1857 Fleming Ridout & Schreiber: Plan of the City of Toronto

This map shows the boundaries of the city, all streets, ward boundaries, parks and some notable buildings. Printed at the edges of the map is information concerning fire alarms and cab districts and fares.

The original of this map hung in room 14, a boardroom in Old City Hall. It now hangs on display in the second floor boardroom of the City of Toronto Archives.

‘Fleming, Ridout & Schreiber’ refers to Sir Sandford Fleming, Thomas Ridout, and Collingwood Schreiber. Both Sandford Fleming and Collingwood Schreiber were railway engineers as well as surveyors, so it is no surprise their map is the benchmark for recording the railway building in the 1850s.

It showed how completely the railways enveloped Fort York, with the GWR and GTR being the chief offenders. The GTR's cruciform Engine House dominated the fort's east end. It was constructed on part of the ten acres of land that the GTR had reclaimed from the lake. Another ten acres at the depot and the rail corridor to the west was formerly Ordnance land.

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1857 Plan of the City of Toronto, Fleming Ridout & Schreiber

Plan of the City of Toronto Canada West 1857. // Published by Fleming Ridout & Schreiber / Lithographed by J. Ellis 8 King St. Toronto C.W.
Original image scan courtesy City of Toronto Archives: Fonds 2, Series 88, Item 13.
Winearls, MUC no. 2131

Large version liberated by W. Xavier Snelgrove. See also this faded copy held by the TPL: T1857/4Mlrg c2

For comparison, the following map appeared as an addendum in Thomas Blackwell’s Report of the Grand Trunk Railway Company for the year 1859. Published by Waterlow & Sons Lith., it seems to be closely based on the Fleming Ridout & Schreiber map. [The 'ca. 1857' and the green highlighting are, I believe, modern amendments to the file]

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Toronto Canada West
by Waterlow & Sons Lith. London, 1860

Map available at Library and Archives Canada: MIKAN 4138854.

See Also: 1851 S Fleming Topographical Plan of the City of Toronto

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