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Marilyn Bell Park
Fort Rouillé and the Carrying Place Trail
The waterfront has shaped Toronto and its people for centuries. This relationship can be shown in countless ways — using stories both big and small. At this location, we see both the lake’s role in key historical moments for the city and its connection to individuals who have called Toronto home.
East of this location (today’s Marilyn Bell Park) is where Fort Rouillé stood from 1749 to 1759. This French fur-trading fort was one of several built near the Humber River to trade with the Mississauga. Lake Ontario and the Humber were part of the Carrying Place Trail. Numerous First Nations communities used this passageway to move between Lake Simcoe and Lake Huron. The Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Anishinaabe — including the Mississauga — all had control of various parts of this route and surrounding lands at different points in history. Eventually, the route became extremely valuable to the lucrative fur trade.
Rouillé was not a large fort, housing a company of no more than fifteen soldiers. It was made up of a small sleeping quarters, a kitchen, a blacksmith’s workshop, and storage space for arms and ammunition. While fighting the Seven Years’ War against Great Britain (1756 – 1763), the French burned down the fort to keep their enemies from capturing it. At the close of the war, France surrendered its North American territory to Great Britain. Less than three decades later, representatives of the British began a series of negotiations to establish treaties with the Mississaugas to control the land across the north shore of Lake Ontario, including what is today the Greater Toronto Area. These early negotiations during the 1790s marked the beginning of the British-led settlement in the area. However, the treaty talks were not harmonious. Over a century later, in 2010, the Government of Canada paid a settlement to the Mississaugas of the New Credit, formally acknowledging that colonial officials acted unjustly during these negotiations.
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Waterways and Early Toronto
Toronto’s waterways were vitally important to the early town of York (present-day Toronto). John Graves Simcoe, Upper Canada’s first lieutenant governor, believed Toronto harbour’s features made it an ideal spot for a settlement. Simcoe valued the bay because it was relatively easy to protect, with a small strip of land (also called a spit) guarding its eastern entrance. This strip of land connected the mainland to what is now the Toronto Islands until the 1850s. With only a narrow entryway at the bay’s west end, canons could protect the area from ships carrying attackers.
Simcoe arrived in the Toronto area in 1792, less than ten years after the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). He had fought in this war for the British, seeing action in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. It was only a matter of time, it seemed, until Upper Canada would have to protect itself from its southern neighbours. Although Simcoe oversaw some defenses built around the harbour, he did not realize his vision for a well-fortified naval base at this location. Significant improvements to harbour fortifications would not happen for another twenty years.
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Lady of the Lake
This location also marks more recent relationships Toronto has had with its waterfront. In 1954, Toronto’s Marilyn Bell, nicknamed by one reporter as the “Lady of the Lake,” swam to stardom. On a crisp September day, she became the first person to swim across the ice-cold waters of Lake Ontario. She was only 16 years old! Several more experienced and well-known swimmers started alongside Bell at Youngstown, New York, but she was the only one able to complete the swim. In total, she swam a distance of 40 miles to Toronto over a period of 20 hours and 59 minutes. After her record-breaking swim, Marilyn became a local hero: she was even invited to open the 1954/55 NHL season at Maple Leaf Gardens. In 1984, Marilyn Bell Park opened at this location alongside a plaque commemorating her athletic achievements, not far from where she had emerged from Lake Ontario at the end of her famous swim in 1954.
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Marilyn Bell Park
The Martin Goodman Trail
Passing through Marilyn Bell Park and extending across Toronto’s waterfront is the Martin Goodman Trail, which opened in 1984. Martin Goodman was a prominent local journalist and former president of the Toronto Star. One fellow journalist described his career as “a brilliant meteor.” He wrote extensively during his career, reporting on a wide range of topics from segregation in the United States to the opening of My Fair Lady on Broadway. He also progressed quickly, becoming Editor-In-Chief of the Star at only 36. He was also appointed a member of the Order of Canada for his accomplishments. After Goodman’s death in 1981 at the age of 44, his friends and family helped to organize the trail to be named in his honour. Today, this multi-use trail spans 22 kilometres from east to west along Toronto’s waterfront.
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Dig deeper…
For more about the history of Fort York, including Simcoe’s early development of the site and the War of 1812, see:
Benn, Carl, and Henry N. R. Jackman. Historic Fort York, 1793 – 1993. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1993.
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