Editing Toronto Islands (section)

==History==
[[File:The harbours and ports of Lake Ontario (1857) (14770718161).jpg|thumb|Map of the [[Toronto Harbour]] in 1857. Once a peninsula connected to the mainland, a storm in 1858 transformed the peninsula into the Islands.]]
[[File:First Royal Canadian Yacht Club clubhouse, Centre Island.jpg|thumb|The [[Royal Canadian Yacht Club]]'s first clubhouse on the Toronto Islands, completed in 1881.]]
[[File:Little Norway 1940.jpg|thumb|upright|Opened in 1939 [[Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport|Port George VI Island Airport]], the airport was used by expatriate Norwegians [[Royal Norwegian Air Force|RNAF]] pilots-in-training during the Second World War.]]
[[File:Swanboat Ride, Centreville.jpg|thumb|Swan-boat ride at [[Centreville Amusement Park]] in 1984. The park was opened in 1967 on Centre Island.]]

The Toronto Islands were not originally islands but rather a series of sand-bars originating from the deposition of sand from the [[Scarborough Bluffs]], pushed by Lake Ontario currents.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |date=August 17, 2017 |title=Toronto Islands History |url=https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/parks-gardens-beaches/toronto-island-park/toronto-islands-history/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204005816/https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/parks-gardens-beaches/toronto-island-park/toronto-islands-history/ |archive-date=February 4, 2021 |accessdate=April 15, 2022 |publisher=City of Toronto}}</ref>

Prior to European colonization, the group of islands (then peninsula) and sandbars was considered a place of healing, leisure, and relaxation by Indigenous peoples.<ref name=":0" /> The then peninsula was called or "Island of Hiawatha" or "Menecing," meaning "On the Island" in Ojibwe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Osborne |first=Lindi |title=Discover the Toronto Islands |url=https://greatlakes.guide/ideas/discover-the-toronto-islands |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=Great Lakes Guide |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>Feathers, Sacred. "University of Toronto Press." ''Toronto, Ontario'' (1987). "The Mississaugas brought their sick to the peninsula to recover in its healthful atmosphere."</ref>

To the descendants of the Ojibwa, now the [[Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation]], the Toronto Islands are sacred land. According to British Crown records, Treaty 13, often referred to as the [[Toronto Purchase]] of 1787 and 1805, included the Islands and compensated the Mississaugas with "goods including {{formatnum:2000}} rifle flints, 24 brass kettles, 120 mirrors, 24 laced hats and 96 gallons of rum valued at {{GBP|1700}} for the sale of Toronto."<ref name="toronto.ca">{{Cite web|date=2021-03-05|title=Toronto Island Park Master Plan: About|url=https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/planning-development/construction-new-facilities/parks-facility-plans-strategies/toronto-island-park-master-plan/toronto-island-park-master-plan-overview/|access-date=2021-04-14|website=City of Toronto|language=en-CA}}</ref> The Mississaugas, in a land claim settlement process started in 1986, claimed that the Islands, along with other lands, were never included in the agreement and that the compensation was inadequate. In 2010, a settlement was reached which resulted in a {{CAD|145{{nbsp}}million}} payment<ref name="toronto.ca" /> to the Mississaugas from the Government of Canada. In return, the Mississaugas relinquished their claim to the Islands and other lands in the area.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Government of Canada |title=Fact Sheet – The Brant tract and the Toronto Purchase specific claims |url=http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100016064/1100100016065 |date=September 15, 2010 |access-date=April 29, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130415004921/http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100016064/1100100016065 |archive-date=April 15, 2013  }}</ref>

The peninsula and surrounding [[Shoal|sand bars]] that now form the Toronto Islands were surveyed in 1792 by Lieutenant [[Joseph Bouchette]] of the [[Royal Navy]]. [[Sir David William Smith, 1st Baronet|D.W. Smith]]'s Gazetteer recorded in 1813 that "the long beach or peninsula, which affords a most delightful ride, is considered so healthy by the Indians that they resort to it whenever indisposed". Many Indigenous communities were located between the peninsula's base and the Don River.<ref name="cityti" />

During the 1790s, the British built the first buildings on the island. The [[Gibraltar Point Blockhouse]] and storage structures were built at Gibraltar Point in 1794. The garrison was known as the Blockhouse Bay garrison, and it supported the garrison on the mainland. By 1800, another blockhouse and a guard house were built. These were destroyed in the [[Battle of York]]. Another garrison was built, but it was abandoned by 1823 and demolished in 1833.{{sfn|Toronto Harbour Commission Public Affairs Department |1985 |p=107}}

