St. Lawrence Hall

Toronto's Historical Plaques

Learn a little of Toronto's history as told through its plaques.

St. Lawrence Hall 1850

Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale, sang to packed houses here in 1851. Ten years later, Tom Thumb attracted scores of fascinated spectators. It's quite a building at 155 King St East. There are three plaques inside the building. Here's what the Ontario Archaeological and Historic Sites Board plaque has to say:

Erected in 1850 this structure provided a grand public hall in the St. Lawrence market-place, then the centre of Toronto, for concerts, balls, meetings and other civic events. Seating a thousand, it was proudly regarded as one of the city's finest buildings. Here Jenny Lind sang, the Anti-Slavery Society met, and George Brown addressed ardent Reform gatherings before Confederation. When the centre of the city shifted north and west in the 1870's, St. Lawrence Hall's great era ended.

Location Co-ordinates: 43.650252 -79.372283

Photo by Alan L Brown - April 2004

Here's the information on the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada plaque:

Designed by William Thomas, in the Renaissance tradition, this hall, built by the city in 1850, was for many years Toronto's chief social and cultural centre. With its handsome Corinthian facade and graceful cupola, it ranks amongst the finest of 19th century Canadian public buildings. Its assembly room was used for lectures, concerts, balls and receptions; here such noted Canadians as Sir John A. Macdonald, George Brown, and Thomas D'Arcy McGee addressed Toronto audiences. After a long period of disuse and neglect, it was restored in 1967 as a centennial project.

Photo by Alan L Brown - September 2006

Here's the information on the Parks Canada plaque:

St. Lawrence Hall was an important venue for many African Canadian activities in support of abolition and the welfare of refugee slaves in Toronto. It provided an important platform for major abolitionist speakers including Frederick Douglass, Samuel Ringgold Ward and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. One of the first events in the newly-renovated St. Lawrence Hall was the 1851 "North American Convention of Colored Freemen". Anti-slavery feelings ran high in Toronto after the United States government passed the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850. Now escaped slaves and even free African Americans could be arrested without warrant or trial anywhere in the United States. Black abolitionist leaders Henry Bibb of Canada West and Theodore Holly of Vermont organized organized the convention to discuss issues of slavery and Black emigration from the United States. Fifty-three delegates from across Canada and the Unites States, plus one from the Caribbean, attended the three-day convention. Prominent abolitionist leaders including Dr. Martin Delany, Thomas Smallwood and John Cary debated issues of importance to the North American Black community. Topics included discussion of how to advance the fight against slavery and the effects of the Fugitive Slave Law, the fight against segregated schooling for Black children and the difficult question of whether or not to encourage Blacks to emigrate from the United States and build new lives in Canada, the Caribbean, or Africa. The convention's final resolution confirmed Canada as the best destination for refugee American slaves.

Photos and plaque text by Wayne Adam - March 2007

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