Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Courtesy Toronto Museums and Heritage Services, 1978.41.30
Caption: Marker detail: Toronto, John Howard, 1834
Additional Description: In 1834, John Howard painted this view of Toronto as seen from present-day Front and Simcoe Streets. The view shows the cholera hospital (red) and behind it, immigrant sheds (blue). The sheds functioned as a quarantine space during the 1832 and 1834 epidemics. The cause of cholera was not yet fully understood. Some thought the disease was caused by immoral behaviour, while others blamed bad air. In fact, cholera spread through contaminated food and drinking water. Cholera bacteria likely thrived in conditions provided by the open streams that drained into the Toronto harbour, such as in the painting above.
Submitted: February 28, 2023, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Database Locator Identification Number: p708899
File Size: 0.723 Megabytes

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