Tuesday Treasures

 Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

Travel Tuesday

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My Corner of the World

The Yorkville Fire Hall, today known as ‪Toronto Fire Station 312‬ - photo below taken 2008.

The parking lot is gone, replaced by a park and the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences.

“In the early 19th century, individual citizens were responsible for firefighting. Each house was required by law to have two leather buckets and two ladders to reach burning roofs. The “bucket brigades” drew water from Lake Ontario or water tanks. The bells of St. James Cathedral were used to raise the fire alarm.

The Toronto Fire Brigade was created in 1826 with volunteers who raced to fires pulling hand-pumped engines equipped with hand-sewn leather hoses. Carters hauled water in large casks. Members of the first Hook and Ladder company, created in 1831, accessed upper storeys and roofs and used long pike poles to pull down burning buildings.

The arrival of steam-powered engines drawn by horses in the 1860s as well as rubber hoses encased in woven cotton improved firefighting. In 1871, the city installed its first fire alarm system with call boxes located throughout Toronto.

In 1874, as Toronto continued to expand, the city established its first professional fire service.” Heritage Toronto 2019.

1952 – Fire Station No. 10, known today as Toronto Fire Station 312, is located at 34 Yorkville Ave (Toronto Public Library R-1899)

1975 – Reopening day of Fire Station No. 10 after the restoration and addition was completed. Today it’s known as Toronto Fire Station 312 (City of Toronto Archives, Series 61, File 283, Item 1)

These photos taken 2019.

The hose tower dates back to 1876 and was designed by architects Herbert Hancock and Samuel Townsend.

Yorkville had a beautiful High Victorian-style town hall on the west side of Yonge St at Collier St. In 1941, that building was destroyed by fire, but the town hall’s clock and Coat of Arms were saved. The clock was transferred to the fire hall tower, while the Coat of Arms was added to the building’s front.

The crest is made of carved stone and features a beaver atop five symbols and letters that represent the town’s first councillors’ occupations, along with the first initial of their last names:

Bull and the letter H: butcher, Peter Hutty
Barrel and the letter S: brewer, John Severn
Brick and the letter A: brickmaker, Thomas Atkinson
Plane and the letter D: carpenter, James Dobson (the first Reeve)
Anvil and the letter W: blacksmith, James Wallis

1907 – Yorkville Town Hall was once located on the west side of Yonge St opposite Collier St in the Yorkville neighbourhood of Toronto. When the building was destroyed by fire, the surviving clock and Coat of Arms were relocated to what we know today as Toronto Fire Station 312‬ (Toronto Public Library R-6634)