Mackenzie House

Mackenzie House was the last home of William Lyon Mackenzie, Toronto's first mayor, outspoken newspaper editor, and primary leader of the 1837 Rebellion in Upper Canada. The defeat of the rebels forced Mackenzie to flee to the United States. Pardoned in 1849, he returned to Toronto and resumed his political career. When Mackenzie retired from the provincial legislature in 1858, his friends and supporters bought this house for him. Mackenzie lived here until his death in 1861 and his widow and daughters continued to occupy the building until 1871. In 1950 Mackenzie House opened as a historic site museum, and in 1967 a new addition was built to re-create a 19th-century printing shop.