Turning the first sod, Toronto, Canada, 1869, Toronto and Nipissing Railway
Photograph courtesy of Gooderham Estate.
The Toronto & Nipissing Railway, traversing the territory between Toronto, Ont., and Coboconk, now a “G.T.R.” branch serving Markham, Stouffville and Blackwater, was inaugurated in 1869 and built by Chief Engineer Edmund Wragge for the promoters.
The line was opened to Uxbridge, September 14th, 1871, amid great rejoicing and enthusiasm and an oil painting from the brush of B. Armstrong, commemorating the scene, with the elaborate decorations of that thriving agricultural centre, was presented by the President, the late John Shedden, to William Gooderham, Junior, Vice-President and Managing Director of the Toronto & Nipissing Railway Company.
The personnel of the prominent men of a past generation who were present at the turning of the first sod in 1869 at Toronto, as they appear in the accompanying photograph, is as follows:—
| Reading from left to right— | |
| Edmund Wragge | Chief Engineer. |
| J. C. Fitch | Merchant. |
| George Laidlaw | General Merchant. |
| Joseph Gould | Merchant and Farmer. |
| Hon. John Beverley Robinson | Former Solicitor-General, Legislative Council, Province of Canada. |
| Robert Elliott | Merchant. |
| Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald | Premier of Ontario. |
| James E. Smith | Merchant. |
| John Leys | Barrister. |
| Hon. Geo. W. Allan | Senator before Confederation. |
| S. B. Harman | Barrister, Mayor of Toronto. |
| W. McMaster | Merchant. |
| R. Brethour | Farmer. |
| James Graham | Secretary of T. & N. Railway. |
AN OLD CAMPAIGNER’S CAREER
