access to grain and sugar imports used in processing.
 
[[File:GooderhamAndWorts1800s.jpg|thumb|The [[Gooderham and Worts]] buildings, 1896]]

Horse-drawn [[Tram|streetcars]] gave way to electric streetcars in 1891 when the city granted the operation of the transit franchise to the [[Toronto Railway Company]]. The public transit system passed into public ownership in 1921 as the [[Toronto Transportation Commission]], later renamed the [[Toronto Transit Commission]]. The system now has [[List of North American rapid transit systems by ridership|the third-highest ridership of any city public transportation system in North America]].<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013153812/http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1122072619227_40/?hub=CTVNewsAt11 |url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1122072619227_40/?hub=CTVNewsAt11 |work=CTV News |title=Toronto transit chief says searches unlikely |date=July 24, 2005 |archive-date=October 13, 2007}}</ref>