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.
Exhibition Place
When York, the predecessor of Toronto was inaugurated in the 1790s, the land to the west of the garrison (later Fort York) was reserved for military purposes. This includes all of today's Exhibition Place. Years later, the British military decided to replace Fort York with a new fort, to be located at the eastern end of the reserve. In 1840–1841, they constructed a series of seven limestone buildings and several smaller ones. Elaborate defensive works were never built and the buildings were turned over to the Canadian military in 1870, which named it Stanley Barracks in 1893.