St John’s Ward was the municipal ward between College St, Queen St, University Ave, and Yonge St. The Ward was the first residence for many migrants and immigrants to the city, including Black freedom seekers, and free and freed Black persons. Many Black residents boarded as tenants, some owned homes and rented them out, including the Blackburns and wealthy businessman James Mink.
Census records show heavy concentration of Blacks lived on Centre Street, which ran behind Osgoode Hall, the current site of the New Toronto Courthouse. Black men were employed in jobs such as whitewashers, day labourers, dockworkers, barbers, porters, waiters, cooks, plasterers, and in the skilled trades. There was a shoemaker, carpenters, masons, and bricklayers. Black women worked as hairdressers, laundresses, seamstresses, and domestic servants. Some Black Torontonians operated businesses such as grocery stores, produce stands, and restaurants.
Archeology
An archaeological dig was done in 2015 and 2016. The foundation of the BME Church that built in 1851/1852 was unearthed, a rare artifact of Black history in Toronto. The church was originally an African Methodist Episcopal church, called the Sayer Street Chapel, and was founded in January 1845. In 1856, this chapel, and most of the others in southwestern Canada West, became a British Methodist Episcopal Church, when the African Methodist Episcopal denomination separated their administration from the American church.
The Sayer St church, like other Black churches, was an important institution. Not only was it a place of worship, this church and the other Black congregations provided much needed community support such as food and clothing. Members also formed organizations including a chapter of the Provincial Union, a mutual aid society, and engaged in political activism against slavery in the United States and racial injustice in Toronto, and across the province. The female-led Queen Victoria Benevolent Society also was connected to the church and served the community too.
Learn more about the church
Visit the heritage markers on the exterior of the New Courthouse to learn more about the church and the Black residents of the ward.
In 1856, this chapel and most of the others in southwestern Canada West became a British Methodist Episcopal Church, when the African Methodist Episcopal denomination divided. Separately administered from the American church, the British Methodist Episcopal was created partly because Black African Methodist Episcopal Canadian congregants wanted to separate from the US conference because it was not safe for formerly enslaved African-Canadian ministers to attend church meetings in the United States and because members wanted to embody their appreciation and loyalty to Britain who afforded them their freedom in their religious institution.