In the 19th century small tollkeeper's cottages were built to house tollkeepers who collected tolls on the roads that lead into the city later known as

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Private companies were licensed to maintain the province's roads, and they were allowed to levy tolls from those traveling on the road to pay for their service. Tollkeepers were provided with cottages for

remote work Remote work (also called telecommuting, telework, work from or at home, WFH as an initialism, hybrid work, and other terms) is the practice of work (human activity), working at or from one's home or Third place, another space rather than from ...

. The first tollkeeper's cottage was built in 1820, at the corner of Yonge and

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

streets, when that intersection was on the outskirts of

York, Upper Canada York was a town and the second capital of the colony of Upper Canada. It is the predecessor to the Old Toronto, old city of Toronto (1834–1998). It was established in 1793 by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe as a "temporary" location fo ...

. The tollkeeper system was retired in 1896.

The Tollkeeper's Park

In 1993 what had been tollhouse number 3, one of five tollhouses on

Davenport Road Davenport Road is an east–west arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is believed to be the oldest road in Toronto, starting as a native trail called "old portage" along the shoreline scarp of Glacial Lake Iroquois. It currently run ...

was rediscovered. It had been moved, and repurposed, and was about to be demolished. After a long period of restoration it was turned into a museum, and turned into the centerpiece of a park, near its original location, at the corner of Davenport Road and Bathurst Street. The cottage located in The Tollkeeper's Park is the oldest tollkeeper cottage still standing. John Allemang, writing in ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', contrasted the poverty of working class citizens, as documented by the cottage, to the luxury of the rich, as documented by two nearby former mansions,

Casa Loma Casa Loma (Spanish for "Hill House") is a Gothic Revival castle-style mansion and garden in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is now a historic house museum and landmark. It was constructed from 1911 to 1914 as a residence for financier S ...

and

Spadina House Spadina Museum (), also known as Spadina House, is a historic mansion at 285 Spadina Road in Toronto, Ontario, which is now a historic house museum operated by the City of Toronto's Economic Development & Culture division. The museum preserves th ...

, now open to the public. Allemang wrote:

For visitors not entranced by the history of tolls or roads, by the lost stories of the city's French roots, or the shameful betrayals of the Mississauga Indians who once lived here, the cottage can offer up a revealing picture of lower-class existence in 19th-century Toronto. If Casa Loma and Spadina House on the brow of the escarpment represent the aristocratic Upstairs, the tollkeeper's three-room house, with unheated bedrooms where children would sleep three to a bed, is all too clearly Downstairs."''

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite news , url = https://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/local-history-genealogy/2016/12/remembering-the-abolition-of-the-toll-gates-of-york-county-december-31-snapshots-in-history.html , title = Remembering the Abolition of the Toll Gates of York County , work =

Toronto Public Library Toronto Public Library (TPL) is a public library system in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest public library system in Canada, and in 2023 had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other public library system internationally, making i ...

, date = December 31, 2016 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181105012407/https://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/local-history-genealogy/2016/12/remembering-the-abolition-of-the-toll-gates-of-york-county-december-31-snapshots-in-history.html , archive-date = November 5, 2018 , access-date = 2018-11-04 , url-status = live {{cite news , url = https://spacing.ca/toronto/2013/05/14/torontonians-have-been-fighting-over-road-tolls-for-nearly-200-years/ , title = Torontonians have been fighting over road tolls for nearly 200 years , work = Spacing magazine , author = Adam Bunch , date = 2013-05-14 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181105061916/https://spacing.ca/toronto/2013/05/14/torontonians-have-been-fighting-over-road-tolls-for-nearly-200-years/ , archive-date = November 5, 2018 , access-date = 2018-11-04 , url-status = live , quote = Still, there would be tollhouses in Toronto for nearly a hundred years. They helped to fuel our growth from that tiny town of a thousand into a thriving metropolis of a quarter of a million. {{cite news , url = https://www.blogto.com/city/2013/12/that_time_road_tolls_were_abolished_in_toronto/ , title = That time road tolls were abolished in Toronto , work =

Blog TO A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appe ...

, author = Chris Bateman , date = 2013-12-07 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181105061857/https://www.blogto.com/city/2013/12/that_time_road_tolls_were_abolished_in_toronto/ , archive-date = November 5, 2018 , access-date = 2018-11-04 , url-status = live , quote = In the 1800s, toll booths were positioned on every major route out of town. At various times, little wooden cottages with a large gate blocking the road could be found at King and Yonge, Queen and Bathurst (then part of Dundas,) Dundas and Bloor, and Broadview and Danforth, to name a few. {{cite news , url = https://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/once-upon-a-city-archives/2018/01/18/canadas-oldest-surviving-tollkeepers-cottage-stands-at-busy-toronto-intersection.html , title = Canada's oldest surviving tollkeeper's cottage provides a glimpse into the history of a toll collector , work =

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

, author = Valerie Hauch , date = 2018-01-18 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181105012249/https://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/once-upon-a-city-archives/2018/01/18/canadas-oldest-surviving-tollkeepers-cottage-stands-at-busy-toronto-intersection.html , archive-date = November 5, 2018 , access-date = 2018-11-04 , url-status = live , quote = Records from 1851 show the fee for a wagon drawn by two horses was six pence, a one-horse or one mule-led wagon was three pence, a single horse two pence, those travelling on foot with 20 cattle or sheep paid a penny. Pedestrians weren’t charged. {{cite news , url = http://www.lostrivers.ca/content/points/earlyrds.html , title = The Tollkeepers Cottage and Early Roads , work =

Lost Rivers Lost or LOST may refer to getting lost, or to: Arts, entertainment, and media Television * ''Lost'' (TV series), a 2004 American drama series about people who become stranded on a mysterious island * ''Lost'' (2001 TV series), a short-lived Ameri ...

, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181029014217/http://lostrivers.ca/content/points/earlyrds.html , archive-date = October 29, 2018 , access-date = 2018-11-04 , url-status = live , quote = To finance the early roads the Government and private firms collected tolls. {{cite news , url = https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/canada-s-oldest-tollkeeper-cottage-opens-in-t-o-1.305271 , title = Canada's oldest tollkeeper cottage opens in T.O. , work =

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the nationa ...

, date = 2008-07-01 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181104211144/https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/canada-s-oldest-tollkeeper-cottage-opens-in-t-o-1.305271 , archive-date = November 4, 2018 , access-date = 2018-11-04 , url-status = live , quote = During the early 1800s, private companies were contracted to build, improve and maintain roads. In return, the companies were allowed to collect tolls from those who used the roads. {{cite news , url = http://www.tollkeeperscottage.ca:80/html/Background.htm , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110814170449/http://www.tollkeeperscottage.ca:80/html/Background.htm , archive-date = 2011-08-14 , title = Tollkeeper's Cottage: Background , work = Tollkeeper's Cottage , access-date = 2018-11-04 , url-status = live {{cite news , url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/a-historic-cottage-takes-its-toll/article986051/ , title = A historic cottage takes its toll , work =

, author = John Allemang , date = 2005-09-03 , access-date = 2018-11-04 , quote = Drivers racing through the Bathurst-Davenport intersection see only a tiny white cottage that barely hints at its antiquity and an unassuming modern annex designed as the interpretative centre for inquiring schoolchildren. But the humble building that is causing the commotion -- and has cost its rescuers $500,000 to date -- is just the starting point for a larger story about Toronto's more extensively neglected past. Toll houses Residential buildings in Toronto