St. Lawrence Market

Tkaraonto

A map coloured with red, blue, and black lines, printed on linen. The map outlines the different sections of what would become Toronto: King the North with Whitechurch in the North-East, Vaughan beneath King, with Markham in the East, York in the South with Etobicoke in the West, Scarborough in the East, and Toronto along the front of Lake Ontario which is at the bottom of the image and coloured in a light blue.

Original plan of the Toronto Purchase (1787-1805), outlined in red ink, 1911. Image: Toronto Public Library

A black and white photograph of a street with pedestrians and horse drawn carriages walking along it. Buildings are visible to the left hand side of the image. You can see the Market in the foreground and St. Lawrence Hall in the back.

St. Lawrence Market. North Market (1850-1904), Front Street East, north side, between Market & Jarvis Streets, prior to 1898. Toronto Public Library.

Black and white photograph of a stall in St. Lawrence Market. The stall is full of different forms of meat, carcasses hang from hooks that line the top of the stall.

William Davies Stall, St. Lawrence Market, 1911

Tkaraonto

The land that this tour takes place on is the traditional territory of many nations. Indigenous peoples and European settlers used this area to trade and exchange goods long before the current St. Lawrence Market building was built. The name “Toronto” comes from the Mohawk word Tkaronto (tga-roon-doe), referring to the fishing weirs in Lake Simcoe, but European settlers mistook it for the meeting place that became Toronto.

The Toronto Purchase

In 1787, British settlers prepared a written agreement, called the Toronto Purchase, in order to claim the land used by the Mississaugas. The British and Mississaugas had different understandings of land ownership: the Mississaugas believed they were allowing the British access to their land, while still retaining their traditional rights.

The First Market

The British saw the land as firmly under their control, and began to build a city for themselves, pushing the Mississaugas out. In 1803, the portion of land on which the St. Lawrence Hall now sits was designated as a public market space. The first market building, marked by the yellow brick on the exterior, included the City Council chambers.

Hogtown

In the 1850s, William Davies arrived in Canada and set up a stall where he sold a cut of pork that would become a signature food at the market: peameal bacon. He expanded his business to become one of the largest of its type in the British Empire, contributing to Toronto’s nickname of “Hogtown.”

Back to map