SHEPARD HOUSE, circa 1835

SHEPARD HOUSE, circa 1835

This house is one of a few surviving buildings with a direct link to the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion. Built in the Georgian style on the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, the Shepard House is set back from the street and faces east as it did before this neighbourhood was subdivided in the 1940s. Joseph Shepard (1765-1837) and his wife, Catherine Fisher (1781-1852), were strong supporters of political reform in Upper Canada who believed power should be taken from the elite group of men known as the Family Compact. Though Joseph died just before William Lyon Mackenzie led an armed uprising against the Family Compact in 1837, Catherine prepared and later sheltered rebels fleeing in defeat here. Scorched roof rafters suggest soldiers tried to burn the house during the rebellion.

Designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, 1994
HERITAGE TORONTO 2019

Sarah J. McCabe

January 27, 2021