Urban Development in South-Central Ontario 9780773595309

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Urban Development •

In

South -Central Ontario Jacob Spelt

The Ca rleton Libra ry No. 57

McClelland and Stewart Limited Toronto/ Montreal

@McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1972 All rights reserved

The Canadian Publishers McClelland and Stewart Limited

25 H ollinger Road, Toronto 374 Urban Developm ent in Sowh-Celllral Ontario was first published in 1955 by Koninklyke Van Gorcum and Company, Assent Netherlands; o ne of the series Socia l Geographic Studies

unde r the direction o[ Prof. dr. A.C. de Vooys, Un iversity of Utrecht. Printed an d bound in Canada by T .R . Best Printin g Company Limited

The Carleton Library A series of Canadian reprints and new collections of source materia l relatin g to Canada, issued under the edito ria l

supervision of the Institute of Canadian Studies of Carleton University, Ottawa. Director 0/ the Illstilute:

Pauline Jewett General Editor: D.M.L. Farr EXeCl/live Editor:

James Marsh Editorial Board:

Duncan M. Anderson (Geography) B. Carman Bickerton ( H istory) Bruce A. McFarlane (Sociology )

Thomas K. Rymes (Economics) Derek Smith (Anthropology) Michael S. Whittington (Political Science)

Contents Preface and bibliographical note to the Carleton Library edition , vi 1. Introduction, I

Approach to the subject , The Region, 4 2, The Era of Early Setdements, 1780-1820, 12 The French and Indian Period, 12 British Seulement Until 1791, 17 The Simcoe Decade, 22 Growth of Settlement Until 1820, 30 Town Growth Before 1820,45 Summary, 53

3. The Northward Expansion, 55 Immigration and Population Growth, 55 The Spread of Seulement Between 1820 and 1850, 58 The Transportation Network, 64 Agriculture, 69 Lumber Indust ry, 72 Manufacturing, 73 Trade and Finance, 79 Urban Centres in 185 1,88 The Fin;t 70 yean; of Urban Growt h, 100 4. The Building of the Railways, 101 Settlement in the Ollawa~ Huron Tract, 101 The Population Pauern in 188 1. 106 The Economic Structure in 1881, 108 Transportational Changes, 109 Agriculture, 118 The Lumber In dustry, 121 Other Primary Ind ustries, 123 Manufacturing, 123 Trade and Fin ance 1850 to 1881 , 130 Urban Development 1851 to 188 1, 139

5. The Rise of Modern Manufacturing, 150 Distribution of Population in 1911, 150 The Economic Structure, 151 Agricultu re. 15 1 Lumber In dustry , 155 Transportation, 158 Trade and Finance, 164 Manufacturing, 166

Urban Development 188110 19 11 , 176 Conclusion, 186

6. Urban Predominance, 1911-1951, 187 Extent of Urbanizat ion in 195 I, 187 Density of Population, 188 The Changing Occupational Structure, 191 Agriculture, 192 Other Primary Indust ries, 197

Manu facturing as a Factor in Urban Growth, 198 T ransportation , 211 T rade , 219 The Urban Pallern in 195 1,227 A Centu ry and a Hair or Urban G rowth, 239 . Conclusion , 244

Maps , 247 to 27 1

Note on the Author. 273 Bibliography, 275 Index or Place Names. 293

Preface and Bibliographical Note to the Carleton Librury Edition. I

South-Central Ontario - th at part of Ontario which is situated to the north of L1ke Ontario - forms part of a rapidly developing industrial and urban belt between Quebec City and Windsor. South-Central Ontario itself is largely dominated by Metropolitan Toronto, a conurbation with more than onc million inhabitants in 1951 . This part of Canada rose from a practically uninh abited area in 1780 to a region with a highly urbanized economy in the middle of the 20th cen tury. During this 170year period, th e region passed through an urban development which in Europe took many centuries to be completed. In Europe the beginnings are shrouded in obscurity, whereas in Southern Ontario tl1cre are many sources recordi ng the first rise of the towns and villages. Many persons are still living whose grandfathers and fathers took an active part in the clearing of the land. This study is focussed on 'an ana lysis of the growth of cities and towns in thi s region , which gradually fe ll under the influence of one rapidly g rowing large cent re. The approach is an historical one. The book is di vided into fi ve parts, each covering a period in the histo ry of South-Central Onta rio. Each part begins with a survey of the population den sity and pattern of settlement in the region. Next the various industries arc discussed, such as agriculture, lumbering, manufacturing, etc., in order to explain the population densities and patterns. This in turn se rves as a framework fo r the treatment of the urban ce ntres and the process of urbanization. An attempt is made to grade the cities and town s as service centres, a fter wh ich they are compared as to their growth and decline. I wish to express my gratitude to my wife Gerda, to whom the first edition was dedicated. H er encouragement and support contributed in no small way to the completio n of the study during our early years of " pioneering" in Ca nada. II

