Industrial site.

Details of Site Location: Former 61 Front Street East on the south side near Cherry Street.

Boundary History: A Broken Front Lot 9 extended south from Front Street to the shoreline, between Trinity and Cherry Streets.

Current Use of Property: The site was taken over by Lumbers’ Dairy and Gooderham and Worts and has been redeveloped.

Historical Description: In 1346, Dennis Riordan is listed as a labourer “near Trinity Street East.” Trinity Street today runs north and south. A grant registered to Julia Riordan on 25 July 1853 gave her ownership of Broken Front Lot 9. At the time, there were only six Broken Front Lots between Trinity and Cherry, and Julia’s was third from the west, meaning that it was closer to Trinity Street than to Cherry. The grantee was Dennis Riordan. In the same year, the Grand Trunk Railway purchased a right-of-way across the lot close to the lake, and maps of the time show that the rail line bordered the lakeshore. The line is still in place as a CNR line, and was joined later by a Toronto and Nipissing Railway line to Gooderham and Worts. In 1856, the directory records that Julia Riordan is running a dairy and distillery on the south side of Front east of Parliament near Cherry. The street number is given as 61 Front in 1859. In 1867, William Thomas FitzHenry is listed at 61 Little Front Street west of Cherry, operating a distillery founded in 1855. He was leasing the property from Mrs. Riordan. The operation was advertised as employing eight hands and an engine of 25 hp, turning out 250 gallons per day, or 80,000 gallons per year. In the next year, his advertisement in the directory calls him the proprietor of the York Distillery, making pure spirits, old rye, malt toddy, and domestic whisky. In 1870, the address was still given as Little Front, and three years later as 65 Mill Street. Changes were taking place, as FitzHenry was listed as living at 431 King Street East in 1875. Mrs. Riordan had died and her heirs sold the lot and business to Gooderham and Worts in January 1877. The York Distillery had vanished into history. After 1875, so had FitzHenry.

Relative Importance: The York Distillery was a small competitor of Gooderham and Worts, which absorbed both dairying operation and distillery. Mrs. Riordan, and the Lumbers’ Dairy, fed their cows fermented mash from the G&W distillery, which must have made life interesting for the cows but was unlikely to produce palatable milk. As far as research has been able to go at this time, it appears that FitzHenry was employed briefly by Gooderham and Worts.

Planning Implications: On Front Street East on the south side where Lot 9 was located, a plaque should inform all passers by of the York Distillery.

Reference Sources: John Ross Robertson, Landmarks of Toronto (1894); Ian Bowering, The Art and Mystery of Brewing in Ontario (1988); City of Toronto Archives; Toronto Reference Library.

Acknowledgements: Maps Project.