Short Jaunt: Montgomery Tavern

Welcome to our second Short Jaunt, we're going to meet at the Stock TC grocer building at Yonge and Montgomery, a bit north of Yonge and Eg (Eglinton, for those who aren't familiar).

Since Walking in Place started, I've referred over and over again to the family compact and every once in a while to the rebellion that was waged against them. Today we are finally going to talk about the rebellion and its leader William Lyon Mackenzie.

Let's recap the family compact for those of you who don't know about it. In the early to mid 1800s, when Upper Canada was being developed, there was a group of men called the family compact. They were leaders in the legislative, bureaucratic, business, religious, and judicial centers of power in Upper Canada. So, like, all the powers that be. The two biggest figures were Chief Justice John Beverly Robinson and Anglican bishop John Strachan, who we've talked about A LOT. Many members of the family compact were former students of Strachan and second generation loyalists, which means their parents were American colonizers who supported England during the American Revolution. A lot of loyalists ended up settling in Upper Canada for obvious reasons. The group as a whole was interested in carrying over and maintaining British social norms, which included having a social hierarchy of which they were the aristocrats at the top of the food chain. It meant that if you came from the right family, or were friends with the right people, you likely held a position of power in multiple parts of the government and could appoint others like you to the same. It wasn't very democratic.

Enter journalist and politician William Lyon Mackenzie. The phrase "family compact" was popularized by him via his newspaper, The Colonial Advocate. He used his paper to denounce the family compact and promote the views of the opposing political mindset, which was called the reform movement. They wanted what was called a "responsible government", which was basically a more democratic way of assembling government without needing to overthrow the monarchy. His paper and his views became more and more popular and he was actually voted in as the first mayor of Toronto in 1834. Despite his best efforts in government, he wasn't re-elected and as a result, became convinced that the only way to actually make change in the city was to stage an armed rebellion.

He began conducting political meetings to gather other reformers and also arranged shooting practices for the upcoming rebellion. The tension was rising in the city. Known reformers were starting to get attacked in the streets. And it was at this point that Mackenzie decided to really take action. So around December 4, he told reformers to meet at the Montgomery Tavern to prepare for the uprising, which he had decided would happen December 7. While the Tavern is no longer here, you're standing right where it would have been.

To be honest, the rebellion was kind of messy. MacKenzie chose the location because its owner, John Montgomery, while on the side of the reformers had had a falling out with MacKenzie, so he was pretty surprised to see all these protesters show up at his tavern. Many of them were not trained and not armed, so when it came time for battle, they weren't very prepared. You can probably see where this is going. The government caught wind of what was happening and sent troops. While a group of rebels have been posted in the surrounding woods, to you know, intercept any oncoming troops, a lot of them (the majority of them) remained at the tavern. And when the government forces got their they shot fire and even shot a cannon through the dining room of the tavern and then ordered to have it burned down.

The rebels lost and two groups of them, including MacKenzie, fled to the States. In the end, only one of them had died and five had been injured. Some are captured along the way and hung for treason. John Montgomery, the owner of the tavern, but who otherwise had nothing to do with the rebellion, was arrested and charged with high treason. He was found guilty but escaped as they were bringing him to Fort Henry to be imprisoned. He ended up fleeing to New York until he was pardoned in 1843.

As for Mackenzie, he was imprisoned for a year in the States for violating U.S. neutrality laws. When he got out, he stayed there working as a journalist for 10 years. He was pardoned by the Canadian government and came back to Toronto in 1849, where he spent the rest of his days continuing his career in journalism and politics. He died in his home on Bond Street- that home is still here today.

So that's the story of the rebellion. After the tavern burned down, a hotel was built on this location and ownership changed hands multiple times over the remaining 1800s. In 1913, the federal government bought it and created a post office, which was then remodeled to the current building in the 1930s. The building is known as Postal Station K, and was designed in the Art Deco style. It's apparently one of the only buildings in the city that has the royal cypher (a fancy word for monogram) of EViiiR for Edward the eighth, who was king when the building was finished. He was only king for 11 months, so not surprising that only a few buildings honour him. He's the one who abdicated so he could marry his divorcee American lover, by the way.

Now the building is a designated National Historic Site of Canada and has been incorporated into a luxury apartment tower. And of course, the inside is now this fancy grocery store that we're standing in front of. I definitely recommend just... taking it in. There are some signs outside that also tell more of the story.

And that's our stop for today. If you want more, my suggestion: go inside this grocery store, grab a fancy snack, I mean like pay for it, but you know what I mean. Then head north to the Alexander Muir Memorial Gardens to eat your snack. It's really pretty up there, and I think worth the walk. If you want an even longer walk you can check out the ravine and parks on either side of the gardens.

Thanks for listening to Walking in Place. If you like what you're hearing, it would mean a lot to me if you followed the podcast on Apple or Spotify, and it would super mean a lot to me if you left a rating and review. If you'd like more Toronto stories and Walk inspo, follow me on Instagram @walkinginplacepod, on Twitter @placewalking, and on Facebook the page is called "Walking in Place". Until next time.