Discover Toronto's history as told through its plaques

2004 - Now in our 15th Year - 2019

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Toronto Island

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted May, 2004

Photo Source - City of Toronto

Photo Source - Wikimedia Commons

If you take the ferry to Ward's Island, that's the leftmost one on the map above, you'll see this Ontario Heritage Trust plaque across the road from the ferry dock there. Here's what it says:

Coordinates: 43.631241 -79.356839

Toronto Island is part of a sand-bar which begins on the mainland near Woodbine Avenue and extends westward for about 9 km before turning northward toward the main shore. The building of the bar began with the formation of Lake Ontario about 8,000 years ago. Eroded from the Scarborough Bluffs, the sand was shifted westward by wave action during easterly storms. Eventually a long curving peninsula was formed, creating the large natural harbour on which Toronto was founded. The bar's westward growth was halted shortly after 1858 when a storm opened a large gap near the eastern end of the peninsula. The island thus formed became one of Toronto's major recreational areas.

Related webpage
Toronto Island

Related Toronto plaques
Toronto Islands
Scarborough Bluffs

More plaques found on Toronto Island
Allan A. Lamport Regatta Course
Babe Ruth at Hanlan's Point
English's Boathouse
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

More
Geology

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