Search 640toronto.com

Hosts & Shows
Many Happy Returns!
Posted 3/6/2013 9:11:00 AM

Our fair city turns the grand old age of 179 today. Huzzah!

Incorporated on this day in 1834 from the town of York, Toronto has certainly seen numerous changes over the years. The name Toronto likely comes from the Iroquois word ‘tkaronto’, meaning ‘place where trees stand in the water’.

York was established by Governor John Graves Simcoe in 1793; and he chose the site believing Americans would be less likely to attack.

Clairvoyant, Governor Simcoe was not as we learned in the Battle of York in 1812.

After a five day occupation, we chased those rapscallions out of Hogtown.

She may not be a ‘world class’ kind of place; and despite the many ups and downs in Toronto ever since 1834, it’s still a pretty damned good place to live.
Posted By: John Oakley  

Leave a comment:

showing all comments · Subscribe to comments
  1. JoanA_0122 posted on 03/06/2013 07:10 PM
    Two kinds of attitude to Toronto - those who find it too fast and pine for rural digs and those who run off to NY every few weeks because Toronto is too slow, too boring.

    So, "place where trees stand in the water" -- a swamp? Wikipedia goes on to say the name refers to the north part of Lake Simcoe where the Huron had planted trees to corral fish. So the Hurons were farmers. Who knew?

    I love Toronto. Born and bred there. Don't live there now but miss it. In me bones.

    So now we know the origin of the name Toronto but what about Hogtown? Is that a reference to the downtown slaughterhouses and market of old or, as some maintain, a reference to how Hells owns the place?
showing all comments

<<May 2013>>
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
2829301234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930311
2345678