The [[Gibraltar Point Lighthouse]] was constructed at Gibraltar Point, the south-western extremity of the peninsula in 1809. It is perhaps best known for the demise of its first keeper, German-born John Paul Radelmüller, whose alleged 1815 murder by soldiers from [[Fort York]] forms the basis of Toronto's most enduring ghost story.{{sfn|Sward|1983|p=48}}<ref name=citygpl>{{cite web | url = http://www.toronto.ca/parks/island/lighthouse.htm | title = Gibraltar Point Lighthouse | publisher = City of Toronto | access-date = March 26, 2008}}</ref> Although the precise circumstances of his death remain a mystery, recent research has verified many aspects of the popular legend. The two soldiers charged with but ultimately acquitted of Radelmüller's murder were John Henry and John Blueman, both of the [[Glengarry Light Infantry]].<ref name="O'Keeffe">{{cite journal|last=O'Keeffe|first=Eamonn|title=New Light on Toronto's Oldest Cold Case: The 1815 Murder of John Paul Radelmüller|date=December 2015|journal=The Fife and Drum|location=Toronto|url=https://1812andallthat.wordpress.com/gibraltarpointlighthousemurder/|pages=3–5}}</ref>

The peninsula was first cut off from the mainland to the east by a storm in 1852, but a [[Breakwater (structure)|breakwater]] was built and the channel was filled in by [[silt]]. However, on April 13, 1858,{{sfn|Gibson|1984}}<ref>{{cite news |title=THE ISLAND HOTEL WASHED AWAY |url=https://torontoist.com/2008/07/historicist_goodbye_peninsula_hello/ |publisher=The Globe |date=April 14, 1858}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=BRADBURN |first1=JAMIE |title=Historicist: How the Peninsula Became the Island |url=https://torontoist.com/2008/07/historicist_goodbye_peninsula_hello/ |website=Torontoist |date=July 12, 2008 |access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref> the peninsula became an island permanently by a violent storm that cut a {{convert|500|ft|m|adj=on}} wide channel. The same storm destroyed two hotels on the island.{{sfn|Toronto Harbour Commission Public Affairs Department |1985 |p=107}}

After the peninsula became an island, the Hanlan family were among the first year-round inhabitants, settling at Gibraltar Point in 1862. In 1867, the City of Toronto acquired the Islands from the federal government, and the land was divided into lots, allowing seasonal cottages, outdoor amusement areas and summer resort hotels to be built. The west side of the island became a destination for the people of Toronto and the first summer cottage community was built there. In 1878, a hotel was built by John Hanlan at the north-west tip of the island and soon after the area became known as Hanlan's Point. The family built [[Hanlan's Point Amusement Park]] in the 1880s. John's son, [[Ned Hanlan|Edward "Ned" Hanlan]], earned international recognition as a [[Rowing (sport)|rower]] before taking over his father's business.<ref name="cityti"/> Other notable families on the Islands included the Durnans (James Durnan was the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse keeper in 1832) and the Wards (David Ward settled on the eastern end in 1830).<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.thestar.com/article/107794 | work=The Star | first=Ashante | last=Infantry | title=Bill Durnan, 87, fixture on the Toronto Islands | date=June 2, 2003}}</ref>

At the same time as Hanlan's Point was developing as a summer suburb of Toronto, developments were going on elsewhere on the Islands. Along the lakefront of Centre Island, large [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] summer homes were built by Toronto's leading families looking for refuge from the summer heat and drawn by the prestigious [[Royal Canadian Yacht Club]], which had moved to a location on the harbour side of RCYC Island in 1881. By contrast, the Ward's Island community began in the 1880s as a [[Tent city|tent community]]. William E. Ward built the Ward's Hotel and a few houses and rented tents to visitors.

The records of the School Board indicate that a one-room school existed on donated land near the Gibraltar Lighthouse in approximately 1888 but it was not necessarily open every day, particularly in winter. The school became permanent in 1896, though still with a single teacher. After it burned down a new school was built; there were 52 students in 1909 and 630 by 1954. As of 2018, the [[Island Public/Natural Science School]] operates classes for Junior Kindergarten to grade 6, a residential natural science program (which began in 1960) for visiting grade 5 and 6 students and a day care centre for children ages 2–5.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/island/About-Us/History-of-the-School |website=TDSB|date=October 26, 2018|title=Island Public/Natural Science School |access-date=December 31, 2018 }}</ref>