This study of the process of urbanization in South-Central Ontario first appeared in 1955, in the series Sociaal Geogra-

xii fische Srudies under the editorship of Prof. A.C. de Vooys of the Univers ity of Utrecht. · This reprint ing again makes available a book which has been o ut of pri nt for m a ny years. Except for copy-ed iting directed to the correct ion of minor errors, a nd th e addit ion of a few clarifying sentences, the text is essentia lly th e sa me as th at of the first edi tion. Judging from the steady demand for it, the book seems to have ca rved for itse lf a ni che as it is. The refore it was decided to leave the text as it origin ally was, espec ially the fin al c ha pt e r, whic h provides an interpreta tion as seen in the early 1950's. Some aspects of the chapter, such as the question of industri al decent rali za tion have not stood the test of time. Others, in particular the impact of the SI. Lawrence Seaway, th e call for regio nal pla nning, the urging for the preservat ion of open space, a nd the suggest ions to direct some of th e growth of Toronto to other centres (e.g. BarrieL have become a t present more relevant th a n ever. When the book was pu blished, it was, with D.W. Kirk's Ph.D. thesis frolll North western U ni versity, the first attempt to make a comparati ve slUdy of urban development in Ontario. Since the n, the prob lem of urban iza tion has rapidly ga ined interest, a nd a substantial number of studies have a ppeared. For the most part these dea l with Metropolitan T oronto a nd to a lesse r extent with the rest of South-Centra l Onta rio. Specifica lly related to certain aspects of this study are H ans Carol's " Develop me nt Regions in Southern Ontario Based on City-

Centred Regions" (Ontario Geography, No.4, 1969. London, Ontario) and J oh n U. Ma rshall 's The Location of Service Towns (Toronto, 1969). Ca rol used the cen tral fun ct ion s of cities and tow ns as a basic cri terion to deli neate planning regions. The essay includes a number of maps showin g functi ona l region s of different orders and their relation to road traffic flo ws. Mars hall 's book includes a treatment of th e urban syste m centred on Barrie. A most valuable source for the study of On tario is W.G. Dean and GJ. Matthews, the Ecollomic Atlas Of Olllario (Toronto, 1969). This internationally known volume comprises an exce llent selection of ma ps dealing with a l\ as pects of the eco nomi c geogra phy of th e prov in ce, including urban centres and urbani za tio n. C ities and towns ca n be co mpared readily as to spec ific char acteri stics a nd factors in th eir develop men I. ] 0 • The series is publi shed by Van Gorcum & Compo N.V. Assen. Ihe Ne the rl ands.

xiii this context, mention also must be made of D. Michael Ray's study, Market Poteulialand Economic Shadow. A Qllalllilalive Allalysis oj Induslrial Location ill SOllthem Olltario (Univer-

sity of Chicago, Department of Geography, Research Paper No. 101 , 1965). Its point of view and conclusions should be balanced with N .C. Field and D.P. Kerr, Geograplu'cal Aspects oj Industrial Growth in the Metropolitan Torollfo Regioll (Regiona l Development Bra nch, Department of Treasury and Economics, Government o[ Ontario, 1968). For a more recent treatm ent of the geography of Southern Ont :l rio by the author, th e reader is referred to his chapler on the region in Canada, A G eographical Illterprellllioll, ed ited by John Warkentin, Ca nadian Association of Geogra phers (Toronto, 1968). It partly replaces and supplements so me of the discuss io n in the fina l chapter of thi s book, taking into consideration deve lopments since the early 1950's. A seco nd ed it ion of the Physiography oj SOllfhem Olllario by L.J. Cha pman and D.F. Putnam appeared in 1966 (Toronto) . The Metropolitan Toronto and Region Transportation Study (MTARTS), created by th e Ontario Govern ment in 1962, laid the groundwork for the formu lation of the Government's concept for the fu ture deve lopment of the Toronto area. This was published in 1970 and en titl ed Government 0/ OIlWriO, Design /01' Development. The Toronto-Centred Region (Toro nto, 1970 ) . 1n this publicati on, the Government envisages a linear conurbatio n along the shore of Lake Ontario bet wee n H amilton and Bowmanvi lle, some 80 mi les long and 5 to 15 miles wide. This proposed urban belt will consist of two rows of centres, separated by a tran s portati o n~pa rk way corridor, incorporat ing also powe rlines. pipelines, water and sewage lin es. Eventually th e lakeshore ribbon would have a popula tio n o[ some five or six million people. In the commute r shed to th e north of the linear city, urban growth wou ld be restricted, except for the historic northward extensio n a long Yon ge Street. Cen tres farth er away, such as Midland and Bar rie, wou ld be treated as towns to be expanded and encouraged to grow. Thus it is expected that by the year 2000 the region would be nble to accom modate some 8 milli on people com pared wit h a population of 3.6 milli on in 1966. The impo rt ant point is not whether the populntion forecast is realistic (most likely it will not be), but that development be encouraged to proceed in such a manner that if th e forecast of popul atiol) were to beco me a rea lity, the region would still be a pleasant place to live and work. The beau ty and charm of th e So uthern Ontario landscape

