1792

• Milling began in Weston when John Countryman built a sawmill on the west bank of the Humber in Etobicoke. 

​

1793

• Quickly following the first signing of Treaty 13 in 1787, the Weston area was first surveyed into lots.

​

1796

• John Graves Simcoe, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, deeded himself approximately 1200 acres of land, including lots 8 to 12, including the north end of what would become the village of Weston.  

​​

1715​

• Millers James and John Farr took over the operation of what was then a grist and saw mill and renamed the small community Weston after their English home.

​

1800​

• John Denison, Esq., set apart a burial ground on the east bank of the Humber and gave it the name of "St. John's Cemetery on the Humber" and stipulated that only those of his blood with their wives and husbands, respectively, might have the right of burial there. 

​

1841

• The Weston Road Company began building a plank road from the Peacock Tavern in West Toronto through Weston to Thistletown, Clairville, and Coleraine; completing 18 miles by 1846. The building of the road took 2,250,000 feet of pine planking, which was purchased from the mills around Weston at $4.00 per thousand feet.

'

1842

• The first post office opens.

• John A. Donaldson became the first postmaster on March 6.

​

1842​

• Rowland Burr, the well-known local architect and builder, conceived the idea of a canal running up the Humber and continuing via the Holland River, Lake Couchiching, Lake Simcoe, and the Severn, to Georgian Bay. In 1857, the question was discussed by the Parliament of Upper Canada, and the idea was finally abandoned, as the cost would have been too great for the amount of traffic available.

​

1846

• Weston's first plan was registered on July 18.

1848

• St. Helens Church of Brockton established a mission in Weston.

​

1849

• William Tyrrell buillt the first United Church at the corner of King Street and Weston Road.

• Weston Orange Lodge, L.O.L. No. 216, was instituted on December 5th by warrant from the Supreme Grand Lodge, in Belfast, Ireland. 

​

1850

• A flood destroys the river valley settlement. Weston was rebuilt chiefly on the high, east bank.

• Starting in 1850, James Cruickshank built a carriage and wagon works factory on 
  Weston Rd., north of Lawrence Ave. W. The family converted it to a Ford Motor dealership in 1945. Cruickshank Motors Ltd. remained in the family until 2006, when it was sold to another Ford dealer who has kept the Cruickshank name.

​​

1851

• The Government of the Province of Upper Canada passes an act whereby the Toronto and Guelph Railway Company was incorporated to build a railway from Toronto to Guelph.

​

1854

• On Sunday, September 17, the Solemn Benediction and Inauguration of St. John the Evangelist Church, the first Catholic Church in Weston, took place.

​

​1856

• Rail travel is available with the arrival of the Grand Trunk Railway and a stop in Weston.

​

1857

• Weston Grammar School established.

​

1857 - 1907

• Publication: "Souvenir of Weston. Published on the Occasion of the High School Jubilee"

​

1858

• The Weston Mechanics’ Institute was incorporated on February 8 and received  a government grant of $140.

• The first library opened as the Weston Mechanics' Institute "...established to provide continuing education and a library for workers. The library was located in the Weston Plank Road home of James Cruickshank, Senior (1830-1916), a wagon and carriage maker, who served as Weston's first librarian."

​

1860

• The Humber was first spanned buy a bridge in the road they're connected to the bridge on both banks became Bridge Street, now Lawrence Avenue.

​

1865

• The First Presbyterian Church in Weston cost $600. This is the second oldest Presbyterian Church still in use in the Toronto area.

• Trinity College School (TCS) opens with an affiliation to Trinity University.

​

1866

• Govenor General dinner (June 22).

​

1869

• Bruce Railway service begins.

​

1870

• Eagle House Hotel built at the northeast corner of Main and Dufferin Streets (now Weston Road and Lawrence Avenue).

​

1876

• In January Weston High School opens with about 30 pupils.

​

1881

• The small community reached a large enough population to become an incorporated village with its own municipal government.

