The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Toronto was platted in 1853 by George W. Thorne (1817-1898), born in Maidstone, Kent, England in and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Thorne had built a sawmill and gristmill at the site in the 1840s.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Start Toronto’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Toronto’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people close to Toronto
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By decade
Toronto, decade by decade
Before
2000
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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National Register of Historic Places
Nothing in Toronto is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Toronto has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Kreinbring Phillips 66 Gas Station in Lowden, 4.3 miles away.
Toronto and the nearest listed places
Dashed line = Toronto. Tap a dot.
How a place gets listed
1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. Kreinbring Phillips 66 Gas Station’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Toronto?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Toronto’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old placeNational Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.
Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (2). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.