John Scadding's Cabin

[1]

Last year, while at Toronto’s Canadian National Exhibition with a friend, I stopped by to see the Scadding Cabin, located near Lake Shore Blvd. West to the southern portion of the grounds. In 2009 I had written a more comprehensive account of the history behind the Cabin and its exposure at the Toronto Industrial Exhibition held in 1879.

[2]

The log cabin, built in 1794, was first owned by John Scadding, a government clerk and close friend to Upper Canada’s first Lieutenant Governor, John Graves Simcoe. The cabin was located on Scadding’s 253-acre property on the east bank of the Don River near where Queen Street and the Don Valley Parkway cross today. Scadding lived on the property until 1796 when he returned to England with the Simcoes.

[3]

When John Scadding returned to York in 1818, he sold the property and its cabin to farmer William Smith, who used the cabin as an outbuilding. In 1879, Smith offered the cabin to the 10-year old York Pioneers Association.

[4]

In the summer of 1879, the York Pioneers dismantled the cabin and reassembled it at the location of the inaugural Toronto Industrial Exhibition now the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition.

[5]

Volunteers from the York Pioneer and Historical Society dress in period costume to explain about the artifacts in the cabin.

At the time I visited, no one was allowed up to the second floor or bedroom area. Considering the narrowness of the stairs to the south it might pose a hazard to someone venturing up them.


Photo Credits: [1} Wikipedia Commons, [2][3][4][5]-©BEMartin2014

Research:

1894 Toronto's Industrial Exhibition

York Pioneers

Toronto Plaques