Steamship, transportation history.
Current Use: No Current Use. A pier exists today where the ship moored in the past.
Historical Description: One of Toronto’s sentimental favourites, the Cayuga was a 305-foot, twin-screw, steamship of 2,196 gross tons. Coalfired, with a speed of 21.5 miles per hour, she had the capacity to carry 1,850 passengers. Designed by marine architect Arendt Anstrom, the Cayuga was built in Toronto by the Canadian Shipbuilding Company Inc. She had three decks or levels. She was named as the result of a competition which required submissions to begin the name with C and end it with A – a tradition of the Niagara Navigation Company which ordered the ship built. 225 names were suggested by Torontonians, and the name chosen was in recognition of the Indians who lived on the south side of Lake Ontario. The first owners, in 1906, the Niagara Navigation Company, sold the Cayuga in 1911 to the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company. Canada Steamship Lines bought her in 1913 and kept her in their fleet until 1953 when the Cayuga Steamship Co. Ltd. purchased her. She made daily trips across Lake Ontario from Pier 9 at the foot of Bay Street. In1957 the trip from Toronto to Niagara-on-the-Lake cost $3.90 return and took two hours one way with an additional 35 minutes to reach Queenston. During the summer and on most days, there were two trips daily to and from Queenston. Moonlight cruises were taken on Friday, Saturday and on holidays, and left at 7 p.m. Bands accompanied these cruises so that passengers could dance. The Cayuga was painted white until Canada Steamship Lines bought her, and painted her bottom black with stripes of black and red around the smokestacks. A victim of changing times and galloping overhead, she was sold in 1961 to Greenspoon Brothers Inc., dismantled, and turned into scrap. Pieces of the Cayuga have been saved at the Pier Museum, and a scale model built by Robert G. Bleasby of Toronto resides at the museum in Kingston.
Relative Importance: The Cayuga is an important part of Toronto life and social history, and an aspect of transportation history. Her more than half century of service should be remembered.
Planning Implications: It is recommended that the Cayuga’s history be made a feature of the Pier Museum, and that efforts be made to secure the Bleasby model from Kingston, either through purchase or as a visiting exhibit. Pier 9 should carry a picture with some history about the Cayuga, although a plaque is not necessary.
Reference Sources: City of Toronto archives; Carole M. Lidgold, Memories of Cayuga – Toronto’s Love Boat, 1995.
Acknowledgements: Maps Project.