TORONTO OF OLD. 359 



Is called, when they elect a auceeasor or successors in their place. The present trustees (1833) 

 are Thomas Carfrae, jun., Thomas D. Morrison, Peter Paterson, John Bwart, Thomas Helliwcll.' 

 Mr. Carfrae was for some years the CoUector of Customs of the Port of York. The others were 

 respectively the medical man, iron-merchant, builder, and brewer, so well known in the neigh- 

 borhood. — A remote reqnestered piece of ground in 1S25, the Potter's Field in 1845 was more or 

 less surrounded by buildings, and regarded as an impediment in the way of public improvement- 

 Interments were accordingly proliibited. To some extent it has been cleared of human remains, 

 and in due time will be built over. Its successor and representative is the Toronto Necropolis, 

 the trustees of which are empowered, after the lapse of twenty-one years, to sell the old burying- 

 ground. 



Proceeding on, we were immediately opposite the Red Lion Tavern, anciently Tiers', subse- 

 quently Price's, on the east side ; a large and very notable halting-place for loaded teams after 

 the tremendous struggle involved in the traverse of the Blue Hill ravine, of which presently. 

 In old European lands, in times by-gone, the cell of a hermit, a monastery, a castle, became 

 often the nucleus of a village or town. With us on the American continent, a convenient 

 watering or baiting place in the forest for the wearied horses of a farmer's waggon or a stage- 

 coach is the less romantic punctum saliens for a similar issue. Thus Tiers's, at which we- have 

 paused, may be regarded as the germ of the flourishing incorporation of YorkvUle. Many a 

 now solitary way-station on our railroads will probably in like manner hereafter prove a centre 

 round wliich will be seen a cluster of human habitations. We discover from a contemporary 

 Gazette that so early as ISOS, previous, perhaps, to tlie establishment of the Red Lion on Yonge 

 Street, Mr. Tiers had conducted a public house in the town of York. In the Gazette of June 13, 

 1808, we have the following announcement. It has an English ring: "Beefsteak and Beer 

 House. — The subscriber informs his friends and the public that he has opened a house of enter- 

 tainment next door to Mr. Hunt's, where his friends will be served with victualing in good order, 

 on the shortest notice, and at a cheap rate. He will furnish the best strong beer at 8d. New York 

 currency per quart, if drank in his house, and 2s. 6d. New York currency per gallon if taken 

 out. As he intends to keep a constant supply of racked beer, with a view not to injure the 

 health of his customers, and for which he will have to pay cash, the very small profits at which 

 he offers bo sell, will put it out of his power to give credit, and he hopes none will he asked. 

 N.B. He will immediately have entertainment for man and horse. Daniel Tiers. York, 12th 

 January, 1S08." 



The singular Hotel de Ville which in modem times distinguishes l''orkviUe has a Flemish look. 

 It might have strayed hitlier from Ghent. Nevertheless, as seen from numerous points of view, 

 it cannot be characterized as x>icturesque, or in harmony with its surroundings. The shield of 

 arms sculptured in stone and set in the wall above the circular window in the front gable, pre- 

 sents tlie following charges arranged quarterly : a Beer-barrel, with an S below ; a Brick-mould, 

 with an A below ; an Anvil, with a W below ; and a Jackplane, with a D below. In the centre, 

 in a shield of pretence, is a Sheep's head, with an H below. These symbols commemorate the 

 first five Councillors or Aldermen of Yorkville at the time of its incorporation in 1853, and their 

 trades or callings ; the initials being those respectively of the surnames of Mr. John Severn, 

 Mr. Thomas Atkinson, Mr. James Wallis, Mr. James Dobson, and Mr. Peter Hutty. Over the 

 whole, as a crest, is the Canadian Beaver. 



The road whicth enters from the west, a little way on, calls up memories of RusseU-hill, 

 Davenport and Spadina, each of them locally historic. We have already spoken of them in our 

 journey along Front Street and Queen Street, when, in crossing Brock Street, Spadina-house in 

 the distance caught the eye. It is a peculiarity of this old bye-road that, instead of going 

 straight, as most of our highways monotonously do, it meanders a little, unfolding a number of 

 pretty suburban scenes. The public school, on the land given to Yorkville by Mr. Ketchum, 

 is visible up this road. In this direction were the earliest public ice-houses established in our 

 region, in rude buildings of slab, thickly thatched over with pine branches. Spring-water ice, 

 gathered from the neighbouring mill-ponds, began to be stored here in quantities by an enter, 

 prising man of African descent, Mr. Richards, live-and-thirty years ago. 



On the east side of Yonge Street, near the northern toll-gate, stood Dr. R. C. Home's house, 

 the lurid flames arising from which somewhat alarmed tlie to^^^^ in 1837, when the malcontents 

 of the north were reported to be approaching with hostile intent. Of Dr. Home we have already 

 poken, in connexion with the early press of York. 



