Fort York and Garrison Common Maps: The ‘New’ Fort (Stanley Barracks)

Birds Eye View of the New Fort at Toronto, Upper Canada
[ca. 1841] Thomas Glegg. Courtesy Archives of Ontario
Reference Code: F 596, I0006706

In 1833 the lieutenant-governor, Sir John Colborne, suggested supplementing Fort York with a new fort able to accommodate more soldiers, located a mile further west on the lakeshore where it had a better command over the harbour.

To ease the burden on the British Treasury, he proposed also that £10,000 of its cost be raised from the sale of lots within the Reserve east of Garrison Creek. Both proposals were accepted, and while the first land sales were held later that year, the approvals needed to begin building were slower in coming. What tipped things was the civil unrest of 1837-38 in Upper Canada. In their determination to 'secure' the province, the British not only built a large new barrack in the 'old' fort in 1838, but also authorized construction on the 'new' fort. It was erected between February 1840 and October 1841.

1827 Phillpotts, Durnford & Wright: Plan of a Pentagonal Fort containing a casemated Fortified Barrack for 200 Men proposed to be constructed at York U.C.