The Establishment of Toronto's High Park

Uncover how High Park transitioned from a serene countryside estate to the vibrant Toronto public park that we know today.

High Park’s history long predates the arrival of Europeans in Toronto. For thousands of years before the Howards “purchased” the land in 1836, the area — like all of what is now Toronto—was home to and actively stewarded by Indigenous communities, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishnabeg, Chippewa, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat peoples. Archaeological evidence shows that the lands that make up today’s High Park and Toronto region were travelled, and eventually inhabited and cultivated, since the end of the last glacial ice age roughly 11,000 years ago.

Indigenous caretakers maintained the region’s vast savannah ecosystems, which once dominated much of Southern Ontario, through controlled burns and other ecological practices that sustained plant life, wildlife, and community well‑being across millennia — and continue to inform stewardship practices today.

Learn More: Indigenous History of Today’s High Park

The land we now call High Park is one of the most beloved public green spaces in Canada’s largest city. We owe its continued existence to generations of people who cared for and shaped this landscape. The content in this section focuses on one chapter of that history: the 19th century, when John and Jemima Howard purchased the land, maintained much of it in a natural state, and ultimately deeded a significant portion to the City of Toronto as a public park.

Prologue: Early European Colonization

The earliest Europeans to arrive in the area were French explorers and fur traders in the 1600s, travelling along longstanding Indigenous trade routes such as the Humber River and the Toronto Carrying Place Trail. Among them was Étienne Brûlé, likely the first European to set foot in Toronto, possibly arriving via the Humber River and its associated portage routes.

In the 1700s, the French would establish trading posts near the Humber River, close to where High Park stands today. These included Magasin Royal (also known as Fort Douville) close to the site of the historic Mohawk-Seneca village of Taiaiako’n and later Fort Toronto (also known as Fort Portneuf). One of the earliest Europeans to settle in Toronto, Jean‑Baptiste Rousseaux, set up his trading post and home in what is now the neighbourhood of Swansea, just southwest of High Park.

The political landscape shifted dramatically after the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War in 1763, when France ceded its mainland North American territories to Britain. Following the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, Loyalists fleeing the newly formed United States began moving north into what was then called British North America. This prompted the Crown to negotiate the Toronto Purchase with the Mississaugas of the Credit — an acquisition widely understood to have been disputed, incomplete, and deeply inequitable. Following the purchase, British surveyors began dividing the land into lots and granting them to incoming settlers by the late 1700s — paving the way for the establishment of what we today know as Toronto.

Learn More: The Toronto “Purchase” by Talking Treaties

Prologue: Early European Colonization

Learn More: The Toronto “Purchase” by Talking Treaties

The Howards Arrive in Toronto

John George Howard, a trained architect, engineer, and land surveyor, immigrated to York (now known as Toronto) from England in 1832 alongside his wife, Jemima Frances Howard. Just four years later, in 1836, the couple purchased a large parcel of land stretching from Lake Shore Road in the south to Bloor Street in the north. The property’s elevated terrain provided sweeping views of Humber Bay and Lake Ontario, inspiring the Howards to name it High Park.

At the south end of the estate, the Howards designed and built Colborne Lodge, a small Regency-style picturesque cottage. They named the home in honour of Sir John Colborne, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada from 1828-1836 and one of John Howard’s early patrons. Initially serving as their countryside retreat, Colborne Lodge would later become their primary residence after John Howard’s retirement in 1855.

The Howards preserved much of the land in its natural wooded state, while cultivating orchards and gardens around their home and tomb site. South of what is now the Grenadier Cafe, they also rented land to tenant farmers. The Howards also often hosted friends for carriage rides, picnics, boating, fishing, hunting, skating and leisurely walks in the park.

Learn More: Meet the Howards of High Park: John and Jemima

From Private Estate to Public Parkland

While he always had a deep affection for nature in High Park, John Howard initially approached the property, much like his other landholdings, as an investment. Soon after his purchase of the land in the 1830s, he drafted speculative development plans dividing the estate into villa lots. He also extracted lumber and other natural resources for building projects, sought tenants for Colborne Lodge, and leased farm operations in the park. While he later shifted his real estate focus towards his Sunnyside holdings east of the park, in 1862 he advertised the entire 165‑acre property for sale — only to find no buyers. It was not until early 1873 that the idea of establishing a major public park in Toronto’s west end gained momentum, and High Park was presented as an ideal location.

Prior to the conveyance of High Park to the City of Toronto, John recorded in his diaries numerous requests from charitable organizations seeking permission to picnic on the property. Himself being a supporter of several charitable causes, he recognized the social value of offering access to natural space for the public good.

In an 1873 letter to The Globe, he wrote: “In my donating High Park to the City of Toronto it is distinctly stated that … the grounds are to be kept select, for the wives and children of the mechanics and the working class generally, also the Sunday School children and the different charities picnics.” It was this desire to provide a haven of natural, largely undisturbed woods and parklands for those who could not afford their own country properties that prompted the Howards to stipulate in the agreement, that High Park be held by the City as a “Public Park for the free use benefit and enjoyment of the citizens of the City of Toronto forever.“

The Howards and the City of Toronto reached an agreement in 1873 to deed High Park as a public park for the benefit and enjoyment of all Torontonians. With the exception of Colborne Lodge and their small sheep farm, High Park would be left in its natural state. In exchange, the Howards would receive an annual pension of $1,200 and be allowed to reside at Colborne Lodge. The Howards maintained control of the site for three more years until 1876 when 120 acres of land were transferred to the City of Toronto. In 1878, upon his request, John Howard was appointed as the park’s first forest ranger.

The Deed That Founded High Park

The Howards’ generous gift in 1873 came with some strings:

The park must be kept in a natural state
It must be for the free use, benefit and enjoyment of all citizens
Drinking alcohol must not be allowed in the park
The name must remain “High Park”
John and Jemima would receive $1200 a year and would live in High Park at Colborne Lodge on a private parcel of 45 acres. Upon the death of one, the other would receive an annual pension of $1200
The City of Toronto must maintain the Howards’ burial site forever

Expanding the Park

The Howards’ contribution served as the nucleus of what would become the modern High Park. Over the next century, the City continued to expand and shape the park through additional land acquisitions.

1876: The City purchased 172 acres east of the Howard estate from the Ridout family, greatly enlarging the park’s footprint.
1890: After John Howard’s death, the remaining 45 acres of property, Colborne Lodge and its outbuildings and the tomb are transferred to the City.
1930: The The western section of the park, formerly part of the Ellis property, was purchased from the Chapman estate. This 71-acre addition included the remainder of the Grenadier Pond.
1967: A further two acres were incorporated when the Village of Swansea was amalgamated into the City of Toronto.
1955: Approximately 11 acres of marshland along the southern edge of the park were transferred to Metropolitan Toronto for the construction of The Queensway extension.

Today, High Park stands as Toronto’s second-largest municipal park and one of its most popular and ecologically significant urban green spaces. It combines natural savannah, woodlands, wetlands, gardens, historical sites, recreational amenities, and cultural gathering spaces.

Special thanks to Colborne Lodge, Toronto Cultural Services, for their valuable contributions to the content on this webpage.