William Lyon Mackenzie
The township of York, which until 1793 had been known as "Toronto", incorporated as a city (meaning it received local self-government) on March 6, 1834, taking the name of "the City of Toronto" to distinguish it from New York City and the dozen other settlements named 'York' in Upper Canada. The Tories and the Reformers fielded candidates for Toronto's first municipal election, held on March 27, 1834, with the Reformers winning a majority on the Toronto City Council. Mackenzie was elected as an alderman. The City Council then met to decide who should become mayor. Mackenzie, after being nominated by Franklin Jackes, defeated John Rolph in the vote and thereby became the first Mayor of Toronto.
Niagara, Toronto
The ten block Town of York (later the St. Lawrence Ward of Toronto) was laid out by Governor Simcoe in 1793 with its southern most street, Palace Street (now Front Street), following the shoreline to the west where it entered Fort York on the west side of the Garrison Creek This original town extended from Jarvis Street to Parliament Street (now Berkeley) with the rest of the area south of Lot Street (now Queen Street) as the 'Garrison Common' (open government land); north of Queen Street were 'farm lots'. North of about Palace Street (Front Street) and Crookshank Lane (Bathurst Street), a burial ground was established for the fort. Just before 1800 the town was extended with a 'New Town' (now the Financial District) in the west using larger lots than in the 'Old Town' and extending from Jarvis Street to Peter Street. There was a military hospital at Niagara Street and Tecumseh across from Fort York.