New Fort York

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New Fort York was built to replace Toronto's original Fort York at the mouth of Garrison Creek as the primary military base for the settlement.

[edit] History

A series of stone buildings were constructed in what is now the Canadian National Exhibition grounds around 1840 and 1840 by the Royal Engineers of the British Army with the biggest building being the Officers' Quarters. The and Queenston limestone cost 19,000 pounds and housed troops following the 1837 Rebellion.

Other features of the fort included:

five smaller builds for troops and storage
parading grounds
Queens Wharf
stockade

The fort was obsolete by the 1880s and British troops leaving the city in 1870. It was last used during World War II when the Canadian troops were stationed here prior to being sent overseas. All the fort's buildings and other exhibition builds housed the troops.

Troops station at the fort over the years:

Royal Canadian Rifles
Seventy-First Highland Light Infantry
Royal Artillery
Thirteenth Hussars
Canadian Permanent Force
'C' Company of the School of Infantry
Royal Canadian Dragoons

During the war, the barracks also housed German, Austro-Hungarian, and Turkish citizens, whom were interned there as enemy aliens.

The North-West Mounted Police also used the facility for training in the 1870s.

[edit] Post-War

After the war, most of the buildings became vacant and were demolished by the mid-1950s. It was briefly used as public housing and temporary home of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

Today only one of the original buildings survives. The Officers' Quarters, or Stanley Barracks, became home to the city–owned Marine Museum from 1958 to 1998 before it moved to Harbourfront). The museum has since closed, as has Stanley Barracks. The Barracks was open one weekend in May 2006 during Doors Open Toronto.