York Pioneers
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| Formation | 1869 |
|---|---|
| Type | Historical Society |
| Purpose | "Preserving the past for the future" |
| Location | |
| Services | Operates Scadding Cabin, publishes York Pioneer journal, maintains private archives |
| Website | www |
The York Pioneers Historical Society is Ontario's oldest historical society, and the second oldest historical society in Canada. The society is located in Toronto and operates Scadding Cabin during the Canadian National Exhibition, publishes the York Pioneer journal, and participates in Toronto historical preservation projects.
The York Pioneers were formed in 1869 in an attempt to preserve the heritage of York, Ontario (now Toronto). The York Pioneer and Historical Society began on April 17, 1869, with the purpose of preserving the history of the Home District. A few months later, the York Pioneers Association was founded to collect and preserve historical information and sites. Colonel Richard Lippincott Denison was the first president.
In 1879 John Smith, the owner of the Scadding property, donated Scadding Cabin to the York Pioneers. 1879 was also the beginning of the Toronto Industrial Exhibition, later the CNE, and the York Pioneers worked with the CNE’s founders to dismantle and move the cabin to its current site to celebrate the fair’s inauguration.
Following the death of Tecumseh in 1813 there was an effort to find his final resting, but because he was quickly buried the site was unknown. York Pioneer Richard Oates, in an attempt to bury Tecumseh's bones beside Sir Isaac Brock's at Queenston Heights, set out to find the lost burial site. Using a map in an old journal a burial site was discovered matching Tecumseh's burial site's description at the north-east corner of the Battle of the Thames battle site. The site was confirmed by a scalping knife and gun mechanism discovered in the burial site in addition to a fracture on one of the leg bones, agreeing with an observation made that Tecumseh was "a little lame in the right leg."
The discovered bones looked promising but the party delayed full excavation for experts to arrive. The experts came and said the bones were a jumble of bones from different bodies and species, creating suspicion that perhaps what had been found originally had been stolen away and replaced with trash. Despite Tecumseh being interred on Walpole Island, the mystery of Tecumseh’s final resting place technically remains unsolved.
Ultimately, the Tecumseh Monument Committee failed to attract the necessary capital to erect a monument at Queenston Heights. The cost of the monument is unknown, but the committee appeared to have desired something similar to the monument planned for Sir Isaac Brock, which cost £12,000.
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Wikipedia