1858 Ellis: Map of the City of Toronto, Canada West

In the preface to The Hand Book of Toronto (1858) which included this map, the author [G.P. Ure] said, “The beautiful map of the City . . . was prepared by Mr. Ellis, engraver, expressly for the work, and contains a feature never before displayed in any Canadian map, that of giving a microscopic representation of public buildings upon the sites which they respectively occupy.”  The result was a mixed success, with some images appearing upside-down and being harder to appreciate.

Ure assumed many of his readers would be visitors to the Provincial Exhibition held in Toronto that year. After catering at length to their curiosity for detail on all aspects of the city, he described the grounds and the Crystal Palace, recently erected, where the exhibition took place:

The Provincial Government . . . in granting to the Corporation of the City of Toronto the fee simple of that portion of the Garrison Reserve lying immediately south of the Lunatic Asylum for a public Park, they made this condition, that not less than twenty acres of the Reserve should be appropriated for the holding of the Provincial Agricultural Association's exhibitions, whenever it may be required for that purpose. 

The Crystal Palace is shown above the title for the map. It was erected in just 15 weeks from the time the tenders were opened to completion. The designs were by Messrs. Fleming & Schreiber, civil engineers; Messrs. Smith, Burke & Co. were the contractors. See more about the latter firm here.

Click the image to view full-size (PDF).

Map of the CITY OF TORONTO. Canada West Lithographed by John Ellis.
from George Ure’s The Hand-Book of Toronto, Containing its Climate, Geology, Natural History, Educational Institutions, Courts of Law, Municipal Arrangements, &c., &c.. (Toronto: Lovell and Gibson 1858)

Image courtesy Toronto Public Library: 917.1354 U67 \B BR
Winearls, MUC no. 2134

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Next map: 1872 Wadsworth & Unwin: Map of the City of Toronto (shewing real estate exemptions from taxation)
Back to: The Exhibition Grounds