Ontario's Historical Plaques
Here's where you can learn a little Ontario history
Site updated March 29, 2008
Here's a clickable photo of one of the 1129 plaques on this site.
Since 1956, over 1,100 Ontario Historical Plaques have been erected to commemorate people, places, and events in Ontario's heritage. The Archaeological and Historic Sites Board of Ontario began erecting plaques to increase public awareness of Ontario's past. The program is now administered by the Ontario Heritage Trust.
My name is Alan L Brown and I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I've had an interest in the plaques since I was a kid. Now that I'm retired, I set out, in March 2004, with my trusty digital camera, to take a photo of each plaque.
Using the menu at the top or bottom of each page, you can access the plaques by way of the Index, Subjects, Locations, and Search links. As well, the menu gives you access to a history of the plaque program, a list of links to other sites, a page that tells you about me and a link to send me an email.
I'd like to acknowledge the work done by Wayne Cook on his website. He has granted me permission to copy his plaque text for use on my website.
I'd also like to thank these fine people who have contributed to this site:
Jonathan Grigg, Jill Poulin, Zoë Edwards, Bill Moody, Bill Jarvis, Wayne Adam, Merrill Collins, Tony White, Andrew Cresswell, Michael Dube, Burke Lush, Harry Slaunwhite, Karl Jacob, Heather Macdonald, Lianne Johnson Lowens, Mario G. Lafreniere, George Nassas, Ken Watson, Tyler Kells, Colin Semple, John Vanbaal, Michael Kelly, Thomas William Kirkbride, Brian Westhouse, Patrick Davis, Trevor Eaton Cordes, Belinda Betz, Chris Porter, Robert Griffin, Jamie Toeppner, Jay Smith, Debbie Gagain and Robert Staniforth, Dave Fernie, Allison and Dave Corbett, Robert Youngs, Jocelyn Gordon, Barry Sullivan, Cliff Thornton, John Wulff, Betty Ritchie, LeeAnn Beer, Brian Schuette, Mona Albano, Kim Allerton, Pat Harwood, Eugenio DiMeo, Brian Herling, Sherry Roy, John Carman Shultis, Stephanie Spencer, David Brown, Rhonda Fetterly, Aleksandra Krilic, Kal Biro, Dawn Monroe and Steven Smellie. If you'd like to see the photos they contributed, just copy their name and paste it into the box on my Search Page.
I'm looking for more volunteers to photograph plaques. Email me (link at the top of every page) if you are interested. You will receive credit on this page plus be listed as the photographer on the plaque's page. Plaques that still need to be photographed can be found marked with asterisks on our Subject and Location pages.
I'm also looking for volunteers to copy the text of the plaque for me. Many of the plaques already have the text typed either by myself or Wayne Cook but many need to be done. You would, of course, get credit with the words 'Courtesy of John Doe' appearing at the beginning of the text. Plaque pages that need text typed can be identified by the words 'Plaque Summary from the Ontario Heritage Trust's website' appearing just before a summary of the text. You can find these easily by typing the words "Plaque Summary" into the box on my Search Page. Email me (link at the top of every page) if you can assist in this effort. Thanks.
Besides this site, I run a website for kids called Just For Kids Who Love Books. As well, in July of 2006 I began a site about Toronto's history called torontohistory.org.
All photographs on this site were taken by me unless otherwise acknowledged. My photos are freely available to whomever wishes to download them as long as the source is acknowledged with the words "Photo used with permission from the website www.ontarioplaques.com." underneath the photo.
