83S CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY : 



g'veti ; Tiiul so it was always oallod. But we olisorve iti soiuo lists of early names in York, that 

 it is given as "Isaac Collumbes. " It is curious to note that tlie great discoverer's name is a 

 latmization of Colon, Coulon, Colonibe, descendant eacli of cohimha, dove, of which cohtmbus is 

 the iiiasi'uliiie form. 



WI.-KING STREET, FROM GEORGE STREET TO CAROLINE STREET. 



"We now retrace our steps to King Street, at its intersection with George Street ; and liere our 

 eye iuimodiately lights on an object connected with the early liistory of Education in York. 

 Attached to the cast side of tlie house at tlie soutli-east angle of the intersection is a low 

 building, wholly of stone, resembling a snudl root-house. Its structure is concealed from view 

 now by a coating of clapboards. This was the lirst school-house possessing a public character 

 in York. It was where Dr. Stuart taught, afterwards Archdeacon of Kingston. The building 

 was on liis property, which became afterwards that of Jlr. George Duggan, once before referred 

 to. (In connection with St. James's Church, it should have been recorded that Mr. Duggan 

 was the donor and planter of the row of Loiubardy poplars that formerly stood in front of that 

 edifice, and wliich figure conspicuously in the old engravings of King Street. He was an 

 Irishman of strong opinions. He once stood for the town against Mr. Attorney-General Robinson, 

 but did not get in. When the exigencies of later times required the uprooting of tlie poplar 

 trees, now become overgrown, he warmly resented the removal ; and it was at the risk of griev- 

 ous bodily harm that the Church-warden of the day, Mr. T. D. Harris, carried into eft'ect the 

 resolution of tlie Vestry.) Dr. Stuart's was the Home District School. From a contemporary 

 record, now before ns, we learn that it opened on June the first, 1S07, and that the first names 

 entered on its books were those of John Ridout, William A. Hamilton, Thomas G. Hamilton, 

 George H. Detlor, George S. Boultoii, Robert Stanton, William Stanton, Angus McDonnell, 

 Alexander Hamilton, Wilson Hamilton, Robert Ross, Allan McNab. To this list, from time to 

 time, were added many other old Toronto or Upper Canadian names ; as, for example, tlie 

 following : John Jloore, Charles Ruggles, Edward Hartnoy, Cliarles Boulton, Alexander 

 Chewett, Donald JIcDonnell, James Edward Small, Charles Small, John Hayes, George and 

 William Jarvis, William Boukett, Peter JlcDonnell, Pliilemon Squires, James Jlclntosh, 

 Bernard, Heury and Marshall Glennon, Richard Brooke, Daniel Brooke, Charles Reade, 

 William Robinson, Gilbert Hamilton, Henry Ernst, John Gray, Robert Gray, William Cawthra, 

 William Smith, Harvey Woodruft", Robert Anderson, Benjamin Anderson, James Givins, 

 Thomas Playter, William Pilkington. The French names Belcour, Hanimeil and Marian occur. 

 (There were bakers or confectioners of these names in York at an early period.) From the 

 same record it appears^that female pupils were not excluded from the primitive Home Distriet 

 School. On the roll are names which surviving contemporaries would recognize as belonging 

 to the beau nioude of Upper Canada, distinguished and admired in later years. 



A building-lot, eighty-six feet in front and one hundred and seventeen in depth, next to the 

 site of the school, is offered for sale in the Gazette of the ISth of March, 1S22 ; and in the 

 advertisement it is stated to be "one of the most eligible lots in the Town of York, and situ- 

 ated in King Street, in tlie centre of the Town." To the left, just across from this choice 

 position, was, in ISSS, Wragg & Co.'s establishment, where such matter-of-faet articles as the 

 following could be procured : "Bending and unbending nails, as usual; wrought nails and 

 spikes of all sizes [a change since ISlC] ; ox-traces and cable-chains ; tin ; double and single 

 sheet iron ; sheet brass and copper ; bar, hoop, bolt and rod iron of all sizes ; shear, blister 

 and cast steel ; with every other article in the llea^■y line, together with a very complete assort- 

 ment of slielf goods, cordage, oakum, pitch, tar and rosin : also a few patent niacliiues for 

 slielling corn." (A much earlier resort for such merchandize was Mr. Peter Paterson's, on the 

 west side of the ^Market Square.) Of a date somewhat subsequent to that of Messrs. Wragg's 

 advertisement, was the depot of Mr. Harris for similar substantial wares. This was situated 

 on the north side of King Street, westward of the point at which we are now jiausing. It long 

 resisted the great conflagration of 1S49, towering uji amidst the flames like a black, isolated 

 crag in a tempestuous sea ; but at length it succumbed. Having been rendered, as it was 

 supposed, fire-proof externally, no attempt was made to remove the contents of the building. — 

 To tlie east of Messrs. Wragg's place of business, on tlie siune side, and dating back to an 

 early period, was the dweUiug house and mart of Mr. Mosley, the piiueipal auctioneer and 



