Heritage York Research Guide
Lambton House and stagecoach. Copyright Heritage York
Inns, Hotels & Taverns
The hospitality industry boomed along the Humber River in the 19th century. The businesses featured on this page were hubs for socialization, commerce, and even brawls and scheming. They provided employment, refuge, and drew business to the area, making them significant players in sustainability and growth for their respective towns.
Lambton Mills
Lambton House/Tavern/Hotel
Since at least the 1820s, a stagecoach stop and tavern existed on or near this site on modern day Old Dundas St, after the bridge connecting Dundas on both sides of the river was built (about 1815 - click here to view documentation on bridge). In 1840, Thomas Cooper and W. P. Howland entered into a 21-year lease of Cooper's properties on both sides of the river. Around this time, a general store was built. In about 1861, the stagecoach stop and tavern would be replaced on or near the same location with Lambton House. The red brick building still stands at 4066 Old Dundas St. It offered overnight accommodation, stables, a community room (second floor), tavern, dining room, and kitchen. There is no evidence that the original tavern was on the same site as the one built in 1861. This building was originally L-shaped, however, the north wing was demolished in 1989.
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Transcription linked below, provided by Gord Good, retired from the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors. Originally a handwritten document of the 1840 leasing agreement between the two parties regarding the land and structures on both sides of the Humber River belonging to Thomas Cooper. Cooper's Mills then becomes Lambton Mills after Howland changes the name.
Memorial for the leasing of the land of Thomas Cooper to W. P. Howland in 1840, documented 1847.
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Earliest documentation of Lambton House:
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Digital Toronto City Directories. Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, Toronto Public Library.
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For more information on the proprietors of Lambton House, click here
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Lambton Grove Hotel
Though little is known about this hotel (ad pictured above), it does appear in the directory listed below, in 1870. It is not the same as the previously mentioned Lambton House, as they appear contemporaneously, with different proprietors.
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John Carson, proprietor, 1870
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Montgomery's Inn
Built in the 1830s, the inn was a local staple on the Etobicoke side of Lambton Mills. Thomas Montgomery employed several escaped enslaved individuals from the United States, including the famous Joshua Glover, who became a family friend of the Montgomerys.
The structure stands today and continues to operate as a City of Toronto Museum at 4709 Dundas St. West.
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Thomas Montgomery fonds, Archives Ontario, Fonds F 142.
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Buck's Inn/ Wolfe's Tavern
A lesser-documented establishment on Dundas, linked below is an 1851 map that includes Wolfe's Inn, and an ad for the sale or let of the building and business in 1860.
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Classified Ad 3, The Globe and Mail, 07 Sep 1860, p 4. ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Proprietor James Combs, 1866
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Humberton House
Proprietor John Black, 1870 (formerly the proprietor of Lambton House).
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Ad, County of York gazetteer and directory... including a full business directory of the city of Toronto, 1870, p 174. Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL. Public Domain
The Junction
The Old Peacock Tavern (Toronto) by William James Thomson, 1893. Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL. Public Domain
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The Peacock Tavern/Inn
A popular, if not infamous haunt in the 19th century, the Peacock was one of the settings for the planning and execution of the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, headed by William Lyon Mackenzie.
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Original proprietor James Farr, 1820s onward
Mrs M. Nightingale, proprietor 1870
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William Lyon Mackenzie, Mackenzie's own narrative of the late rebellion, with illustrations and notes, critical and explanatory : exhibiting the only true account of what took place at the memorable siege of Toronto in the month of December, 1837. Available at the Toronto Public Library.
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West Toronto Junction Hotel
This location is not well documented, but mention of it does appear in the below 1885 record describing the Hotel as being in operation for the previous 40 years. It lists a Robert Harris as proprietor in 1883-4, and his widowed wife Mary A. Harris (née Lawton) as taking over operations for at least the next year.
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Charles Pelham Mulvany, G Mercer Adam, Christopher Blackett Robinson, History of Toronto the County of York Ontario: Containing an outline of the history of the dominion of Canada; a history of the city of Toronto and the county of York, with the townships, towns, villages, churches, schools; general and local statistics; biographical sketches, etc., etc. vol II, Toronto: C. Blackett Robinson, 1885.
