Fort York (French: Fort-York) is an early 19th-century military fortification in the Fort York neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used to house members of the British and Canadian militaries, and to defend the entrance of the Toronto Harbour. The fort features stone-lined earthwork walls and eight historical buildings within them, including two blockhouses. The fort forms a part of Fort York National Historic Site, a 16.6 ha (41-acre) site that includes the fort, Garrison Common, military cemeteries, and a visitor centre.The fort originated from a garrison established by John Graves Simcoe in 1793. Anglo-American tensions resulted in the fort being further fortified and designated as an official British Army post in 1798. The original fort was destroyed by American forces following the Battle of York in April 1813. Work to rebuild the fort began later in 1813 over the remains of the old fort and was completed in 1815. The rebuilt fort served as a military hospital for the remainder of the War of 1812, although it briefly saw action against an American naval vessel in August 1814.After the war, the fort continued to see use by the British Army and the Canadian militia; even after newer fortifications were erected west of Fort York in the 1840s. In 1870, the property was formally transferred to the Canadian militia. The municipal government assumed ownership of the fort in 1909, although the Canadian military continued to make use of the fort until the end of the Second World War. The fort and the surrounding area were designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1923. The fort was restored to its early-19th-century configuration in 1934 and reopened as a museum on the War of 1812 and military life in 19th-century Canada.The name Fort York is a retronym, with the fortifications initially called the Garrison, the Garrison at York, or the Fort at York, the latter two taking their name from the settlement the fort protected. After new fortifications were built in 1841, residents of Toronto referred to the older fortifications as the Old Fort, in order to distinguish it from the new fort. Usage of the term Fort York to refer to the old fort emerged during the 1870s. The site was referred to as Old Fort York from the time it was converted into historic museum in the early 20th century to 1970 when the Toronto Historical Society re-branded the site as Historic Fort York.The British first examined Toronto as a potential settlement and military site during the 1780s, although a permanent military presence was not established in Toronto until 1793; during a period when Anglo-American relations had deteriorated. In the early 1790s, John Graves Simcoe, the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, began to consider building a fort in Toronto; as a part of a larger effort to reposition isolated British garrisons in the U.S. Northwest Territory and near the Canada–United States border to more centralized positions, and to vacate British forces from U.S. territory in an attempt to reduce tensions with the Americans. Simcoe's decision to base a fort in Toronto was also influenced by his assessment that American forces could overrun its positions in the frontier, including its naval base in Kingston.Simcoe selected Toronto (renamed York from 1793 to 1834) as the location of a new military garrison, due to its proximity away from the border, and because its natural harbour only had one access point from water, making it easy to defend. Once established, Simcoe envisioned the harbour as a base where British control over Lake Ontario could be exerted, and where they could repel a potential American attack from the west into eastern Upper Canada.John Graves Simcoe, the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada. He first considered establishing a garrison in Toronto during the 1790s.He also envisioned the fort serving as the centre of a transportation network where British forces could be dispatched throughout the colony.Simcoe planned for the fort to be connected to a network of subsidiary fortifications along a series of east-west roads acting as an alternate transportation route to the Great Lakes, and the north-south portage route that leads to the Georgian Bay.The latter route was vital for maintaining communication with British outposts in lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, in the event the routes through Lake Erie and the Detroit River become cut off by Americans forces. However, many of the planned subsidiary forts were never built, with Simcoe unable to procure the funds needed to build them.
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Google Map- https://goo.gl/maps/t2qTHtYs7w6pmupR7
2255 B Queen St E #528, Toronto, ON M4E 1G3, Canada
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