Wonderful contributions re: my original question......Thanks again DSC.
I too found it interesting and can now offer a bit more:
North Toronto was annexed by Toronto in 1912 (see
https://torontoist.com/2012/12/historicist-the-manifest-destiny-of-north-toronto/ )
Then the 1882 date you quote is probably explained by this - I guess the building was opened in 1882:
North Toronto Town Hall
Government building.
Details of Site Location: The northwest corner of Yonge Street and Montgomery Avenue.
PDM: TBA
Boundary History: The site was bounded on the east by Yonge, on the south by Montgomery Avenue, on the west by houses, and on the north by stores.
Current Use of Property: Commercial building with a store at grade.
Historical Description: In 1874, a Masonic Hall was built on this corner and the first floor was rented to the Township of York for Council meetings. Fire destroyed the building, and the Township records, in 1881. The records had been stored in wooden boxes. The Township purchased the ruins and the lot, and a new
Town Hall was built in 1881, the same year as the fire. It was of red brick with a yellow brick trim in a Gothic style. Behind the building was a wooden shed that served as a temporary fire hall. Council meetings were held on the first floor near the front door in a raised area around which curtains could be drawn. When members broke for lunch they went across the street to the hotel. On 22 November 1889, York County Council granted incorporation to the Village of North Toronto, and its boundaries extended 1,000 feet on each side of Yonge, from Mount Pleasant Cemetery to Blythwood Road. The Town of North Toronto included the historic villages of Davisville and Eglinton and parts of Lawrence Park, and was annexed by Toronto in 1912. From 1909 to 1912 the first high school in the area was on the second floor of the Town Hall. Annexation eliminated the need for a Town Hall and the building was demolished.
Relative Importance: The importance of North Toronto’s Town Hall is in the fact that the area was one of few to become incorporated, and through incorporation it absorbed several earlier and definable communities. The modern metropolis, regardless of incorporations and constantly changing boundaries, has grown out of hundreds of early communities, and those that developed sufficiently to become separate incorporated municipalities belong to a special class. North Toronto’s Town Hall symbolized its status and expectations for the future.
Planning Implications: The site of the Town Hall deserves a plaque on the exterior wall of the present building on the site.
Reference Sources: Files of the North Toronto Historical Society; Don Ritchie,
North Toronto 1992.
See:
http://torontohistory.net/north-toronto-town-hall.html
