Purifying the Bay

This is from Toronto Mayor O. A. Howland’s inaugural address in 1902. Since the late nineteenth century Toronto’s mayor’s had fallen into the habit of starting each year with an address to set what they hoped would be their agenda. Howland had much to say about the waterfront in 1902. The breaks in the text are my addition.

We have a quasi undertaking from the representatives of the Government at Ottawa that if we will do our share in cleansing the Bay by the construction of a proper trunk sewer, the Government will come to our aid and do its proper share in the deepening and improvement of our harbor. If they fulfil that, it means an expenditure of Government money in the neighbourhood of half a million to three-quarters of a million of dollars, and the perfecting of our harbor and our dockage facilitates, so that they will stand highest on the whole of Lake Ontario, and equally high with any place on the whole chain of St. Lawrence waters. 

The purification of the Bay will restore that beautiful sheet of water to its original attractiveness, healthfulness and utility. Old residents of Toronto can remember that the playground of Toronto. The training ground for the muscle and blood of young Toronto was not the Island or some distant lake, it was the waters of Toronto Bay. They launched on them without fear and without discomfort from the harbor slips. 

We know that is now impossible. We know, apart altogether from traffic conditions, that most offensive conditions greet the oarsmen on those waters. With our large athletic population with the athletic advantages a great water front offers, it is no small object, the purification of that Bay back to its original conditions, while the sanitary necessity is pressing itself upon us continually. We must remember the effect also upon the probable attractiveness of Toronto to travelers and to new residents. They are now greeted in the most offensive way at what ought to be our beautiful and attractive and commodious water front. Remove that, and we have an attractive reception for every visitor, and something that will be remembered by prospective residents. 

The improvement of the remainder of the water front couples itself with those projects. Part of the harbor project is the creation of a great system of dockage and opportunities for factory development which will be attractive to new industries on a large scale. Plans are being made, under directions given last year, for the railway connections with the east end of the City and the new proposed dockage accommodation. The west end of the water front of our City more naturally offers itself for decorative and recreative purposes, and plans of that kind are being matured looking forward to establishing one of the most beautiful drives in North America along the shore past the Garrison Commons, the Exhibition Grounds and into Humber Bay. In connection with those projects, it may be necessary to take up the permanent question of the re-arrangement of the railway tracks at the west end of the city, so that the danger and expense of level crossings may be entirely done away with.[1]
 

There’s so much going on here. It seems like the potential for industrial development and the federal government money for that purpose is the carrot and stick being used to convince Toronto deal with the fact that sewage is still being dumped into Toronto Bay.

It’s interesting to see Toronto and its bay being held up as the center of natural invigoration rather than the point that people escape from. It was a noteworthy statement at a time when the ring of recreation areas around Toronto, the Muskoka and other areas, were being widely advertised in local newspapers. 

I’m also intrigued with the notion of people being “now greeted in the most offensive way at what ought to be our beautiful and attractive and commodious water front. Remove that, and we have an attractive reception for every visitor, and something that will be remembered by prospective residents.” In 1902 it might have seemed that the bay was still the city’s front yard with the expectation that people would arrive by boat or ferry. The reality was probably that most arrived by train or road even then, and hardly saw the bay. Today the bay seems both front yard and back yard to the city. For people who take a ferry to the island or who boat on Lake Ontario, the bay is unquestionable the city’s front yard; a place where the city preens and reflects its modernity in the waters. But for people who do none of these things, what role does the bay or Lake Ontario play; are they front yard or back?

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[1] O.A Howland, Mayor’s Inaugural Address, City Council Appendix C, Page 1, Toronto City Archives. The address was delivered Jan. 13, 1902.