Toronto’s First Post Office exhibit at The Market Gallery

Tucked in behind George Brown College’s downtown campus on Adelaide Street at George is Toronto’s First Post Office. Located in a building that dates back to 1833 and operated by the Town of York Historical Society, its a National Historic Site that serves both as a museum to Toronto’s early days and a fully operational post office. Originally the Town of York’s 4th post office (when the City of Toronto was established it became our first) the building was restored in 1983 and the museum opened during the City’s 150th anniversary. Though the museum always welcomes visitors, they have organized an exhibit at The Market Gallery that will give us an insiders peek into this period of Toronto’s history.

WHAT: The Royal Mail from York — Over any distance imaginable

WHEN: Oct 25 – Feb 28

OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday Oct 25, 1-3pm

WHERE: The Market Gallery, St. Lawrence Market

This exhibition, courtesy of Toronto’s First Post Office, offers insight into a tumultuous period of our history, the 1830s, and one in which letters were the only form of long-distance communication.

Over Any Distance Imaginable evokes a city undergoing exponential growth due to immigration from the old world, and a population experiencing both hope and doubt in the new one.  It also chronicles an episode of armed revolution, when the new world rebelled against the old, that eventually precipitated the formation of this country we call Canada.

Toronto’s First Post Office is the custodian of an unparalleled collection of artifacts relating to early 19th century communication.  Writing and post-office paraphernalia and the letters that passed back and forth over the counter manned by Postmaster James Scott Howard tell the stories of Toronto’s early citizens and of how their words were transported around the world – over rough water and even rougher roads – or lost along the way. Mr. Howard’s own rise and abrupt fall in the postal service during the 1837 rebellion is also examined.