In 1899, there was a colony of eight summer tenants on Ward's Island paying $10 rent for the season.<ref>{{cite news |work=Toronto Star |date=July 3, 1983 |title=Ward's Island |page=A13}}</ref> By 1913, the number of tents pitched had increased to the point where the city felt it necessary to organize the community into streets, and the tents eventually evolved into a seasonal cottage community.<ref name=titpmd>{{cite web | url = http://www.torontoisland.org/Home/BriefIslandHistory/tabid/120/Default.aspx | title = The Place of My Dreams | publisher = Toronto Island Community | access-date = March 26, 2008 | archive-date = July 9, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180709010449/http://torontoisland.org/Home/BriefIslandHistory/tabid/120/Default.aspx | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.rcyc.ca/AboutRCYC/OurHeritage/tabid/86/Default.aspx | title = Our Heritage | publisher = Royal Canadian Yacht Club | access-date = March 26, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080229043825/http://www.rcyc.ca/AboutRCYC/OurHeritage/tabid/86/Default.aspx <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = February 29, 2008}}</ref>

In 1894, a [[land reclamation]] project by the [[Toronto Ferry Company]] created space to expand the [[Hanlan's Point Amusement Park]] at Hanlan's Point. In 1897, the [[Hanlan's Point Stadium]] was built alongside the amusement park for the [[Toronto Maple Leafs (International League)|Toronto Maple Leaf baseball team]]. The stadium was rebuilt several times over the years, and in 1914, [[Babe Ruth]] hit his first professional [[home run]] into the waters of Lake Ontario from this stadium. In the 1920s, the Maple Leaf team moved to a new stadium on the mainland. In 1926, the Toronto Transit Commission purchased the privately run ferry system along with the amusement park, most of the rides were shut down that year.

From 1915 to 1916, a temporary wooden [[hangar]]<ref>See image at [http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/brushstrokes/painting_large.php?lang=en&id=1967.0882.001&artist=&era=&theme=&page=2&type=painting&painting=yes Aviation Technomuses]</ref> was built at the beach by the Curtiss Flying School.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.heritagemississauga.com/assets/Curtiss%20Aviation%20School%20-%20Final%20Report%20-%20by%20Liwen%20Chen.pdf |type=pdf |title=Canada's First Aerodrome: Long Branch Curtiss Aviation School |first=Liwen |last=Chen |publisher=Heritage Mississauga |access-date=April 18, 2011 |archive-date=September 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913182935/http://www.heritagemississauga.com/assets/Curtiss%20Aviation%20School%20-%20Final%20Report%20-%20by%20Liwen%20Chen.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> This floatplane aerodrome was used for flight training for World War I.

In 1937, construction started on a new airport on the site of the park and stadium.<ref name="cityti"/> The construction of the airport led to the demolition of the stadium and the remainder of the amusement park while the land reclamation connected Hanlan's Point and the Western Sandbar by infilling Hanlan's Lagoon. This meant that the cottage community along the Western Sandbar at Hanlan's Point needed to be relocated. The residents were given the choice of either moving their cottages further south at Hanlan's Point or resettling on Algonquin Island. Originally, Algonquin Island was simply a sandbar known as Sunfish Island that was expanded by land reclamation operations. In 1938, streets were laid out to accommodate 31 cottages that were moved by [[barge]] from Hanlan's Point.

The airport opened in 1939, formally named the ''Port George VI Island Airport'', after the reigning monarch of the time. During the first few years of the [[Second World War]], expatriate Norwegian ([[Royal Norwegian Air Force|RNAF]]) pilots-in-training used the Toronto Island Airport as a training field for both fighter and bomber pilots. Several accidents, including one where a pilot under instruction clipped the funnel and mast of the island ferry boat ''[[Sam McBride (ferry)|Sam McBride]]'' and crashed, led to the training school being moved north to [[Muskoka, Ontario]]. A park on the mainland called [[Little Norway Park]] commemorates this period.

In 1947, Toronto City Council approved the year-round occupancy of the Islands to help cope with housing shortages after World War Two,<ref name="toronto.ca"/> an emergency measure meant to expire in 1968.<ref>{{cite news |work=Toronto Star |title=For Them, Toronto's Islands Are No More |first=Ron |last=Haggart |date=September 16, 1963 |page=17}}</ref> At its peak in the 1950s, the Island residential community extended from Ward's Island to Hanlan's Point and was made up of some 630 cottages and homes, in addition to amenities including a movie theatre, a bowling alley, stores, hotels, and dance halls.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.torontoisland.org |title=Toronto Islands Community web site}}</ref> Not long after its creation in 1953, Metropolitan Toronto Council undertook to remove the community and replace it with public parkland.{{sfn|Gibson|1984|pp=236-250}} The construction of the [[Gardiner Expressway]] had removed many acres of recreational land along the Toronto waterfront, and the Islands lands were to replace the acreage. In 1955, after the city had transferred the lands to Metropolitan Toronto ("Metro"), the new Metro Parks Department started to demolish homes and cottages whose leases had expired or whose leaseholders had surrendered. In 1959, the Metro Parks Department opened Far Enough Farm, and in 1967 opened the [[Centreville Amusement Park]], along with a new public [[marina]]. In 1971, Metro Parks opened a new ferry terminal at the foot of Bay Street. Unlike the previous terminal, no waiting room was provided.{{sfn|Gibson|1984|p=271}}

