The city that we know today as Toronto began as a settlement in 1793. Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe built a garrison on the site where Fort York now stands. Simcoe wished to establish a strategic location from which he could control Lake Ontario. Eventually he moved the Capital of Ontario to Toronto, as the settlement known as Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) was too vulnerable from American attack. A community named York began to grow two kilometres east of the fort (York was renamed Toronto in 1834). On the 27 th of April 1813, the U.S. Army and Navy attacked York with 2,700 men on 14 ships and schooners. Although the British put up an excellent defense they were forced back to the fort and eventually fled. In the fall of that year the British returned and built the present fort that we see today. Fort York opened as a historic site museum in 1934. Today the fort is open for visitors year round. The fort is home to Canada’s largest collection of original War of 1812 buildings

100 Garrison Rd
Toronto , ON
Phone: (416) 392-6907
Fax: (416) 392-6917