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 1788, Captain Gother Mann of the Royal Engineers, instructed by Lord Dorchester (Sir Guy Carleton, First Baron Dorchester) to conduct military surveys of the Great Lakes, prepared a survey and plan for “Torento Harbour.” The plan, dated at Quebec the 6th of December, 1788, covered a large area extending roughly from High Park to the Don Valley, and north of Eglinton Avenue. Mann’s layout for the area included a common area in the centre, residential lots around this area, and reserved government land along much of the shoreline. The ruins of Fort Rouillé can be seen on the survey.
Accompanying the plan was the report of Deputy Surveyor General John Collins, in which he advised that the shoreline was too shallow for wharves or quays to be practical, and that a prevalent west wind would make it difficult for ships to leave the harbour.
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.
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.
