Mackenzie House is
located at 82 Bond St. and was the home of William Lyon Mackenzie from 1859 until 1861,
the year he died. Mackenzie came to York in 1820 from Scotland and was the driving force
behind the reform movement in Upper Canada. He gave reformers a voice through his
newspapers, the Colonial Advocate and the Constitution. Mackenzie won the first mayoralty
race in the newly formed city in 1834. In 1837 he led the largely unsuccessful rebellion
which culminated in a brief clash at Toronto, after which Mackenzie fled to the United
States. In 1849 he returned to Toronto after an amnesty was proclaimed for those who had
participated in the rebellion. This building, built in 1857, would have been part of a
terrace (several adjoining buildings of the same design). Today it is a museum, restored
to the period.