 

1881-1886

• William Tyrrell (Village of Weston Reeve)

​

1883

• Town Hall was erected on the west side of Weston Road, just south of King Street. It was of red brick, two stories high, with a belfry and bell. On the second floor was a large grand hall (Dufferin Hall) for concerts and other public use. The ground floor contained the municipal offices, the council chamber, and the Mechanics Institute (library).

​

1884

• Doctor Thomas Young Savage commences his medical practice.

​

1885

• The village suffers a major economic blow when the Weston Woollen Mfg. Co. closes with the loss of 100 jobs.

• Doctor Wm. J. Charlton commences his medical practice.

​

1886-1889

• Thomas R. Wadsworth (Village of Weston Reeve)

​

1887

• Sons of England Lodge established.

​

1888

• James Robinson is granted part of Lot C where he commences to operate a general store at the southeast corner of Weston Rd and Lawrence Avenue West

​

1890’s 

• Moffat Stove Company opens.

• Weston goes electric.  Power went on at 5:30 a.m. and off again at midnight.

• The first printing office and newspaper in Weston was established by M. K. Keefler and Mr. W. C. Riddell, who started The Weston Times and County of York Herald. 

​​

1894

• Lawn Bowling team organized.

​

1892-1894

• William Tyrrell (Village of Weston Reeve)

​

1893

• A Baptist community organizes in the Weston community under the name of Alexander Memorial Baptist Church (changed to Weston Baptist Church in 1945 and then Weston Park Baptist Church in 1990).

• “Pro bono publico” school closed for several weeks in January and February owing to an epidemic of diphtheria. Seven of the pupils died.

• The Moffat plant moves to Denison Road, west of Jane Street. 

​

1894

• Publication: "Catalogue of Books in the Library of the Weston Mechanics Institute"

​

1895-1897

• Jacob Bull  (Village of Weston Reeve)

​

1898-1900 

• Dr. W.J. Charlton (Village of Weston Reeve)

​

1899

• Document: "Village of Weston Voters' List"

​

1902 

• J. Conron (Village of Weston Reeve)

​

1903-1906 

• Jacob Bull (Village of Weston Reeve)

​

1904

• Toronto Hospital for Consumptives is founded byt Sir William Gage and was used solely for the treatment of tuberculosis. 

​

1907

• Dr. E.F. Irwin (Village of Weston Reeve)

​

1908

• Original Baptist church built on-site.

​

1910

• The Bank of Nova Scotia opens a branch at the corner of Main Street and Eagle Avenue, in the large store previously occupied by Mr. James Robinson, Dry Goods merchant.

• Local Horticultural Society formed.

​

1917

• Dr. Irwin has a swing bridge built between Raymore Drive and the Weston Fairgrounds. 

• CCM plant opens on Lawrence.

​

1918

• The Canadian Bank of Commerce establishes a branch.

​

1908-1913

• R.J. Bull (Village of Weston Reeve)

​​

1903

• The Bank of British North America opens a branch, on February 23, 1903, on the Main Street.

​

1907

• The first Baptist congregation in Weston met in a tent erected on the present site of the Weston Baptist Church.

​

1910

• The Bank of Nova Scotia demolishes and replaces Robinson's General Store with a brick commercial block building containing the local bank branch.

​

1912

• A Weston volunteer fire brigade is organized.

​

1910 to 1914​

• Westminster builds Sunday School.

• In 1914, a $10,000 grant "...to erect a Free Public Library Bilding [sic] for WESTON" from the Carnegie Foundation in New York allowed the community to build a beautiful library which still stands today.   

​​

1914

• Dr. E.F. Irwin (Village of Weston Reeve)

• The Weston Library opens December 29, 1914. The library was designed by architect Peter Lindsay and built by local contractor George Sainsbury.

• Weston Golf and Country Club was formed. 

​

1914-1918

• Dr. W. J. Charlton (Weston Mayor)

​

1915

• WWI takes former students from the high school and public school to service.

