Toronto Dark History Tour: Murders, Hangings, Epidemics

Explore Toronto’s dark past on a 90-minute walking tour. Discover murders, duels, and epidemics that shaped the city. Book now!

Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Old City Hall - Our meeting point for this tour. Old City Hall was built to reflect both the needs of the city for a larger administration building but also Toronto’s aspirations as a growing Victorian metropolis in the late 19th century. Learn about the architect and his conflict with city councillors and how he had the last word. We won’t be…
What's Included
  • English-speaking Tour Guide
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
Additional Information

This Tour Guys original 90-minute walk from the War Memorial in front of Old City Hall to the St Lawrence Market will cover some of the dark history of the city. Murders, hangings, duels to the death, disease epidemics, and other horrible events led to much of the progress and advances we enjoy today. Your tour guide will connect the dots and share some…

Location
50 Queen St W
Queen Street West
Meet your guide on the front steps of Old City Hall by the war memorial. Please note this is not the address of a building, but the location of a monument in front of Old City hall.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(95 Ratings)
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Barbaramn7068du
Oct 5, 2024
Great Tour! I would use them again! - Jackie took us on a great walk around the historical area of Toronto. She was knowledgeable and entertaining. We did it on our first day in the city and it gave us a good understanding of this part of Toronto. She arrived about 5-10 minutes before tour was to begin and we had about 10-12 people on our trip...people from Canada, USA and Europe.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lindly_d
Oct 5, 2024
Great guide, great value! - I am a resident of Toronto and found the guide to be very knowledgeable and engaging. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Viator
Andrea_m
Sep 30, 2024
Great tour! - Seeing all the architecture within downtown. And learning the connection to Casa Loma and old city hall.
Review provided by Viator
John_f
Sep 18, 2024
Walking Tour of Toronto - Our guide was excellent Because of the construction going on in Toronto the noise was a serious challenge but she did really well firstly to concentrate and make what she was saying interesting but also to be heard. She very knowledgeable and had a very approachable manner
Review provided by Viator
David_c
Sep 14, 2024
Great glimpse of history - Seeing the printing press at work, hearing stories about old Toronto.Michelle was very engaging, and shared some great history. I learned a lot.
Review provided by Viator
Kathycs658cp
Sep 13, 2024
Great tour in Toronto!!! - Michelle was a great tour guide. Very knowledgeable and interesting! Great way to learn the history of Toronto. Highly recommend! Definitely deserved her tip!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Johnnie_b
Sep 13, 2024
A nice compact little tour if you are short on time and don’t want to walk too much. - Enjoyed the seldom told stories of Toronto history. Also nice that the tour ended at the St Lawerence Market so we could have lunch after our walk.
Review provided by Viator
Z9541wmsusanl
Sep 29, 2024
Maybe take a different tour? - The guide didn't seem especially familiar with the history of Toronto except a bit at the "points of interest" on the tour. The whole tour seemed a bit like grasping at straws since so few struuctures remain standing, especially with this guide. As a heads up, like many city centers, the touring areas are not especially nice and you'll see people in hardship.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Clanstringer
Sep 28, 2024
The bad outweighed the good, unfortunately. - Jennifer, our tour guide said she was a last minute replacement. After asking about each person in our group, she said she was from Toronto. Her original enthusiasm in talking about the old town buildings and history turned as she took pains to point out the historic and current ineptness/corruption of city and provincial governments. Not sure why, as no one in the group was able to bring about a change here. We were taken to an area near Holy Trinity through a tent city. While passing by an alcove, a young man lying prostrate appeared to have shallow breathing, and gray blue coloring. When told to our guide, we were turned back to see CPR being administered and ambulance arrival. Our guide commented, “see our government doesn’t care”. Our son left the tour at this point. This was shocking enough, then we pressed on to the Yonge Street area. The history of this area seemed to carry a lot of protest marches and conflict. However, our guide proceeded to point out a building across the street and give a detailed and horrifying description of a young boy who was brutally killed and left on the roof the building indicated. With sick stomachs, we moved on to St. Lawrence Market. At that point we were reminded to tip our guide, which we paid to be released. I'm sorry this turned out this way, as I have always trusted Trip Advisor for it's great city tours. We did go back to see the Market, the Dog Park and the Flat Iron Building before leaving town. However, I now have no desire to return to Toronto.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ronald_c
Oct 10, 2024
Lost but not Least - Nothing against the tour or guide, we were about 10 minutes late finding anyplace that resembled the meeting place and could not find anyone with a sign or banner wondering where we were. We found a few old remnants of ‘old town’ besides City Hall across the park we thought was the meeting place on our way to China Town, UofT and the ROM. So it goes. Thanks for the possibility. I’d ensure the meeting place is intuitively obvious even to Oregonians lost in a Metropolis of High Rise Construction like New Old Town Toronto. Maybe next time. Thanks.
Review provided by Viator