Move of Upper Canada Capital to York

Background. Upper Canada had been created as a political entity on 26 December 1791, when the Parliament of Great Britain passed the Constitutional Act 1791. The province was one of two Canadas established that year by Great Britain to govern the central portion of its former Province of Quebec lands in British North America.

The Move to York. On 1 February 1796 the capital of Upper Canada was moved from Newark, present-day Niagara-on-the-Lake, to York, present-day Toronto. The relocation was made because York was judged to be less vulnerable to attack by the United States than the earlier capital on the Niagara frontier.

Parliament Buildings at York. When the capital first moved to York in 1796, the Parliament Buildings of Upper Canada stood at the corner of Parliament and Front Streets. These buildings were later burned by US forces during the War of 1812, rebuilt, and then destroyed again by accidental fire in 1824.