Built 1793, destroyed 1813, rebuilt into today's museum

Fort York

The 1793 fort that gave the young town of York its defence saw its gunpowder magazine detonated in 1813 to keep it out of American hands — killing dozens, including the American general leading the attack.

Fort York originated in 1793, when Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe ordered a garrison built at the harbour to defend a planned naval base and counter the threat of war with the United States on Lake Ontario. York became the capital of Upper Canada in 1796.

The Battle of York

The fort's defining moment came on April 27, 1813, during the War of 1812: an American force of roughly 2,700 troops landed west of the fort and overwhelmed a defense of about 700 to 750 British regulars, militia and Ojibwe/Mississauga allies. As the British retreated, they detonated the fort's grand gunpowder magazine to keep it from the Americans — the explosion killed the American commanding general, Zebulon Pike, and dozens of others. American forces went on to occupy and burn government buildings in York, an event later cited as a contributing factor to the British burning of Washington in 1814.

Rebuilding and today's museum

The buildings destroyed in 1813 were rebuilt between 1813 and 1815; seven of those structures still stand today, one of the largest collections of original War of 1812-era buildings in Canada. The fort fell into disrepair and faced encroachment by rail yards in the later 19th century. The City of Toronto restored it between 1932 and 1934, marking the 1934 centennial of Toronto's incorporation, and it opened as a public historic site on Victoria Day, 1934 — now surrounded by condo towers at 250 Fort York Boulevard.

Sources

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