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For more information on the history of the Junction neighbourhood, please contact the
Weston
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The Eagle House/Hotel
Described as a "first-class accommodation... close to the G. T. R. station" in the County of York Directory, 1870.​
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John Eagle, proprietor 1870 until at least 1881
George Ross, proprietor 1885
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Charles Pelham Mulvany, G Mercer Adam, Christopher Blackett Robinson, History of Toronto the County of York Ontario: Containing an outline of the history of the dominion of Canada; a history of the city of Toronto and the county of York, with the townships, towns, villages, churches, schools; general and local statistics; biographical sketches, etc., etc. vol II, Toronto: C. Blackett Robinson, 1885, p 235
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Templeman's Tavern​
Mentioned in the following murder incident in The Globe newspaper, 1849
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DREADFUL MURDER AND INQUEST, The Globe and Mail, Nov 15, 1849. ProQuest Historical Newspapers - Log in to Toronto Public Library to view.
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For more information on the history of Weston, please contact the Weston Historical Society
Ad, County of York gazetteer and directory... including a full business directory of the city of Toronto, 1870, p 173. Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL. Public Domain
Licensing
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Passed under the reign of King George III in 1800, this Act says that anyone in Upper Canada who sells "spirituous liquor by retail without licence" shall, after due process, "forfeit and pay the sum of twenty pounds of lawful money of this province," ... "one half of which penalty shall be paid to the person or persons informing, and the other half into the hands of his Majesty’s Receiver-General, to and for the public uses of this province."
The Act also says that no one with a license can sell liquor in any amount less than one quart, less they face the same fine described previously.
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Passed under the short reign of King William IV in 1836, this Act amends a previous one enacted under George III in the late 18th century. William's states that the fining process has not been effectual as it was too high, and that "the penalty upon any person or persons selling Spirituous Liquors without License ... is hereby repealed." Instead, it is amended to say that "any person or persons shall keep an Inn or Public House, for the purpose of vending ... Spirituous Liquors, unless he, she or they, shall have previously obtained a License for such purpose, as by Law required, such person or persons shall forfeit and pay a sum of money ... not exceeding Twenty Pounds, nor less than Five Pounds."
Furthermore, it adds: "no part of the fines which may be levied under the authority of this or any former Act, shall be paid to any Informer," instead saying that "all sums collected as fines, under the authority of this Act, be paid over to the Commissioners of Roads, to be by them laid out in making and repairing the Highways."
In addition, due to concern over the impact taverns/public houses had on the morality of the community, the Act says that licenses would not be granted within Toronto or within one mile of Toronto "until the person or persons applying therefor have proved to the satisfaction of the authorities authorized by Law to grant the same, that such person or persons is or are possessed of a Dwelling-house ... containing at least three Rooms beyond those required for the use of the family ... and are also possessed of a good Stable, capable of stabling at least two pair of Horses."
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These licenses would now also cost "Seven Pounds Ten Shillings."
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This Act also addresses the sale of beer, which fell under different regulations than 'spirituous liquors.'
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This Act, passed under Queen Victoria in 1850, further alters the laws surrounding the sale of alcohol in Upper Canada. The most significant aspect of this Act is that it grants the power to the municipalities (instead of the province of Upper Canada) to make the majority of the decisions on the licensing and practices of taverns/pubs, as well as on the consequences for selling liquor without a license.
The Act also requires that municipalities elect "inspectors of Houses of public entertainment," and goes on to list their duties and obligations.
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This Act, passed under Queen Victoria in 1857, alters the municipal responsibilities surrounding the election of, and powers of, inspectors.
The Ontario Temperance Act
"Self conquest for the sake of others and for love of Christ and country", c. 1915, Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL. Public Domain.
The Ontario Temperance Act, 1916-1927
“Temperance”, or abstinence from alcoholic beverages, had long been a subject of debate in Canadian society, dating back to the early period of colonization. As whiskey was often more readily available than clean drinking water, drunken men were a common sight. Whiskey was also commonly used in trades with Indigenous peoples. Hotels and taverns became a cultural staple during this period, serving as places of rest along harsh rural roads. According to local lore, there was an old song that went:
“Twixt Don and Humber years ago, stood nineteen taverns in a row. Travellers came from near and far, to quench their thirst at the shining bar.”
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Women's Christian
Temperance Union (WCTU)
Campaign leaflets : no. 17 : woman's voice against the liquor traffic, c. 1890, Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL. Public Domain.
Equal franchise and temperance, 1917, Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL. Public Domain.
