Toronto is a city in eastern Canada. It is the capital of the province of Ontario. Toronto is the location of most of the action in the Murdoch Mysteries.
In 1793, the City of York was made the capital of Upper Canada. In 1834, the City of York was renamed to the City of Toronto. When Canada was being formed in 1867, Toronto was made the capital of Ontario. It is often said that "Toronto is a Protestant city" (ep.102) because the main religion in the city of Toronto is Protestant and prejudice against Catholics still prevails at the turn of the 20th century, alongside racism.
The city is called "Toronto the Good" (ep. 112, ep.710, ep. 907) for its history as a bastion of 19th-century Victorian morality and its low crime rate relative to other major cities. This moniker was coined by Mayor William Holmes Howland. Possible taken from an 1898 book by C.S. Clark titled: Of Toronto the Good. A Social Study. The Queen City of Canada As It Is. The expression is sometimes used ironically to imply a less-than-great or less-than-moral status of the city.
(Also, see Mayor of Toronto)
History
For ten thousand years native people lived on the site of the city of Toronto.
The first European to reach the Toronto area was Frenchman Etienne Brule in 1615 and the first European settlement was a French trading fort called Fort Rouille, built in 1750. After the Seven Years War (1756-1763) control of Canada passed to Britain. In 1793 the first governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, founded a new town. He called the new town York in honor of the Duke of York and made it the capital of Upper Canada.
During the War of 1812 the Americans captured Toronto (ep.1114) but soon withdrew. After the end of the war (1815), Toronto grew rapidly as British immigrants arrived. In 1834, Toronto was incorporated as a city (its name was changed from York to Toronto). The railway reached Toronto in 1853 and horse drawn street cars (from 1861) ran in the streets of Toronto. They were electrified in 1892.
The history of skyscrapers (ep.1115) in Toronto began in 1894 with the construction of the Beard Building, which is often regarded as the first skyscraper in the city. Old City Hall was already a towering and familiar presence, having been completed in 1899, along with places like the St. Lawrence Market and the University of Toronto.
In the early 1900s, Toronto's population was approximately 210,000 people. Horses and carriages were still common on its streets. The city had an undeveloped skyline - the tallest structures were the Temple Building and the Trader's Bank Building. The Bloor Viaduct was yet to link the east and west sides of the city. Old Union Station and the Yonge Street Warf were still the main arrival points for the city, and Hanlan's Point was the place to be during the summer months. In 1904, the city suffered one of the worst fires in its history, losing almost all of the main commercial district (bounded by Bay, Wellington, Yonge, and Front Streets).
The Ontario Museum opens in 1914 and Union Station opens in 1927. Toronto will suffer badly in the depression of the 1930s.
Murdoch's Toronto
The following characters live in Toronto:
- William Murdoch
- Julia Ogden
- Thomas Brackenreid
- George Crabtree
- Henry and Ruth Higgins-Newsome
- Margaret Brackenreid and sons
- Detective Watts
- Louise Cherry
- Violet Hart
- Effie Newsome
- Nina Bloom (Season 9-11)
- Freddie Pink (Season 9-10)
Trivia
- The Murdoch Mysteries production team have made prodigious use of the Toronto’s old architecture with location filming at Distillery District, the Don Jail, Allan Gardens, Casa Loma, Cabbagetown and Black Creek Pioneer Village, other locations include Cherry Beach, the Toronto Islands and Polson Pier.
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Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 • Season 5 • Season 6 • Season 7 • Season 8 • Season 9 • Season 10 • Season 11 • Season 12 • Season 13 • Season 14 • Season 15 • Season 15 • Season 16 • Season 17 |