The Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital and Camp M (Special Extended Weekday Tour)

**The Toronto History Walks Yearly Pass is available. Get it now for $125.00 for 1 year of unlimited tours, email
**torontohistorywalks@gmail.com**
for more information or for signing up!**

** Please note: Please e-transfer the ticket amount when booking your space for this tour! You can e-transfer to the following email at:
**torontohistorywalks@gmail.com**

Elizabeth Simcoe named the area now known as Mimico for the thousands of pigeons that blackened the sky at the western end of the settlement. Mimico was originally located at the confluence of Mimico Creek and Dundas Street.

William Gamble, opened a sawmill and built a settlement for the workers nearby. Etobicoke's first church, Christ Church was opened on Church Street which became Royal York Road. Mimico is a walkable neighbourhood and a great place to stroll and discover our amazing history.

The Lakeshore Hospital was built in 1888 as the Mimico Asylum, its doors opened on January 21, 1889.

The original idea for the hospital was a series of cottages designed by Doctor Joseph Workman who wanted a resort type feel to the hospital. The architect was Kivas Tully, who worked with gardener Samuel Matheson. Most of the buildings were built by the patients themselves, and helped with laundry duties, and tended to the vast gardens.

But a different story emerged that most Canadians had no idea about. And that was the story of Camp M - Mimico.

In 1887, the Victoria Industrial School for Boys opened on old Horner Avenue in Mimico, just blocks from the site of the new Mimico Hospital for the Insane (Humber College.) The school, which was a juvenile reformatory, hoped to break the bad boys through moral and academic education and old fashioned hard work. I hope there was a positive outcome.

In 1927, the school changed its name to the Mimico Reform School. But it was the war years 1939-1945 that really surprised me as a Torontonian. It was known as Camp M or Internment Camp 22, the largest camp for POWs in the centre of a large Canadian city.

Most camps were constructed in rural areas, and the camp provided space for more than 520 German nationals. The history of this camp is fascinating and had links to the Toronto Central Prison on Strachan Avenue and the Mimico Hospital directly to the south on lakeshore where we begin this tour.

This walking tour is for all levels and walkers. The tour begins at the New Toronto Public Library Branch at 110 Eleventh Street just south of Lakeshore. We end this tour at Kipling and Horner Avenue, just a few blocks to the north of the old hospital!

This tour has a ticket price of $15.00 per person!

** Please note: Please e-transfer the ticket amount when booking your space for this tour! You can e-transfer to the following email at:
**torontohistorywalks@gmail.com**