Tollkeepers' Cottage Museum

Back in the 1800's in what was then known as Upper Canada, private companies were contracted to build, improve and maintain roads, in return for which they were permitted to collect tolls from users. This museum represents such a cottage. It is a lovely small place that has friendly volunteer staff.

Makes a great historical feels trip but is small so it doesn't have many artifacts

In the 19th century small tollkeeper's cottages were built to house tollkeepers who collected tolls on the roads that lead into the city later known as Toronto, Ontario. Private companies were licensed to maintain the province's roads, and they were allowed to levy tolls from those traveling on the road to pay for that maintenance. Tollkeepers were provided with cottages, so they could work from home.The first tollkeeper's cottage was built in 1820, at the corner of Yonge and King streets, when that intersection was on the outskirts of York, Upper Canada. The tollkeeper system was retired in 1896.In 1993 what had been tollhouse number 3, one of five tollhouses on Davenport Road was rediscovered. It had been moved, and repurposed, and was about to be demolished. After a long period of restoration it was turned into a museum, and turned into the centerpiece of a park, near its original location, at the corner of Davenport Road and Bathurst Street.John Allemang, writing in The Globe and Mail, contrasted the poverty of working class citizens, as documented by the cottage, to the luxury of the rich, as documented by two nearby former mansions, Casa Loma and Spadina House, now open to the public. Allemang wrote:For visitors not entranced by the history of tolls or roads, by the lost stories of the city's French roots, or the shameful betrayals of the Mississauga Indians who once lived here, the cottage can offer up a revealing picture of lower-class existence in 19th-century Toronto. If Casa Loma and Spadina House on the brow of the escarpment represent the aristocratic Upstairs, the tollkeeper's three-room house, with unheated bedrooms where children would sleep three to a bed, is all too clearly Downstairs.

Neat museum telling early Toronto history.

Very nice pleasant place to visit. Very kind and knowledgeable staff.I helped found the cottage with my mother originally.They were very receptive to that.

The attention to detail is brilliant! The bedsheets are made of men’s suits. It’s the kind of stuff a lot of history books pass over.

The guide is dressed in period costume.