Crowd on the lawn near the Fort Rouille Monument

Did you know that before British settlers colonized the Toronto area, French fur traders had built a fort on the grounds of what is now Exhibition Place?

In the winter of 1750/51 Joseph Dufaux, a Montreal master carpenter, was commissioned by the French Marquis de La Jonquiere to build a fortified trading post on the north shore of Lake Ontario.  The purpose of the fort was to entice the Mississaugas of the Credit to trade there with the French instead of with the English at Fort Oswego on the Lake’s south side.  The French fort, strategically located just a few miles east of the Humber River, was named “Rouille”, but it was more commonly known as “Fort Toronto.”

The fort was about two hundred feet square with flanks fifteen feet long.  A surviving description recalls that it was        “…well built piece upon piece but…only useful for trade.”

Indeed, Fort Rouille proved to be a successful trading post.  In 1757, 150 bales of furs were traded there while only 20 to 30 bales were traded at Fort Frontenac (Kingston).  Still, Fort Rouille lasted only 9 years.  In 1759 the threat of English invasion forced its burning by the retreating French.

In 1878, the year before the first CNE, the Fort Rouille site was marked by a carved stone cairn.  In 1888, a large stone monument to the Fort was erected.  Recently, as part of Toronto’s 150th anniversary celebrations, the Fort was excavated.  A cement outline of the Fort walls remains to give visitors a graphic representation of the original size and shape of the structure.  These memorials to Fort Rouille can be found just a few steps south-west of the Bandshell.

Date: 1929

Origin: CNE Archives

Collection Number: C16-FPA89355-29-I1

Sources:

Brown, Donald A. Fort Rouille Excavation. Summer 1982 Report.

Roberts, V.M., ed. The Trail of the CNE. Toronto: Noble Scott, 1925.