• Weston is incorporated as a town with a population of 2,000.  

• The position of Clerk in the Town of Weston was established January 1 when the municipal designation of the Village of Weston changed to Town of Weston. 

• Weston has its own water supply, power company, Board of Health, Board of Education, and  Horticultural Society.

• Toronto Structural Steel Company builds a factory for the manufacture of five-point-two shells at the north end of town. 

 

1916

• Weston Town Council installs its first signs indicating the name of streets. 

• Canada Cycle and Motor Company moves their factory from the Toronto Junction to Weston.

​

1917

• The Grand Trunk company goes bankrupt.

• Canada Cycle & Motor Co. Ltd, is founded in Weston in 1899. By 1917, C.C.M.'s bicycle manufacturing operations had moved into a larger factory on Lawrence Avenue West east of what is now called Weston Road in Weston.

​

1918

• Churches and schools close due to the epidemic of influenza with all public meetings banned. 

 

1919

• Massey-Harris establishes a tractor factory.
   

1919-1920

• John Gardhouse (Weston Mayor)

​

1920

• Weston Golf Club buys 300 acres of the Wadsworth land to lay out a new golf course, turning the Wadsworth home into a clubhouse.

​

1921-1925

• Robert John Flynn (Weston Mayor)

​

1922

• Satin Finish Hardwood Flooring Limited begins operations in Weston in a factory building at the north end of town that had been previously occupied by the K. & K. Rubber Company. 

• Weston High School rebamed Weston High and Vocational School.
   

1926-1928

• George Sainsbury (Weston Mayor)

• James Grove emigrates to Canada.

​

1927

• The town installs its first stop signs to manage traffic.

• September 1, Vernon Lowens appointed principal of Memorial Public School.

​

1928

• The Weston Tennis Club opens on the Little Avenue Park site.

​

1929-1930

• A. Lorne Coulter (Weston Mayor)

 

1931

• W. J. Pollett (Weston Mayor)

 

1932-1934

• Sam J. Totten (Weston Mayor)

• Weston Branch of the Canadian Workers’ Association formed.

​

1935

• On January 1 the citizens of the Town of Weston were asked to vote, under the Liquor Control Act, as to whether they were in favour of authorities being issued for the sale of beer only in authorized premises. The result was 472 votes for and 1,453 against. 

​

1935-1936

• Frank Walton Mertens (Weston Mayor)

 

1937-1939

• George Benjamin Evans (Weston Mayor)

​

1939 

• Weston High and Vocational School renamed Weston Collegiate and Vocational School.

​

1940-1942

• Gordon S. Harris (Weston Mayor)

​

1939-1945

• Weston goes to war again.

• For a while coal was the main heating fuel.  Weston had several coal businesses: Hilton Coal (about where the church in the Biltmore theatre building), Fortune’s Coal (south side of Lawrence Ave opposite South Station Street) and Wardrope Coal on South Station Street, served by its own railway siding

• Mid 1960’s all the coal yards were gone, replaced by oil.

​

1942-1945

• John P. Allan (Weston Mayor)

​

1944-1946

• Weston YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association) was housed in the old lecture hall in the basement of Weston Public Library.

​

1945

• Weston Minor Hockey League is formed providing organized house league hockey for children and youth in the Weston area.

​

1946-1948

• Thomas Dougherty (Weston Mayor)

 

1946

• The Bank of Nova Scotia grants part of their rear portion of Lot C to the Trustees of Weston Baptist Church for a sum of $2,502.

​

1947

• Weston was a town of approximately 7,000 people, surrounded mostly by fields and farms, but doing very well on its own

• Canadian Gypsum Co. and Dominion Bridge were established in the 40’s

​

1948

• TTC replaces Weston streetcars with trolley buses.

• Weston Senior Public School opens.

