Discover Toronto's history as told through its plaques

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English's Boathouse

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted August, 2016

Located just to the east of the south end of the Centre Island Bridge, this 2016 Heritage Toronto plaque has this to say:

Coordinates: 43.618945 -79.373765

Click here for a larger map

For more than 65 years, a landmark boathouse stood at the south end of the Centre Island cast iron bridge. Built in the early 1890s by John Hanlan, brother of world champion rower Ned, Hanlan's Boathouse rented canoes and other small vessels to Toronto Island visitors at a time when the island was at the centre of outdoor recreation for the city.

In addition to a boat rental business, the building included, at various times, a dance hall, a bicycle rental office, and a large refreshment stand facing Manitou Road.

When John Hanlon died in 1900, the boathouse passed to his sister, Emily Duman Solman, and her entrepreneur husband Lawrence "Lol" Solman. A few years later, their son-in-law Edward English began operating the business and renamed it English's Boathouse.

The boathouse remained in the family until 1959 when redevelopment of Centre Island and the creation of Toronto Island Park led to the expropriation and demolition of all buildings on Manitou Road (later Avenue of the Islands).

Related webpages
cast iron
Lol Solman

More plaques found on Toronto Island
Allan A. Lamport Regatta Course
Babe Ruth at Hanlan's Point
Gibraltar Point
Gibraltar Point Lighthouse
Island Filtration Plant
Island Water Treatment Plant
The Lake Light
Manitou Road
Milton Acorn and Gwendolyn MacEwen
Ned Hanlan 1855-1908
Queen City Yacht Club
Residents or Parks? Remaking Toronto Island
The Royal Canadian Yacht Club
St. Andrew-by-the-Lake
Toronto Island

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Transportation

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