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BRICKWORKS - HUMAN IMPACTS ON THE ECOSYSTEM
History of the Don Valley Brick Works
Before the brick factory was built the Don Valley looked like this.
View of the Don Valley before Brick Works industrialization, photo from the Toronto Archives
Then the Don Valley Brick Works were created in 1889 by the Taylor brothers. Bricks were made with a
technique called a soft-mud process. Clay quarried from the site was mixed with water from nearby Mud
Creek, placed in moulds which were dried and then baked in kilns. Bricks were used mostly in Toronto but
were also used in construction across the continent. The bricks made were of such good quality that they
won prizes at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and the Toronto Industrial Fair in 1894.
RHSA Brick Works Field Study 2010
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Photo of the Brick Works in 1891
from the Toronto Archives.
By the 1980s most of the usable clay and shale had been quarried. The company decided to offer to sell the
land to the city for conservation purposes. In 1994, restoration of the site began. The quarry was filled in
using material from the excavation of the Scotia Plaza tower in downtown Toronto. Once filled, the site was
landscaped to create a series of three ponds using water diverted from Mud Creek. The water flows out of
the ponds into a channel and then flows underneath Bayview Avenue and back into the Don River. The
remaining area was turned into meadow.
Here’s a photo of
the Brick Works
before restoration
efforts started.
RHSA Brick Works Field Study 2010
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Human Impact Table
Find a good spot to sit. Look around and make observations of human impacts on the Brick Works
ecosystem. Now complete this chart. Compare the photos to each other and to what you see now at the
Brick Works. Think very broadly. The photos have many clues to the ecosystem before industrialization,
during the 1890’s and in the 1970’s. Try to write an idea beside each bullet point.
Time
Before
Industry
1890’s
1970’s
Now
Positive or Neutral
Human Impact
Negative Human Impact
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RHSA Brick Works Field Study 2010