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

York Mills

Photo by Alan L Brown - March 2004

Outside the York Mills subway station, on the south-east corner of York Mills Road and Campbell Crescent, 1 block east of Yonge Street, is an Ontario Archaeological and Historic Sites Board plaque. [I have been informed that, as of August 2008, the plaque no longer exists at this location. If anyone knows its present location, please contact me at the email link in the menu.] Here's what's on it:

In 1796, Thomas Mercer, a Loyalist, acquired some 80 ha of land in this vicinity. James Hogg, an enterprising Scottish emigrant, purchased part of this property about 1818 and built a grist-mill on the west branch of the Don River near here. In the 1820's the mill became the nucleus of a small settlement known as Hogg's Hollow. The first St. John's Anglican Church (1817) was among the earliest built north of York. When the course of Yonge Street was changed in 1836, new mills, a tavern and a tannery were constructed to serve this rapidly growing community, and following the establishment of a post office, it became known as York Mills.

Related web pages
grist-mill
Don River
Hogg's Hollow
tannery

Plaque Location Co-ordinates: 43.743809 -79.403687

More Towns and Villages pages

More North York pages

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