Toronto — From York to the Distillery District
St. Lawrence Market
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
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Transcript
The St. Lawrence neighbourhood contains the original ten-block townsite of York. The market occupies a site tied to civic government as well as food.
Part of Toronto's nineteenth-century City Hall survives inside the South Market building. The old council chamber was incorporated into the later market rather than completely erased.
Markets were core urban institutions because food supply was a municipal problem. Authorities regulated stalls, weights, meat and sanitation while merchants turned the market into a social centre.
Today the market is praised as a food destination. Historically its importance was more basic: cities cannot function if residents cannot reliably buy food.
The building changed. The reason people come here did not.