TORONTO, province of Canada, North America, an incorporated city and the capital of Canada West, is situated in the Homo District, about 40 miles from the head of lake Ontario, on its northern shore, ha 43' 35' N. lat., 71•• 20' W. long., distant 390 miles S.W.
by W. from Montreal, 560 miles S.W. from Quebec. The city is governed by ten aldermen and ten councillors, one of whom is mayor ; and returns two members to the provincial parliament. The popoletion was 1200 in 1917; In 1836 it was 9652; In 1851 it was 30,775.
The city of Toronto occupier' • low and gently-rising site, fronting • floe ley, and extends newly three miler along shore, and above a mile inland, the streets Intersecting each other at right angles. Many of the houses are peat frame buildings, the greater number are of brick, and there are some superior stone structures. The streets are well paved and lighted with gas, and there is a plentiful supply of rood water from wells. The cathedral church of St. George was destroyed by fire in 1849, and has been rebuilt. Trinity church Is a spacious structure of brick, erected by means of a donation from an English gentleman, in order to provide free sittinga for the poor. St,. Paul's church is a handsome gothic structure with a lofty dewier spire. The Roman Catbolio cathedral is a vast and richly-finished brick pile, having attached a handsome residence for the bishop. The Endowed Scotch church is a small well-built structure, with n turret ; the Free Scotch church is a flue brick edifice, with a lofty well-proportioned spire; the United Presbyterian church, built in 1849, at a cost of 25001., is a handsome gothic structure of brick, with a tower and octagonal turret 80 feet high. There are two Independent and two Methodist churches; one Reformed Presby terian, one Baptist, one Primitive Methodist, and one African Methodist church. The educational institutions are—the University of Toronto ; the Upper Canada College, an excellent classical seminary, supple mentary to the district Grammar schools; the Normal and Model schools and education offices for Upper Canada; the Episcopal col lege; the Free church college for general tuition and theological training; the United Presbyterian and Independent Divinity halls; and the common schools of the city districts. There is a mechanics institute in the city. The government house is a handsome brick mansion, in a well-planted ioolosure; the halls of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, a brick edifice, consisting of a centre and wings, occupy a terrace fronting the bay; the court-house is a plain building in the centre of the town ; an elegant stone struc ture, containing the town-ball and assembly-rooms, has been recently erected on the site of one destroyed by fire ; Osgood Hall, comprising law-courts and lecture-rooms, is a handsome Grecian structure of stone, occupying a spacious square adjoining the University grounds; the jail is a substantial building of granite on the radiating plan ; the hospital, the market, the mechanics hall, and the custom-house are respectable brick buildings. The old barracks are at the west
end of the town on the shore of the bay, and about a mile farther the new barracks, or garrison, form an extensive group of buildings at a point where a regular battery has been constructed to command the entrance to the harbour. At a short distance inland from the gar rison is the Provincial Lunatic Asylum.
The harbour of Toronto is formed by a long flat strip of laud called the Island, extending from the east aide of the town in a south westerly direction about six miles, and terminating in Gibraltar Point, on which there is a lighthouse. The bay, which is about n mile and a half wide, is entered by a channel near the northern shore. There are several wharfs and landing piers, lined in some places with exten sive storehouses. Toronto is the centre of the wholesale trade to an extensive back country, from which a largo proportion of the exported grain and flour is shipped at the harbour. Schooners, sloops, and pro pellers ply between the port and Oswego, Rochester, Niagara, Hamil ton, and the other places on Lake Ontario, and ascend to the upper lakes. Propellers convey great quantities of flour to Montreal, and some proceed as far as Halifax or Nova Scotia. Mail and passenger steamers sail daily across the lake, up to Hamilton and down the St. Lawrence to Montreal. There are in the city a brewery, a foundry, and a considerable establishment for the manufacture of furniture by machinery. Extensive nurseries are in the neighbourhood, and some flour-mills are on the Don, a small river which flows from the north, and has a marshy outlet at the head of the bay.
Toronto has been since 1849, alternately with Quebec, for a period of four years, the residency of the governor of the province and the seat of the legislature. It contains the supreme courts of law for Canada West, the courts of Queen's Bench, of Common Pleas, and Chancery, besides the assize courts for the district, and mayor and police courts. The city is for the moat part remarkably healthy, and the extremes of temperature are seldom oppressive. The mean tem perature of summer is Fehr., of winter of the whole year The town was founded by Governor Simcoo in 1794, under the name of York, which name it retained till 1834, when it was iucor pomted by Sir John Colborne, who gave it the name of the district —Toronto.