The Growth of Toronto, 1861-1941 : A Cartographic Essay

Introduction The built-up area of the city rarely corresponds to the municipal boundary. As the city expands, its political limits usually change more slowly, if at all. This has been especially true in the twentieth century, when the typical pattern has been for fringe districts to incorporate as separate municipalities.1 The result is that central city residents have come to be an ever-decreasing proportion of the total urban population. Toronto is a case in point. In 1901 the City of Toronto contained over 95 percent of the population in the Toronto urban area. By 1941 this proportion had declined to about 75 percent and by 1986 to 19 percent.