The Toronto Hunt Club was established in 1843 as a

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...

club by

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officers of the Toronto garrison (

Fort York Fort York is an early 19th-century military fortification in the Fort York neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort housed members of the British and Canadian militaries and defended the entrance to Toronto Harbour. The fort featu ...

). It held

gymkhana Gymkhana () (, , , , ) is a British Raj term which originally referred to a place of assembly. The meaning then altered to denote a place where skill-based contests were held. "Gymkhana" is an Anglo-Indian expression, which is derived from the ...

equestrian events at various sites around

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. In 1895, it acquired its first permanent home in a rural area east of the city in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

, between Kingston Road and

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

. In 1898, the Scarborough radial line was extended eastward to the site, and soon the area became a cottage district and then a

streetcar suburb A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...

of Toronto. This forced the equestrian activities to move further afield. As a result, the horses were moved in 1907 to a property in Thornhill (Steeles' Corner at Steeles Avenue and

Yonge Street Yonge Street ( ') is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Great Lakes#Geography, Upper Great Lakes. Ontario's first colonial administrator, ...

) called "Green Bush Lodge". During the 1920s, the Toronto Hunt Club split its pack of hounds into two groups. One group was moved to a farm in the

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

area, and the other was moved to a property in Toronto near

Eglinton Avenue Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west Arterial road, arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Ontario Highway 407, Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the w ...

Eglinton site

In 1919, a member of the Toronto Hunt Club had established a large facility for equine sports on a then-rural site in Toronto to the northeast of

Avenue Road Avenue Road may refer to: * Avenue Road, Bangalore, busy shopping and commercial street in Bangalore * Avenue Road, London, street in the Swiss Cottage and St John's Wood districts of London * Avenue Road tram stop, tram stop in the London Borough ...

and

. A polo arena, clubhouse and other facilities were constructed, and it became known as the Eglinton Hunt Club. In 1934, the Eglinton Hunt Club was officially recognized as a separate entity. However, the 1930s saw the club run into financial difficulties. In 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War, the large site was purchased by the

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

and turned into a secret

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

(RCAF) research facility, the No. 1 Clinical Investigation Unit (CIU). Noted scientists

Frederick Banting Sir Frederick Grant Banting (November 14, 1891 – February 21, 1941) was a Canadian pharmacologist, orthopedist, and field surgeon. For his co-discovery of insulin and its therapeutic potential, Banting was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physi ...

and Wilbur R. Franks were employed there, and it was at the CIU that Franks invented the anti gravity

g-suit A g-suit, or anti-''g'' suit, is a flight suit worn by aviators and astronauts who are subject to high levels of acceleration force ( g). It is designed to prevent a black-out and g-LOC (g-induced loss of consciousness) caused by the blood poo ...

. The property was also home to RCAF No. 1 Initial Training School, a unit of the

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a large-scale multinational military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand during the Second Wo ...

. After the war, the site became the RCAF Staff School, and it remained an officer training facility of the

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

until it closed in 1994. By 1995, the federal government transferred the property to the Metropolitan Separate School Board (which was subsequently renamed as the

Toronto Catholic District School Board The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB, known as English-language Separate District School Board No. 40 prior to 1999) is an English-language public-separate school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada, headquartered in North York. ...

) to replace De La Salle College Secondary School, which had been privatized in 1994.

Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School (Marshall McLuhan, MMCSS, Marshall McLuhan CSS, or McLuhan) is a coeducational, non-semestered, Catholic high school in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada managed by the Toronto Catholic District School B ...

was built on the site in 1998.

Scarborough site

The Toronto Hunt Club had acquired its original site in

in 1895, but during the ensuing decades, it was used increasingly as a golf course instead of for fox hunting. During the early 1930s, the hunting and golfing sections of the club were formally divided, with the hunting section becoming a separate entity known as the Toronto & North York Hunt, which still exists as a hunt club. The Scarborough property remains an exclusive private golf club today, and its street address is 1355 Kingston Road. The golf club is called The Toronto Hunt, and it claims 1843 as its founding date.

References

External links

Toronto & North York Hunt
(a continuation of the original hunt club)
History of the Eglinton & Caledon Hunt
(an offshoot of the Toronto Hunt Club)
The Toronto Hunt – golf club
(on the original site in Scarborough) {{coord, 43.680918, N, 79.272022, W, region:CA-ON_type:landmark, display=title Clubs and societies based in Toronto Golf clubs and courses in Ontario