Toronto Ferry Company

The Toronto Ferry Company was formed from the merger of the Doty Ferry Company with A.J. Tymon's Island Ferry Company, two of Toronto's early ferry operators to Toronto Islands in 1890. TFC was founded and headed by businessman Lol Solman. The company's ferry license and ships were later acquired by the Toronto Transportation Commission in 1927.

Captain Andrew J. Tymon (1844-?) operated a number ferries from 1880 until the formation of his own service in the mid-1880s. It later merged with John Doty's (1822-1902) Ferry Company to form TFC in 1892.

Vessels included:

His son Joseph Tymon (b. 1873) would become a ferry captain for the Toronto Ferry Company.

John Doty was a Toronto industrialist born in Lewiston, New York in 1822. He moved his young family to Oakville, Ontario in 1851 where he established the town's first foundry and machine shop. By 1875, he, his wife Louisa Jane and two sons, Fred and Frank, moved to Toronto where John established a machine shop at the Yonge Street Wharf, 2 The Esplanade, with offices nearby at 2 Church Street.

When the business outgrew the capacity of the premises at the Yonge Street Wharf, John Doty leased "about an acre of ground, with some buildings thereon, at the foot of Bathurst Street on the west side, and removed his works to that place in 1881." This was the former site of Dickey, Neill & Company's Soho Foundry.

In addition, The John Doty Engine Works operated a shipyard on the waterfront and established The Doty Ferry Company in 1887 with the purchase of vessels belonging to the Turner Ferry Company to provide a ferry service to the Toronto Island. In 1890, they built sister ships the Mayflower (a nod to the fact that John was a seventh generation descendant of Edward Doty who came over on the Mayflower in 1620) and the Primrose. The two sisters cost $33,000 each to construct and incorporated the latest conveniences and improvements, including electric lights.

In 1888, the Dotys were forced to find a new location for their business when the owner of the property wanted to take over the site. "In 1889, they purchased land on the east side of Bathurst Street between Niagara and Front where they constructed a state-of-the-art plant tailored to their manufacturing needs and purchased a considerable amount of new equipment. The plant started operations in 1891 and was the largest works of its kind in Canada, specializing in the design and manufacturing of marine engines, boilers, and complete vessels, with offices and supply depots at Winnipeg and Vancouver. Doty equipment was very extensively used in the development of the Canadian North West."

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Wikipedia