“The Temperance Movement In Toronto: Formation Of A Ladies Christian
Temperance Association”, The Globe, (Toronto: ON), Oct 26, 1875, p.4
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In 1874, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, and quickly expanded its network to Canada. The first meeting in Toronto was held in October of 1875 at Temperance Hall, with about 200 women in attendance. In a time where the voices in favour of women’s suffrage were getting louder, it was felt that in gaining the vote they would be able to control the drunken abuses and wasted paychecks of their husbands. In the meantime, organizations such as the WCTU put pressure on governmental authorities to take action on their behalf.
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W.H. Howland, mayor of Toronto, and son of W. P. Howland was born in Lambton Mills in 1833. He was a staunch supporter of the WCTU and the Temperance cause as a whole, and in 1877 proclaimed: “the ladies must be firmer and fight with a stronger will, and show their sympathy for the temperance cause, by supplying the sinews for warfare.”
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Excerpt from “Toronto Women’s Christian Temperance Union Annual Meeting In Temperance Hall”, The Globe, (Toronto: ON), Oct 25, 1877, p. 4.
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“Prohibition map of part of the Province of Ontario”, 1909, Dominion Alliance Ontario Branch, Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL, Public Domain.
From the late 19th and early 20th centuries, laws were introduced which increasingly restricted the sales and consumption of alcohol. In 1864 The Dunkin Act was passed which allowed any municipality or county to prohibit the sale of liquor if determined by a majority vote. This was further solidified federally by the 1878 Canada Temperance Act (also known as the Scott Act). In 1906 the “Act to Amend the Liquor License Laws,” required that a tavern only be considered “an hotel, inn or other public house of entertainment kept for the purpose of providing refreshment and accommodation, which shall include board and lodging, for the public.” By this period, local option laws had created a patchwork of wet and dry districts throughout the province, (as seen in the 1909 map above, where “white” represented “without a license”), but consistent enforcement of these laws were lacking. According to this map it appears that at this time Lambton House would have been situated in a licensed district that still permitted the sale of alcohol.
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It wasn’t until 1916 that the Temperance Act finally came into full effect. Ontario Premier William Howard Hearst gave an impassioned speech in which he stated:
“In nearly every graveyard the grass grows green over the graves of men–the brightest and best in the community–whose lives were shortened, and whose services to their country were impaired through the evils of intemperance. There is scarcely a city, town or hamlet in which saddened homes and heartbroken women may not be found as a consequence of this evil, so that there is not now, nor has there ever been room for difference of opinion as to the evil effects of intemperance, or as to the fact that these evils exist in this Province, although happily to a much lesser degree than in most places in the world.”
Lambton House & Temperance
Evidence of alcohol being served illegally at Lambton House came to light in a series of news clippings from 1919. Proprietor Peter F. Downing was charged with “unlawfully having liquor in a place other than a private dwelling.” Downey oversaw Lambton House from 1914-1924, while his wife Elizabeth J. Downey took over its operations from 1924-1935. Prior to this, according to several news sources, the Downey’s were embroiled in controversy for serving liquor to underage girls in 1915.
“Youth of 18 Goes to “Pen”: Frank Ryan to Follow Honest Path For Two Years Anyway”, Toronto Daily Star, (Toronto: ON), Mar 20, 1919,p. 14.
“4 Licenses Suspended”, The Gazette (Montreal: QC), July 24, 1915, p. 2.
Excerpt from “Hotel Judgment Won’t Be Delayed Very Long”, Toronto Daily Star, (Toronto: ON), July 23, 1915, p. 5.
Excerpt from “Four Hotels Shut for Serving Girls”, The Globe, (Toronto: ON), July 24, 1915, p. 6.
The Wanita Tea Rooms
Ad for the Wanita Tea Rooms, Toronto Daily Star, (Toronto: ON), June 11, 1921, p. 26.
In the Humber River Valley, a little known speakeasy was in operation from 1911-1921. Known as the Wanita Tea Rooms, the business was located in the former plot of the Humber Stone Quarry Company, in what is now King’s Mill Park, on the west bank of the Humber. During Prohibition, alcohol was often smuggled in tea caddies, making, in this case, the term “tea room” to be a thinly disguised name for such a place. Due to its rather isolated location, The Wanita became a place in which illicit activities could flourish. Suspicions arose in June of 1916, the same year in which the Temperance Act was established, when a man drowned in the river during the early hours of the morning with evidence of “squirrel whiskey” involved.
“Revellers Drank As Man Drowned”, The Globe, (Toronto, ON), June 27, 1916.
