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"A Lasting Testimony of What Wad Been Created in Toronto" (William Dendy)
Nice example of one of the rarest 19th Century Views of Toronto, published by the Toronto Lithographing Company.
The view shows Toronto from the south, with the in the foreground. The view extends to just north of Bloor Street and west just beyond Dufferin Street, and east to the area of River Street. The image shows a bustling and prosperous city and harbor, filled with industry and served by raill lines shown at the left.
Most of the buildings built before 1886 are shown. In Lost Toronto, William Dendy notes:
This bird’s eye view . . . shows more clearly than either maps or streetscape photographs the congestion of the downtown core and the unrelenting zeal with which the grid pattern of streets—first laid out for Simcoe in 1793—had been stretched across the landscape on either side of the arrow-straight line of Yonge. Standing out against this pattern are the few attempts to mitigate the worst aspects of the grid plan: natural changes like King Street / Kingston Road, which turns northeast on the right side of the view; the carefully planned avenues like Spadina (with its crescent at the north end) and University; and the park-like green spaces scattered throughout the city . . .
If proof were needed that the Victorians, just as much as the Georgians, were proud and capable city builders, this bird’s eye view provides it amply. A celebration of their creation, it is a lasting testimony of what had been created in Toronto.
Rarity
The view is quite rare, especially in such nice condition.
Reps locates 3 examples (Metropolitan Toronto Library, University of Toronto and City of Toronto Archives.
William Nathaniel Wesbroom had a dual career. The 1881 directory lists him as an engraver, but he was actually a skilled lithographer and artist. His best-known work is a birdseye view of Toronto.
But William gave up art for preaching, and moved to the USA in 1893 with his wife Elizabeth. In 1900 they were living in Nassau, New York state, and William's occupation was given as “Preacher Baptist”. By 1910 they had moved to Camden, New Jersey and William had become a Baptist Minister.
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