John Graves Simcoe founds Toronto

Background. John Graves Simcoe was a British army officer and colonial administrator appointed lieutenant governor of Upper Canada on 12 September 1791, following the Constitutional Act 1791 that divided Canada into Upper and Lower Canada. He reached Kingston in June 1792 and pursued a long-term vision of Upper Canada as a model community built on aristocratic and conservative principles.

Founding of York. In 1793 Simcoe established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, King George III's second son. The British had established the town after the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, in which the Mississaugas surrendered the area to the British Crown. York was later designated the capital of Upper Canada.

Early Developments. Simcoe began construction of two roads through Upper Canada for defence and to encourage settlement and trade. Soldiers of the Queen's Rangers began cutting one road in August 1793, reaching Holland Landing in 1796. Streets near the fort where Simcoe lived during his early years in York were later named for him.