Harris, Denise. “One Building: Four Businesses on the Humber”, in Glimpses into Etobicoke’s Past: Selections from The Aldernews, (Etobicoke: Etobicoke Historical Society, 2019).
Malleck, Dan. Try to Control Yourself : the Regulation of Public Drinking in Post-Prohibition Ontario, 1927-44. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2012.
Indigenous Peoples & Temperance
Discussions of temperance were being had amongst Indigenous peoples for quite some time. In 1830 a temperance organization had formed on the Six Nations Reserve, which in 1832 became known as the Six Nations Temperance Society, and still exists today. Following the formation of the WCTU, many Indigenous women took a great interest in the cause and merged it with ceremonial practices and, in the case of the Haudenosaunee, their traditional roles as Clan Mothers.
Lappas, Thomas. “For God and Home and Native Land": The Haudenosaunee and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, 1884-1921.” Journal of Women’s History 29, no. 2 (2017): 62–85.
Excerpt from “Indian Act, 1876”, National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, accessed August 17, 2023, p. 66, https://nctr.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1876_Indian_Act_Reduced_Size.pdf.
The Indian Act, 1876
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The government took a much more severe approach to preventing the sale of liquor to Indigenous peoples, and in 1835, “An Act to prevent the Sale of Spirituous Liquors to Indians” was established. Much of this was rooted in the racist and stereotypical “firewater myth”, which portrayed Indigenous peoples as “constitutionally incapable of moderation when it comes to alcohol, and that, once intoxicated, they are inordinately violent, aggressive and foolish.”
This persisted with the establishment of the Indian Act in 1876, with sections 79-85 outlining the penalties for intoxication, possession, and providing liquor to Indigenous peoples. This would remain in place until 1951 when amendments were made in which section 95 states: “No offence is committed [...] if intoxicants are sold to an Indian for consumption in a public place in accordance with a law of the province where the sale takes place authorizing the sale of intoxicants to a person for consumption in a public place.” This meant that, although Indigenous peoples could consume alcohol in public places such as bars and taverns, they were still prohibited from possessing or consuming it on reserves, which would not be permitted until further amendments were made to the Indian Act in 1985.
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These damaging stereotypes also extended to the naming of the post-temperance interdiction list which was held by the LCBO from the 1930s until the 1990s. Dubbed “The Indian List”, this served as a bureaucratic tool which barred individuals who seemed to have an uncontrolled appetite for liquor from entering bars or purchasing it from stores, usually by the request of their family members. More often than not, however, it was the names of white settlers being added to this list, which symbolically placed them in the same position as Indigenous peoples in relation to their supposed lack of restraint towards alcohol.
“Indian Act, 1876”, National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.
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Valverde, Mariana. “A Postcolonial Women’s Law? Domestic Violence and the Ontario Liquor Board’s ‘Indian List.’” Feminist Studies 30, no. 3 (2004): 566–88.
“Alcohol a blessing a curse”, Dominion Scientific Temperance Committee, c.1912,
Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL, Public Domain.
The Temperance Act was amended in 1927, although under highly restrictive conditions. One was only permitted to consume alcohol in their private residence, hotel room, or a 2.2 percent light beer was offered in select licenced public places. The newly formed Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) replaced the Board of License Commissioners (BLC) in overseeing these regulations.
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The Moderation League of Ontario
Robert Home Smith, "Moderation League of Ontario, Extracts from a speech by R Home Smith", 1932, F834-4-0-168, 30056, Library Box 41, Archives of Ontario, Toronto, ON.
The temperance cause was certainly not without protest. In 1923, in preparation for the upcoming provincial election, an Ontario chapter of the Moderation League had formed, petitioning the government to ease up on liquor regulations. Robert Home Smith, notable real estate developer, established the Old Mill Tea Garden on August 4, 1914, developed the surrounding suburban area around the Humber River, revitalized Toronto’s harbourfront, and served for a time as treasurer of the Moderation League. As this directly impacted his own business interests, Smith was very vocal in advocating for hotels the right to serve liquor, citing the profitable tourist trade that Ontario was missing out on.
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In a 1932 speech Smith stated:
“I am quite frank in saying that, to my mind there is little, if any, difference between the citizen demanding a bottle of Coca Cola or another preferring a bottle of beer of the old strength which made Milwaukee famous.”
“I know whereof I speak, when I tell you that this year 90 percent of the hotels and restaurants in this province are writing their operating statements in red ink. How long can this situation persist and if many hotels and restaurants go out of business what becomes of your tourist traffic? A sane wine and beer law will save them and save your tourist traffic.”