By 1963, all Islanders willing to leave the island had departed and the remaining residents started to fight the plans of Metro Council to remove their homes. While demolitions proceeded, community alderman [[David Rotenberg]] pushed the Islanders' cause and the number of demolitions dwindled. In 1969, the Toronto Islands' Residents Association (TIRA) was formed. By 1970, 250 homes on Ward's and Algonquin Islands had escaped the bulldozer. The 1970s saw no further demolitions as the Metro Parks plans were delayed by year-to-year leases and the election of Toronto City Councillors who were more sympathetic to the Islanders' situation. In 1973, City Council voted 17–2 to preserve the community and transfer Island lands back to the city. However, Metro Council remained opposed and the Islanders started legal challenges to Metro's plans in 1974 to delay plans of expropriation. By 1978, Metro Council had won several legal battles and had obtained writs of possession for the remaining 250 homes. At the time, a [[minority government|minority]] provincial [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Progressive Conservative]] government was in place with both the [[Ontario Liberal Party|Liberal]] and [[Ontario New Democratic Party|NDP]] opposition parties in favour of the Islanders. The Islanders appealed to the provincial government, winning more time when the province agreed to act as mediator between the City and Islanders and Metro.{{sfn|Gibson|1984|pp=254-288}}

Matters came to a head on July 28, 1980, when a sheriff sent to serve [[Eviction#Notice|eviction notices]] to remaining residents was met at the Algonquin Island Bridge by a crowd of community members, whose leaders persuaded the sheriff to withdraw.{{sfn|Gibson|1984|pp=290-291}} On July 31, the community won the right to challenge the 1974 evictions, but the Islanders lost the challenge when the Supreme Court ruled that the city had a right to evict them. The province started a formal inquiry into the Toronto Islands headed by Barry Swadron. On December 18, 1981, the province of Ontario passed a law legalizing the Islanders to stay until 2005. This kept the lands in Metro's ownership, to be leased to the City who would lease it to the Islanders.{{sfn|Gibson|1984|p=293}} Wrangling over the terms of the lease payments to Metro took several years. In 1993, [[Premier of Ontario]] [[Bob Rae]] helped to get ''Toronto Islands Residential Community Stewardship Act'', (S.O. 1993, c. 15) legislation passed,<ref name=elaw>{{cite web |url=http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_93t15_e.htm |title=Toronto Islands Residential Community Stewardship Act, 1993 |publisher=Government of Ontario |access-date=February 19, 2008}}</ref> which granted Islanders continued [[deed]]s to their houses and 99-year leases on the land. A Land Trust was established to handle any transfers or sales of such properties on the Islands.<ref name="Toronto Star">{{cite news|title=He fought to save Toronto Islanders from eviction. Now, they're trying to evict him |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/12/30/he-fought-to-save-toronto-islanders-from-eviction-now-theyre-trying-to-evict-him.html |newspaper=Toronto Star|access-date=December 30, 2018}}</ref>
 
There are 262 residential properties on Ward's Island and Algonquin Island as of late 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/canada/wards-and-algonquin-islands-toronto-harbour-ontario/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026000334/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/canada/wards-and-algonquin-islands-toronto-harbour-ontario/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 26, 2016|website=National Geographic Travel|date=December 21, 2018|title=Ward's and Algonquin Islands, Toronto Harbour|access-date=December 31, 2018}}</ref> Under the Act, the deed to a house may be transferred only to the current owner's child or spouse. If the house must be sold for personal reasons, and if a child or spouse will not be the new owner, the process is handled by the Toronto Islands Residential Community Trust Corporation. The house and the land lease are sold for the owner's benefit, but the buyer must be an individual on a 500-person waiting list which was established through a lottery. A firm price is set by the Trust; no bids or negotiation are allowed. This process was intended to eliminate the risk of the homes being sold on the open market, driving up the prices, and preventing a windfall for the owner.<ref name="Toronto Star"/>