King Street Gaol (1824)
The second King Street Gaol (also known as the Toronto Jail)[1] was built in 1824 to replace the first King Street Gaol in Toronto, Ontario, then known as the town of York. At that time, the town needed a larger, better constructed jail to replace the original, which was little more than a plain log building with a stockade.
The new two-storey brick building, designed by John George Howard, was built two blocks east on the north-east corner of King Street and Toronto Street with a wooden stockade enclosing its gallows.[2]
After the jail closed, the building was used as an insane asylum, then incorporated into the York Chambers Building. It was eventually demolished in 1957.[3]
[edit] Hangings
In 1838, rebel leaders Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews were hanged at the jail for their participation in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews at Historical Narratives of Early Canada
- ^ Jails - Toronto Archives
- ^ Behind Bars: Inside Ontario's Heritage Gaols / Ron Brown, (Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc. 2006), ISBN 1-897045-17-4
Coordinates: 43°38′59″N 79°22′33″W / 43.64984°N 79.37579°W
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