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Modern Toronto improbably traces its origins to the ill-starred Fort York (late May to Aug daily 10am-5pm; Sept to late May Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat & Sun 10am-5pm; $5), built to reinforce British control of Lake Ontario in 1793. It was, however, never properly fortified, partly through lack of funds and partly because it was too remote to command much attention, and within ten years the stockade was in a state of disrepair, even though the township of York had, in the meantime, become the capital of Upper Canada. In 1811 the deterioration in Anglo-American relations prompted a refortification, but its main military achievement was entirely accidental. Forced to evacuate the fort in 1813, the British blew up the gunpowder magazine, but underestimated the force of the explosion. They killed ten of their own number and 250 of the advancing enemy, including the splendidly named American general, Zebulon Pike. After the war, Fort York was refurbished and its garrison - the largest local consumer of supplies - made a considerable contribution to the development of Toronto, as York was renamed in 1834. Fort York is situated in the shadow of the Gardiner Expressway, a fifteen-minute walk west from Union Station: follow Front Street West to the end, turn left down Bathurst and, after crossing the railway bridge, take the signposted footpath on the right that leads to the fort's rear entrance. The front entrance is at the end of Garrison Road, a ten-minute walk from Fleet Street - and the route of streetcar #511. The site was opened as a museum in 1934, and is now staffed by guides who provide informative and free tours that take about an hour, or you can wander around under your own steam. The meticulously restored ramparts enclose a sequence of log, stone and brick buildings, notably the attractive Officers' Quarters and a stone powder magazine , built with two-metre-thick walls and sparkproof copper and brass fixtures. In addition, the Blue Barracks , or junior officers' quarters, have an absorbing exhibition on the various military crises that afflicted nineteenth-century Canada, including the War of 1812 and the curious affair of the Fenian raids launched from the US in the 1860s. During the American Civil War, the British had continued to trade with the Confederacy, much to the chagrin of the North. After the war, many believed that the US was itching for the opportunity to seize Canada, no one more so than the Fenian Brotherhood , formed by Irish exiles in New York in 1857. Their tactics were simple: believing that an unofficial international incident would push Washington into action, they organized a series of cross-border raids, the most serious of which, in 1866, involved 1000 men. In the event, British regulars drove the Fenians out and Congress didn't take the bait.
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