Credit: Exclusive permission to reproduce this image was very kindly provided to the Toronto Project by the Map and Data Library, University of Toronto. This image may not be reproduced. Original link found here.
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In a 1680 map by Abbé Claude Bernou, “LAC DE TARONTO” was used as the name of current-day Lake Simcoe.
Teyoyagon, also known as Teiaiagon, was at this time a Seneca Iroquois village located on the Humber River near the present day intersection of Old Mill Road and Bloor Street.
Ganatchakiagon, also known as Ganatsekwyagon, was at this time a Seneca Iroquois village located on the Rouge River in Scarborough.
Fort Rouillé apparently prospered until the mid-1750s, when hostilities between the French and British increased. In 1754, the inhabitants of the French Fort Rouillé included:
- one officer;
- two sergeants;
- four soldiers; and
- one storekeeper.
In her diary, on Monday, July 29th, 1793, Elizabeth Simcoe described leaving Niagara and arriving at Toronto for the first time. There is no town in July of 1793. Toronto is a bay covered in forest. Her husband has had a soldiers’ camp set up at the site of present-day Fort York.
“Mon. 29th – We were prepared to sail for Toronto this morning, but the wind changed suddenly. We dined with the Chief Justice, and were recalled from a walk at nine o’clock this evening, as the wind had become fair. We embarked on board the “Mississaga,” the band playing in the ship. It was dark, so I went to bed and slept until eight o’clock the next morning, when I found myself in the harbour of Toronto. We had gone under an easy sail all night, for as no person on board had ever been at Toronto, Mr. Bouchette was afraid to enter the harbour till daylight, when St. John Rousseau, an Indian trader who lives near, came in a boat to pilot us.”
Credit: Photo by Alan L Brown and used with the kind permission of the www.ontarioplaques.com website.
By 1759, British forces were putting increased pressure on French positions in the area. Fort Niagara had fallen in July after a nineteen day siege. Québec City would be placed under siege for three months before falling in September.
Feeling that Fort Rouillé could not be defended, the decision was made in July 1759 by the fifteen troops stationed there to set fire to the fort and retreat to Montréal.
When it was destroyed, the fort was approximately 180 x 180 feet, and was made up of five buildings: the senior officers’ quarters, the soldiers’ quarters, a smithy, a magazine house and a kitchen.
Credit: Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library, T-32184
Click here for the full-size image.
Fort Rouillé, also known as Fort Toronto, was a French trading post established in 1750. The fort was named after Antoine-Louis Rouillé (1689-1761), the Count of Jouy, appointed in 1749 by Louis XV to oversee France’s colonies.
The Governor of New France, the Marquis de la Jonquière, had hoped that the fort would capture some of the trade between the Aboriginal population, many of whom were using the Humber River as a transport route, and the English fur-trading post located at the opposite side of Lake Ontario, at present-day Oswego, New York.
The fort was located in the area that is occupied today by the C.N.E., next to the windmill (i.e. the Windshare turbine), where a monument, as well as the outline of the original fort, can be found.
