Points of Interest > Bloor's Brewery

Established by Joseph Bloor in 1830, this brewery was located in the Rosedale Valley Ravine, north of Bloor Street between Mount Pleasant Road and Sherbourne Street, on the south side of Castle Frank Brook (also known as Severn Creek). It was roughly 100 feet long by 60 feet wide and constructed of red brick. The creek was dammed for water power and in the spring the mill pond stretched back almost to Yonge Street. This pond was much enjoyed in the summer for swimming and rafting and in the winter for skating. The road down to the brewery was also an excellent sledding track. In 1843 the brewery was bought by Mr. John Rose and renamed the Castle Frank Brewery. It was in operation until 1864 and demolished in 1874 or 1875.

Richard Baigent, watercolour, Bloor Brewery, Rosedale, and Block House, Sherbourne Street. Robertson’s Landmarks, Vol. 5, p.535, Toronto Public Library, TRL 971.3541 R57, retrieved from http://www.archive.org/details/landmarkstoronto05robeuoft.

Text: Lost Rivers

Sources

Canadian Brewerianist Competition brochure, 1982. City of Toronto Archives, Series 496, Subseries 4, File 3.

John Ross Robertson, Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto: A Collection of Historical Sketches of the Old Town of York from 1792 until 1833, and of Toronto from 1834 to 1893 (Toronto: J. Ross Robertson, 1894), vol. 5, 534-35.