The Don Valley Brick Works was a clay and shale quarry and brick factory in the Don Valley, opened in 1889 by the Taylor brothers and run, under several owners, until 1984. Its bricks went into buildings such as Massey Hall and Old City Hall. The site is now public: the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority owns the land, the quarry is a park, and the 16 heritage buildings house Evergreen Brick Works, which opened in 2010.
From paper mill to brick works
The Taylor family, John, William, and George, bought land in the Don Valley in the 1830s and set up a paper mill, according to a Wikipedia summary of Evergreen’s heritage material. The Canadian Encyclopedia gives the best-known story of the clay: in the spring of 1882, William Taylor found good clay while digging fence postholes, and in 1889 Taylor and his two brothers opened the Don Valley Brick Works.
The dates for the start of brick making are not identical across sources. The Canadian Encyclopedia names the 1882 clay find and the 1889 opening. Wikipedia says the brick company was created in 1889. One search summary of a blog source gives 1882 as the year the brothers bought the site for a paper mill, which conflicts with the 1830s date. This article uses 1889 for the start of the brick company, the year on which the sources agree, and treats the earlier dates as unresolved.
How the works grew
A quarry opened at the north end of the site and a brick plant stood at the south end near the Don River, as Wikipedia describes it. The company used three methods: soft-mud, dry-press from quarried shale, and stiff-mud. The Canadian Encyclopedia reports that its bricks won the highest award at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Wikipedia adds that a continuous down-draft kiln was installed in 1893 and that by 1907 two kilns made between 85,000 and 100,000 bricks a day, with a peak of about 25 million bricks a year.
The Great Fire of 1904 destroyed much of the downtown, and the Canadian Encyclopedia says a law that followed banned wood as the main building material, which secured the works’ future. Wikipedia says the company supplied brick for much of the rebuilding. The fire itself is described in the article on the Great Fire of 1904. The Canadian Encyclopedia lists Massey Hall, Old City Hall, and Hart House at the University of Toronto among the buildings made with its brick, together with many residential neighborhoods; see the articles on Massey Hall and Old City Hall.
Owners and names
| Period | Name or owner |
|---|---|
| 1889 to 1909 | Don Valley Pressed Brick Company (Taylor era) |
| After the 1909 sale to Robert Davies | Don Valley Brick Company Limited |
| 1920s expansion | Don Valley Brick Works Limited |
| After the 1928 sale to Strathgowan Investments | Toronto Brick Company |
| 1956 | Site acquired by United Ceramics Limited of Germany |
The same Wikipedia summary, which cites Evergreen’s industrial heritage tour and a 2002 City by-law notice, says that during the Great Depression a camp of unemployed men formed south of the works and that some slept in the kilns. In the Second World War, German prisoners of war held at Todmorden Mills worked at the plant. A fire in 1946 destroyed the sand-lime plant, and of four signature chimneys only one remains. These details come from one secondary summary and were not checked against the original heritage tour.
Closure and the fight over the site
The Canadian Encyclopedia says the works remained active until 1984, though it also uses the phrase early 1980s. ERA Architects, which worked on the buildings, gives 1989 as the year of closure in one project description, so this article uses 1984 and records the difference. By then most usable clay and shale had been quarried.
Wikipedia, citing a CBC report, says the owner offered the land to the city for $4 million for conservation, and that a developer, Torvalley Associates, bought it for $4,001,000 and won rezoning for housing from East York Council. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority expropriated the land in 1989 because part of it lay in the valley floodplain, paying about $14 million because it was zoned residential. Another source puts the takeover in 1986, and the Canadian Encyclopedia gives no date, so the year is shown as disputed. Brampton Brick leased the site and ran a retail outlet until 1991.
The quarry: geology on display
The quarry is known for its exposed layers. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes the Georgian Bay Formation at about 440 million years old, the Don Formation at about 130,000 years old, Sunnybrook Drift formed between 13,000 and 50,000 years ago, and Iroquois sands about 12,000 years old. The Don Formation is the layer that holds traces of a warm interglacial period. The Lost Rivers project, a volunteer-run source, dates the Scarborough Formation to 115,000 to 106,000 years ago and the Sunnybrook Drift to 60,000 to 75,000 years ago, a different range from the Encyclopedia’s, which shows how much the ages depend on the study. The north quarry wall was designated an earth science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest in 2009, according to Wikipedia.
The same layers appear in the Scarborough Bluffs, covered in its own article. Glacial Lake Iroquois, which left the sand at the top, is explained in the article on Toronto’s elevation and topography, and the creeks that feed the valley are covered in the article on lost rivers.
From dump to park to Evergreen
Filling of the quarry began in the late 1940s, and it was used as a city dump for years, according to Wikipedia. Restoration began in 1994, with soil from the Scotia Plaza excavation, and three ponds were fed with water diverted from Mud Creek. The Canadian Encyclopedia says the Weston Family Quarry Garden opened in 1996; Wikipedia says 1997.
The Canadian Encyclopedia reports that 16 industrial buildings were designated Heritage Buildings in 2002. Evergreen, founded in 1991, began developing plans for the site in 2002, and construction started in 2008. Wikipedia gives a budget of $55 million, with $20 million from the federal government and $10 million from Ontario, and a grand opening on September 28, 2010. Current programs, markets, and hours belong to Evergreen and the TRCA, whose pages should be checked for them.
Frequently asked questions
Who started the Don Valley Brick Works?
The Taylor brothers: John, William, and George. The Canadian Encyclopedia credits William Taylor with finding the clay and says the three brothers opened the works in 1889.
When did the Don Valley Brick Works close?
The Canadian Encyclopedia gives 1984. One architecture firm’s project page gives 1989, which matches the year of the public takeover in other sources.
What buildings were made with Don Valley brick?
The Canadian Encyclopedia names Massey Hall, Old City Hall, and Hart House. Other websites list Casa Loma and Queen’s Park, but this article did not confirm those from an official source.
Who owns the Brick Works now?
The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority acquired the land. Evergreen leases the industrial part of the site, and the City of Toronto manages the park section, according to Wikipedia’s summary. Check the owners’ pages for current arrangements.
Last verified: October 2026
Sources
- The Canadian Encyclopedia, “Evergreen Brick Works”
- Wikipedia, “Don Valley Brick Works”, citing Evergreen’s industrial heritage tour, a 2002 City of Toronto by-law notice, and CBC News
- Lost Rivers project, page on the Don Valley delta (volunteer-run)
- ERA Architects, Evergreen Brick Works project page, for the 1989 closure date
Related reading
- The Great Fire of 1904 and the demand for brick
- Massey Hall, one of the buildings made with its brick
- Old City Hall and its masonry
- Toronto’s lost rivers and ravines, including the Don
- The Scarborough Bluffs, where the same glacial layers show
- East York, the former municipality beside the works
- Toronto facts: location, geography, and weather
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 23). Don Valley Brick Works: From Clay Quarry to Evergreen. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/don-valley-brick-works-history
MLA: “Don Valley Brick Works: From Clay Quarry to Evergreen.” History of Toronto, 23 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/don-valley-brick-works-history. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “Don Valley Brick Works: From Clay Quarry to Evergreen.” Last modified October 23, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/don-valley-brick-works-history.
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