the backstreets of toronto: denison square
Before diving in, here's Kensington Market as it was laid out 120 years ago (source: Goad's 1884 Atlas of Toronto , taken from Lucy Booth Martyn's 1982 book The Face of Early Toronto ). Note the many changes in street names: Kensington Ave was an extension of Vanauley St, Augusta was Grosvenor, Baldwin was Clyde, etc. We're interested in the plot marked "Col. Denison". Here's a current map. Denison St and Sq were named after the Denison family, who earn a brief sketch in the back of the 1966 edition of Henry Scadding's Toronto of Old (1873): DENISON FAMILY Descended from John Denison and his wife Sophia who emigrated from England in 1792, the Denisons have been active in Toronto political and military activities from the first, and have had more members on the city council than any other family. (362) As mentioned in previous entry, the Denisons purchased land previously owned by Major Edward Littlehales. The family home was Bel...