Historical Map of Crothers' Woods

Crothers' Woods area in 1880 (contemporary place names in red)

Historical maps are a fascinating subject. They reveal interesting facts about past land use and can show trends in development over the years. The map shown above is a fragment taken from a larger map of York Township in 1880 (warning: the full map is over 6Mb in size).

I cut out this fragment to show the Crothers' Woods area. I superimposed some of the contemporary uses and place names to give you an idea as to where it is. Apparently the Taylor brothers (who created the Don Valley Brick Works) were big landowners in this area. Maybe they should have named it Taylor's Woods.

If you're interested in maps of Toronto, a great new book has just been published called the Historical Atlas of Toronto. It is chock full of maps from several eras of Toronto. Well worth a look even for those with only a passing interest in history.