xiv were placed in focus by Verschoyle Benson Blake and Ra lph Gree nh ill, R ural Ontario (To ro nto, 1969 ) ; and Marion Macrae and A nthony Adamson, Th e Ancestral Rooj: Domestic Architectll re 0/ Upper Callada (Toronto, 1963). These two vo lu mes have greatly contributed to a revival of interest in the cultu ral heritage embodied in the O ntario landscape. E ric Arth ur made a simi lar cont ribution for To ronto with his Torolllo, No M eall City (Toronto, 1964) . It called attention to buildings of cultural and hi stori cal value, and as th e o th er two, has contribut ed substantially to the creation of attempts to restore a nd preserve at leas t some of them. Donald Kerr and Jacob Spelt, Th e Changing Face oj TorolilO (Ott awa) fi rst published in 1965 and seve ral times reprinted. deals wit h th e histo ri cal and con tempora ry development of the metropolis. Its writ ing was partly a response to the suggestion made by D.C. Masters in a review of thi s book (Can adian H istorical Review, Vol. XXXV II, 1956, pp. 85, 86) . Th e Changing Face 0/ Toro1lto has been rew ritten and will be published in a new and expanded form in 1972 . In recent yea rs Toro nt o has been the object o f intensive resea rch by a wide vari ety o f schola rs. O nly a few ca n be menti o ned here. F irst of all th ere are those of a predo minantly hi storica l natu re, like Edith F irth 's T he Towll 0/ Y ork 17931815: A Collection 0/ DOCllm ell1S 0/ Early Torollto and her subseq uent volume, Th e TOIIIII 0/ Y ork 1815- / 841: A Furth er Collection 0/ Documents 0/ Early Toroll1o. oI< The deve lopments in th e T oronto a rea bef9re 1793 regained attent io n with the second edit ion of Toronto during til e Frell ch R egime by P J. Robinson (Toronto, 1965). The fi rst edi tio n was in 193 3 and the autho r has add ed appendices dea ling wit h his research o n the topic since the n. T he part played by an interesting but nearly forgo tt en pe rsonality d urin g the early ye ars of To ronto is disc ussed by John Andre in William Berczy, Co-Founder 0/ Toroflt o (published by ' he auth or, Toro nto, 1967 ) . An abridged versio n of the well-know n Torolllo 0/ Old by Henry Scadding was ed ited by F. H. Ar ms trong (Toronto, 1966) . The ed itor has made th e book stronge r and of grea ter interest with the addit ion of supplementa ry and expla nato ry footnotes. Seve ral studies on To ro nto have res ulted from doctoral th eses in geograp hy at the Uni versity of Chi cago. Toro nto in the second half of the 19th century has been exam ined by P.O . • These vo lumes appea r as Vol. v ( 1962 ) and Vol. VIII ( 1966 ) respec tively in the Ontar io Series of the Champ lain Society.

xv Goheen in Victorian Toronto 1850-1900. Pattern alld Process of Growlh (U ni versi ty of Chicago, Department of Geography,

Resea rch Pa per No. 127, Ch icago, 1970) . I n the sa me series, but dealing with more contemporary aspects are James W. Simmons, Toronto's Changing R elllil Complex: A Study oj Growlh "lid B/igh l (No 104, 1966); Larry S. Bourne, Redeve/opmelil of Ihe Cenlra/ Cily (No 11 2, 1967); and Robert A. Murdie, Factorial Ecology 0/ M etropolitan Toron/o, 19511961 (No 11 6, 1969). The development of local gove rnment in the Toronto area has received world-w ide attenti o n. It is a process wh ich has contributed a great deal to th e evolution of local government not o nly in other parts of Ontario, but also in Ca nada in general. A tho rough treatme nt is found in Ha ro ld Kapl an, Urban Polilica l System s: A FlIllctional Analysis 01 M etro Torollto (New York, 1967). The present form of metropolitan gove rnmen t is largely based on H . Carl Goldenberg, Reporl of Ihe Royal Commission 011 Metropolitan Toronto (Toron to, 1965). Si nce the first edition of this book, many pu blic