Portrait of Robert Home Smith, c. 1920s.
copyright Etobicoke Historical Society.
“Moderation League Again Raises Cry For Beer and Wine”, The Globe, Mar 15, 1932, p.11.
In July of 1934 the laws regulating liquor consumption eased up, with its sale “to be confined to standard hotels, recognized clubs in good standing, and the dining-rooms of trains and boats.” There was however, “to be no promiscuous handling of beer by restaurants and roadside resorts.”
"Moderation League of Ontario, Extracts from a speech by R Home Smith", 1932, F834-4-0-168, 30056, Library Box 41, Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario.
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“New Liquor Law Launched”, The Globe, (Toronto, ON), July 19, 1934.
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"Lambton Tavern, York Twp”, Liquor License Board of Ontario establishment files, 1927-1961, RG 36-8-0-821, Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario.
Women & Taverns
Following the repeal of temperance laws, the question as to whether women ought to be permitted in public drinking spaces was raised. During and following the First World War, women took up more prominent roles in public life, thus moving away from the constraints of Victorian femininity. This included the desire to gain access to beverage rooms once the law permitted it. After the repeal of temperance in 1934, by 1937 the Liquor Control Act required beverage rooms to create “two separate and distinct” beverage rooms, one only for men, and the other for female patrons and their male escorts. This was done so under the impression that unescorted women mingling with drunken single men posed a moral threat. The segregation of men’s and “ladies-and-escorts” beverage rooms would continue until 1970 when the Liquor Control Board of Ontario repealed this law.
“Liquor Board to Curb Mixed Drinking in Ontario Hotels: New Rules to Require Two Rooms” The Globe and Mail, (Toronto: ON), Mar 29, 1937, pg. 1.
Cotter, Nicholas, “Mixed drinking ruling spurs application flow”, The Globe and Mail (Toronto: ON), Dec 4, 1970, pg. B3.
Women have always played a key role in tavern life. While they may have been prohibited from drinking or mingling with the male patrons, the female innkeeper or barmaid was a common fixture. Owing to their roles in domesticity and caregiving, women were well suited to the demands of this kind of work. Oftentimes the husbands would be the leaseholders, while the wives would oversee the operations, therefore we can't say for certain how many women would have been operating hotels and taverns prior to the mid 20th century.
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We know of at least two women who were closely involved in the operations of Lambton House. For more information on the proprietors of Lambton House, click here.
Muir, Elizabeth Gillan. An Unrecognized Contribution : Women and Their Work in 19th-Century Toronto. Toronto, Ontario: Dundurn Press, 2022.
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Roberts, Julia. In Mixed Company: Taverns and Public Life in Upper Canada. Vancouver, British Columbia: UBC Press, 2009.
Throughout its lifetime as a community tavern, Lambton House experienced a periodic loss of licensing. As the events that occurred in 1915 and 1919 indicate, it was forced to shut its doors on more than one occasion. The evolving politics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries increasingly threatened Lambton House's ability to operate and serve liquor. Local Option Laws, brought forth by the Scott Act, and limitations on the number of liquor licenses permitted in each county would have been of great concern to the proprietors of Lambton House at that time. ​
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Lambton House was also subject to evolving sets of laws which imposed changes upon the very face of the building itself. In 1937, it was required to establish separate rooms for ladies-and-escorts, and male patrons.
In 1982, at the request of the City of York, Lambton House received Heritage Designation in accordance with the Ontario Heritage Act, which determined it to be "of cultural heritage value or interest". This designation however did not protect the property from potential demolition. Lambton House continued to operate as a popular local tavern.
By the late 1980s the property garnered interest from developers with plans to repurpose the site. Lambton House once again closed its doors in 1988, this time permanently. As part of those redevelopment plans, its civic address was changed from 4062 to 4066 Old Dundas Street. The building was left vacant for some time, making it prone to damage and vandalism.
Heritage York, a not-for-profit historical society, was established in 1991 and undertook to restore Lambton House. Over the next eight years a group of community volunteers raised funds, and participated in the building's initial restoration. In 1998, ownership of Lambton House was transferred from the City of York to the City of Toronto, as part of the amalgamation of 7 municipalities. In a nod to its history as a community tavern, Heritage York occasionally hosts special events at Lambton House that require a liquor license.
"If the Hotel Goes What Then?", c. 1915,
TPL Baldwin Collection of Canadiana,
Public Domain.