in 1857. Once a peninsula connected to the mainland, a storm in 1858 transformed the peninsula into the Islands. 's first clubhouse on the Toronto Islands, completed in 1881. , the airport was used by expatriate Norwegians
RNAF pilots-in-training during the Second World War. in 1984. The park was opened in 1967 on Centre Island. The Toronto Islands were not originally islands but rather a series of sand-bars originating from the deposition of sand from the
Scarborough Bluffs, pushed by Lake Ontario currents. Prior to European colonization, the group of islands (then peninsula) and sandbars was considered a place of healing, leisure, and relaxation by Indigenous peoples. To the descendants of the Ojibwa, now the
Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, the Toronto Islands are sacred land. According to British Crown records, Treaty 13, often referred to as the
Toronto Purchase of 1787 and 1805, included the Islands and compensated the Mississaugas with "goods including rifle flints, 24 brass kettles, 120 mirrors, 24 laced hats and 96 gallons of rum valued at for the sale of Toronto." The Mississaugas, in a land claim settlement process started in 1986, claimed that the Islands, along with other lands, were never included in the agreement and that the compensation was inadequate. In 2010, a settlement was reached which resulted in a payment The peninsula and surrounding
sand bars that now form the Toronto Islands were surveyed in 1792 by Lieutenant
Joseph Bouchette of the
Royal Navy.
D.W. Smith's Gazetteer recorded in 1813 that "the long beach or peninsula, which affords a most delightful ride, is considered so healthy by the Indians that they resort to it whenever indisposed". Many Indigenous communities were located between the peninsula's base and the Don River. Although the precise circumstances of his death remain a mystery, recent research has verified many aspects of the popular legend. The two soldiers charged with but ultimately acquitted of Radelmüller's murder were John Henry and John Blueman, both of the
Glengarry Light Infantry. The peninsula was first cut off from the mainland to the east by a storm in 1852, but a
breakwater was built and the channel was filled in by
silt. However, on April 13, 1858, the peninsula became an island permanently by a violent storm that cut a wide channel. The same storm destroyed two hotels on the island. After the peninsula became an island, the Hanlan family were among the first year-round inhabitants, settling at Gibraltar Point in 1862. In 1867, the City of Toronto acquired the Islands from the federal government, and the land was divided into lots, allowing seasonal cottages, outdoor amusement areas and summer resort hotels to be built. The west side of the island became a destination for the people of Toronto and the first summer cottage community was built there. In 1878, a hotel was built by John Hanlan at the north-west tip of the island and soon after the area became known as Hanlan's Point. The family built
Hanlan's Point Amusement Park in the 1880s. John's son,
Edward "Ned" Hanlan, earned international recognition as a
rower before taking over his father's business. At the same time as Hanlan's Point was developing as a summer suburb of Toronto, developments were going on elsewhere on the Islands. Along the lakefront of Centre Island, large
Victorian summer homes were built by Toronto's leading families looking for refuge from the summer heat and drawn by the prestigious
Royal Canadian Yacht Club, which had moved to a location on the harbour side of RCYC Island in 1881. By contrast, the Ward's Island community began in the 1880s as a
tent community. William E. Ward built the Ward's Hotel and a few houses and rented tents to visitors. The records of the School Board indicate that a one-room school existed on donated land near the Gibraltar Lighthouse in approximately 1888 but it was not necessarily open every day, particularly in winter. The school became permanent in 1896, though still with a single teacher. After it burned down a new school was built; there were 52 students in 1909 and 630 by 1954. As of 2018, the
Island Public/Natural Science School operates classes for Junior Kindergarten to grade 6, a residential natural science program (which began in 1960) for visiting grade 5 and 6 students and a day care centre for children ages 2–5. In 1899, there was a colony of eight summer tenants on Ward's Island paying $10 rent for the season. By 1913, the number of tents pitched had increased to the point where the city felt it necessary to organize the community into streets, and the tents eventually evolved into a seasonal cottage community. In 1894, a
land reclamation project by the
Toronto Ferry Company created space to expand the
Hanlan's Point Amusement Park at Hanlan's Point. In 1897, the
Hanlan's Point Stadium was built alongside the amusement park for the