 

1949

• Weston Lions Club builds arena. Ontario Premier Leslie Frost cut the ribbon to open the arena, which would be home to the Weston Dukes, Weston Dodgers, Weston Minor Hockey League, the revival of the Dixie Bee Hives Jr Hockey team, and Weston Figure Skating Club.

• Kenneth L. Thompson (Weston Mayor)

​

1950

• Weston Rotary Club builds Humber Memorial Hospital with 55 beds, two operating rooms, an emergency treatment room, two delivery rooms and a 22 cubicle nursery.

• Biltmore opened up, second theatre in the area after the Fox.

• Beaver Lumber opens its doors.

• A new municipal building and fire hall are built.

• See an immigrant boom from mostly Europe.

• Weston is accorded the status of town and Dr. W. J. Charlton is the first mayor.

​

1950-1954

• Richard C. Seagrave (Weston Mayor)

​

 1951

• "Weston Theatre" purchased by Charles Maviety and to be renovated and renamed "M-Y Theatre".

​

 1953

• Moffat family sells business.

​

1954

• The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto "Metro" was created on January 1, 1954 consisting of the City of Toronto, Towns of Leaside, Mimico, New Toronto, Weston and York; and the Villages of Forest Hill, Long Branch and Swansea.

• October 15, 1954 – Hurricane Hazel, the night the Humber rose 30 feet and 83 people died.

 

1955-1958

• Harry Clark (Weston Mayor)

 

1957

• First “Little Shaver” in Canada was used to maintain the ice in the arena, originally 3

 

1961

• The 1910 Commercial Block building containing the Bank of Nova Scotia is demolished.

​

1961-1964

• George W. Bull (Weston Mayor)

 

1962

• Bank of Nova Scotia building built 

​

1964

• Old Town Hall is demolished.

​

1965

• Weston Collegiate and Vocational School renamed Weston Collegiate Institute.

​

1965-1966

• Charles Wesley Boddington (Weston Mayor)

 

1966

• The Westlaw is built.

​

1967

• Weston amalgamates with Borough of York.

• Weston Senior Public school is renamed C.R. Marchant Senior Public School.

​

1968

• Liquor store on South Station Street opens - the first store in Ontario to be made self serve.  

​

1969

• Eagle House torn down, Eagle Manor is built.

​

1970’s 

• Moffat’s Stove company moves to Burlington.

​

1978

• Borough of York Council passes Bylaw 2971-78 “to designate …. Number 2 King Street (Weston Public Librasry, to be of historic and architectural value or interest” under the Ontario Heritage Act.

​

1979

• Weston Farmers’ Market founded.

​

1974

• 33 King Street built.

• GO Transit started a new service along their route between Union Station and Georgetown and included a stop in Weston.

​

1983

• CCM bankrupt, 600 jobs gone.

​

1985

• The seventh Knob Hill Farms Terminal, this one at Weston Road and Highway 401, opens. The site was previously an industrial building dating back to the 1930s and was used for the assembly of airplanes (de Havilland Mosquitos) by Massey Harris during World War II. 

​

1986

• Study shows more than a quarter of Weston residents have a mother tongue that isn’t English.

​

1990

• Dominion Bridge closes.

​

1994

• “New” Town Hall torn down.

​

1996

• Canadian Gypsum leaves.

​

1998

• York and five other municipalities amalgamate into City of Toronto. 

​

2005

• Kodak leaves, employed about 800 jobs were lost.

​

2006

• Cruickshank Motors – a family-run business on Weston Road that opened in the 1850s building carriages and wagons – is sold to another Ford dealer.

​

​2015

• The Union Pearson Express is launched with a stop in Weston.

​

2016

• In 2016, the Weston neighbourhood was home to 17,992 residents. 60% of the population speak English as their first language, 6.4% speak Spanish, 4.8% speak Portuguese, 4.3% speak Somali and 3.1% speak Italian. (Census Profile)

​

Portions of the timeline researched and written by Cherri Hurst

and WHS archivist Martin Proctor.