Toronto Islands

The Toronto Islands provide a shallow natural harbour for the city of Toronto. A busy inland transhipment port trade was facilitated by the locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway at Montreal. This advantage went into decline with extensive railway links and an export development plan over several changes in Parliament.

The islands were a peninsula extending from the mainland until a fierce storm in 1858 washed away a noticeable portion of the connecting landmass. The largest, outermost island, commonly called Centre Island, is crescent-shaped and forms the shoreline of both the Eastern and Western Channels. Algonquin and Olympia are two of the other major islands. Ward's Island is actually the eastern end of Centre Island.

Geologically, the islands are composed of alluvial deposits from the erosion of the Scarborough bluffs.

The human use of the islands has changed over the years. Industrial envelopment and landfill brought the shoreline approximately 900 feet in to the harbour from the natural shoreline of Front Street. Presently (2003) a small residential community is located on Algonquin and Ward's Islands (see http://www.torontoisland.o/A> The central area hosts a children's amusement park, Far Enough Farm, three yacht clubs, swimming beaches, including a nude beach, picnic grounds, and a boardwalk. The island also contains the Island Public and Natural Science School, rental artist studios and housing (Gibralter Point Centre for the Arts), a dragonboat regatta grandstand, and a water filtration plant.

Toronto City Centre Airport (YTZ), commonly known as the Island Airport, is located at the far west of the Islands and reached by a ferry to the foot of Bathurst Street. It serves recreational aviation, regional business flights, and flight schools. Access from the airport to the rest of the park is restricted.

Private cars are not permitted on any of the Islands. Service vehicles and some delivery vehicles are permitted. Recreational bicyclists are accommodated by ferry to all Islands. The Marine Units of the Toronto Fire and Police Departments patrol the waters.

For a comprehensive and well-illustrated history of the Island, read Sally Gibson's "More Than an Island" Toronto:Irwin, 1984