Toronto Maple Leaf baseball team. The stadium was rebuilt several times over the years, and in 1914,
Babe Ruth hit his first professional
home run into the waters of Lake Ontario from this stadium. In the 1920s, the Maple Leaf team moved to a new stadium on the mainland. In 1926, the Toronto Transit Commission purchased the privately run ferry system along with the amusement park, most of the rides were shut down that year. From 1915 to 1916, a temporary wooden
hangar was built at the beach by the Curtiss Flying School. This floatplane aerodrome was used for flight training for World War I. In 1937, construction started on a new airport on the site of the park and stadium. At its peak in the 1950s, the Island residential community extended from Ward's Island to Hanlan's Point and was made up of some 630 cottages and homes, in addition to amenities including a movie theatre, a bowling alley, stores, hotels, and dance halls. Not long after its creation in 1953, Metropolitan Toronto Council undertook to remove the community and replace it with public parkland. The construction of the
Gardiner Expressway had removed many acres of recreational land along the Toronto waterfront, and the Islands lands were to replace the acreage. In 1955, after the city had transferred the lands to Metropolitan Toronto ("Metro"), the new Metro Parks Department started to demolish homes and cottages whose leases had expired or whose leaseholders had surrendered. In 1959, the Metro Parks Department opened Far Enough Farm, and in 1967 opened the
Centreville Amusement Park, along with a new public
marina. In 1971, Metro Parks opened a new ferry terminal at the foot of Bay Street. Unlike the previous terminal, no waiting room was provided. By 1963, all Islanders willing to leave the island had departed and the remaining residents started to fight the plans of Metro Council to remove their homes. While demolitions proceeded, community alderman
David Rotenberg pushed the Islanders' cause and the number of demolitions dwindled. In 1969, the Toronto Islands' Residents Association (TIRA) was formed. By 1970, 250 homes on Ward's and Algonquin Islands had escaped the bulldozer. The 1970s saw no further demolitions as the Metro Parks plans were delayed by year-to-year leases and the election of Toronto City Councillors who were more sympathetic to the Islanders' situation. In 1973, City Council voted 17–2 to preserve the community and transfer Island lands back to the city. However, Metro Council remained opposed and the Islanders started legal challenges to Metro's plans in 1974 to delay plans of expropriation. By 1978, Metro Council had won several legal battles and had obtained writs of possession for the remaining 250 homes. At the time, a
minority provincial
Progressive Conservative government was in place with both the
Liberal and
NDP opposition parties in favour of the Islanders. The Islanders appealed to the provincial government, winning more time when the province agreed to act as mediator between the City and Islanders and Metro. Matters came to a head on July 28, 1980, when a sheriff sent to serve
eviction notices to remaining residents was met at the Algonquin Island Bridge by a crowd of community members, whose leaders persuaded the sheriff to withdraw. On July 31, the community won the right to challenge the 1974 evictions, but the Islanders lost the challenge when the Supreme Court ruled that the city had a right to evict them. The province started a formal inquiry into the Toronto Islands headed by Barry Swadron. On December 18, 1981, the province of Ontario passed a law legalizing the Islanders to stay until 2005. This kept the lands in Metro's ownership, to be leased to the City who would lease it to the Islanders. Wrangling over the terms of the lease payments to Metro took several years. In 1993,
Premier of Ontario Bob Rae helped to get
Toronto Islands Residential Community Stewardship Act, (S.O. 1993, c. 15) legislation passed, which granted Islanders continued
deeds to their houses and 99-year leases on the land. A Land Trust was established to handle any transfers or sales of such properties on the Islands. There are 262 residential properties on Ward's Island and Algonquin Island as of late 2018. Under the Act, the deed to a house may be transferred only to the current owner's child or spouse. If the house must be sold for personal reasons, and if a child or spouse will not be the new owner, the process is handled by the Toronto Islands Residential Community Trust Corporation. The house and the land lease are sold for the owner's benefit, but the buyer must be an individual on a 500-person waiting list which was established through a lottery. A firm price is set by the Trust; no bids or negotiation are allowed. This process was intended to eliminate the risk of the homes being sold on the open market, driving up the prices, and preventing a windfall for the owner. ==Geography==