The origin of the name "Cabbagetown."

There are many versions. Some people swear that there were many Polish immigrants in the area at the turn of the century and they were so poor - that they could only afford to eat cabbages. The characteristic smell of cabbage cooking is what gave the area it's name, or so they swear. This is myth.

In the mid nineteenth century, this easternmost part of the original City of Toronto extended to the Don River. The area was barely occupied but for some humble cottages, vegetable gardens and fields. This changed with the growth of industry and the advent of the railway in Toronto.

The harbour factory and rail complex, at the end of the Don River, provided jobs. This area became populated with urban workers. A residential neighbourhood developed. The residents were mainly poor, working class and lower middle class from the Anglo-Celtic immigration of the Victorian age.  The majority of the population were English speaking, mostly Protestant, and a minority of Irish Roman Catholics.

Around the time of the Great War, residents began moving upward, and away from the area. Poorer people moved in to these houses. It was not unusual to have more than two families sharing a house. Morale grew increasingly lower, and the area became a slum. The houses were flimsily constructed, the landlords did little to keep up repairs. It was a place of hard work in adjacent factories, hardship, dirt and disease. It was, however, also a place of family and neighborhood of bonding . It is not unlikely that the area got the name Cabbage Town from the poor Irish traditionally growing the humble vegetable in their yards and neighbouring plots and fields.

Large parts of the original Cabbagetown (Gerrard/Don River/Parliament/Queen ) were bulldozed after the Second World War, land now covered by the Regent Park Housing Development. North of this area, which is now considered the heart of Cabbagetown, many of the original Victorian homes still stand and have been beautifully restored. 

Parliament St., the "main" street of Cabbagetown was named such because the first government buildings of Upper Canada were built near its foot between 1794 and 1797.  

"Toronto's Cabbagetown remains only a memory to those who lived in it when it was a slum. Less than half a mile long and even narrower from north to south, it was situated in the east-central part of the city, its boundaries being Parliament Street on the west, Gerrard Street on the north, the Don River on the east and Queen Street on the south. The slum area south of Queen Street was once called Corktown and was inhabited by Irish Catholic immigrants. To the west of Parliament Street was and is Moss Park, a neighbourhood now the temporary home or lighting place of a more transient type of slum-dweller. This neighbourhood is sometimes referred to as Cabbagetown, as is the area north of Gerrard,but this is an error."

From Hugh Garner's Preface to his novel"Cabbagetown"
(McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, 1968, ISBN 0-07-082702-8)

"Cabbagetown is not to be found on maps nor is it described in surveys...The word was applied to that part of Toronto lying south of Gerrard Street, north of Queen and east from Parliament Street to the Don...The name was taken from the vegetable itself. In this area, which must have covered a couple of hundred acres, nearly every back yard was a garden of sorts and cabbages were the product most striking to the eye."

J.V. McAree
Author "The Cabbagetown Store"
The Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1953.

Churches built in the general Cabbagetown area in the late 19th century include:

Anglican: St. Peter's in 1866, All Saints in 1874, St. Simon's in 1888 and St. Bartholomews's in 1889.

Other Churches: The Berkeley Street   Wesleyan Methodist Church 1871, ( Now corporately owned and being renovated and converted into an Event Centre. 
St.Enoch's  Presbytarian 1891, The Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart 1888

Parliament Street, the main street running through Cabbagetown, was named after the
Parliament of Upper Canada, which was located at the southwest corner of Parliament and Front Streets. 

For more detailed information on the area please follow these links:

The Gerrard Hotel: 
Gary Megaffin, his grandfather, then later his father owned the hotel says: 
"From the information I researched, the original property was a Dominion Store in the early 30's and my Grandfather bought the property then remodeled the building into what became the hotel.  As for the rooms upstairs, it apparently was a rooming house over the store and he integrated the top three floors into the hotel.  This was done around 1932-33, then he obtained his liquor licence and began serving beer in 1934...one of the first to receive a licence after prohibition.  In those days and up to 1947, there were no licences allowed for distilled liquor, only beer."
See Our Picture Gallery of the Gerrard Hotel

Cabbagetown Site - :  On growing up in 1950s Cabbagetown before and during the demolition of the old houses and the building of Regent Park.  By Lloyd Cully (AKA Punchy)

Cabbagetown - - By: J.M.S.  Careless part of a larger site. at:

If you have an historic account of Cabbagetown life, we'd be delighted to include it on the web site. Please  us, also, if you know of a book which is about Cabbagetown life, fiction or non-fiction, we'd appreciate a note.

Note (unedited)  from a visitor to cabbagetown-toronto.com on the origin of the name Cabbagetown:

Books - fiction and non-fiction on Cabbagetown:

Hugh Garner's "Cabbagetown" - Novel
"Images of Cabbagetown" - Photography by James Wiley w. foreword by H. Rust-D'Eye
"Cabbagetown Remembered" - By: Rust-D'Eye, George, Soft cover/Illustrated

Web Site Editors note Jan. 31, 2002 This is a delightful new book. A must read if you are interested in "Cabbagetown as it was then"

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