History of TorontoSourced history of Toronto, Ontario

Toronto’s Police and Fire Services: A History

Updated · 6 min read

Toronto’s police force dates from 1834, when the town of York became the city of Toronto, and its first full-time constables were retained in 1835. The city’s fire service grew from volunteer companies founded in the 1820s and 1830s, and the two services took their present form after amalgamation in 1998.

Searchers often arrive here asking about police uniforms. The first Toronto uniforms were issued in 1837, but later changes in helmets, caps, and fabrics could not be confirmed from a primary source and are left out. Details of that kind are best checked with the Toronto Police Museum and Discovery Centre.

Policing before and after 1834

Before incorporation, York relied on part-time constables and citizens who took turns at night duty. When the city was created in 1834, council set constable pay on November 12 of that year. On March 9, 1835, Toronto retained five full-time constables, about one officer for every 1,850 residents, a figure that the historian Peter Vronsky takes from H. S. Cooper’s work on Canadian police.

The force grew slowly. Council raised it to eight permanent constables in 1843 and appointed Samuel Sherwood as chief of police in 1852. According to Wikipedia, the circus riot of 1855 and public anger over the failure to prosecute led to a reorganization in 1859. The force was placed under a provincially mandated board of police commissioners, and today’s service traces its structure to those reforms.

Police timeline

Year Event
1834 City of Toronto incorporated; police force founded
March 9, 1835 Five full-time constables retained
1837 Uniforms first issued to constables
1852 Samuel Sherwood appointed chief of police
1859 Reorganization under a board of police commissioners
1886 Full-time mounted unit formed
January 1, 1957 Toronto Police merge with other municipal forces to form the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force
1998 Amalgamated City of Toronto; governing body becomes the Toronto Police Services Board

What can be said about police uniforms

Peter Vronsky’s history of the early force dates the first issue of uniforms to 1837. He cites C. C. Taylor’s 1887 book, which described the constables as “uniformly slovenly.” The same author gives the 1837 annual constable pay as 75 pounds, set by council on February 20, 1837.

The Toronto Police Museum and Discovery Centre, on the first floor of police headquarters on College Street, collects artifacts from 1834 to the present, and its exhibition listing names vintage uniforms and badges. Its archive is not open to the public, and research requests go through the museum. A search for dated information on helmets, the change to peaked caps, or the date when officers began carrying firearms produced only unsourced web articles. No such date is given here.

Early fire companies

Fire protection in early Toronto depended on volunteers. According to Wikipedia, the York Fire Company, the first in what is now Toronto, was created in 1826, and the Hook and Ladder Fire Company followed in 1831. Early crews used horse-drawn engines and ladders, and water was drawn from Lake Ontario.

The fire of April 7, 1849, tested that system. The fire was discovered about 1 a.m. in outbuildings behind Graham’s Tavern at King and Nelson (now Jarvis) Streets and spread through the Market Block, an area of roughly 10 to 15 acres (4 to 6 hectares). The wooden predecessor of St. James Cathedral caught fire around 3 a.m. and was destroyed. Four fire halls were active that year. The account comes from Wikipedia, which cites Armstrong, Robertson, and The Globe of April 11, 1849.

The date of the municipal department is not settled. Wikipedia’s infobox gives 1874 for the creation of the Toronto Fire Department, while the same encyclopedia’s article on the 1849 fire says it was formed in 1875, citing Friebe’s A History of the Toronto Fire Services (2003). A union history claims an earlier professional force in 1871, which no other source supports. This article therefore says only that a municipal department existed by the mid-1870s.

The Great Fire of 1904

The City of Toronto Archives has an online exhibit on the fire of April 19, 1904. A watchman sounded the alarm at 8:04 p.m. The fire began in the E. and S. Currie Building on the north side of Wellington Street, west of Bay Street, and the cause was never determined. It reached Front Street by 11 p.m. and was declared under control by 4:30 a.m.

The Archives gives losses of $10,000,000 in 1904 dollars and says about 5,000 workers lost their jobs, temporarily or permanently. Crews came from the suburbs and, by special express trains, from Hamilton and Buffalo. City Council passed a new building by-law with standards for fire-resistant construction, and insurance premiums in the burned district rose 75 percent, retroactive to the night of the fire.

Fire services after 1904

Wikipedia places the first motorized pumper in 1911. In 1998, amalgamation merged the fire departments of Metropolitan Toronto’s six municipalities into Toronto Fire Services. The City of Toronto describes the service as the largest fire service in Canada and the fifth largest in North America. The same page reports that in 2024 it earned Accredited Agency Status from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International for the second consecutive time, valid through 2029.

Joining the service

People who ask how to become a firefighter in Toronto should go to the City of Toronto’s page “Applying to Toronto Fire Services.” It states that applications are only accepted when a position is open. Qualifications, testing requirements, and dates are revised from time to time and are not reproduced here.

Frequently asked questions

When did the Toronto Police Service start?

The force was founded in 1834 when Toronto was incorporated, and it retained five full-time constables on March 9, 1835. The Toronto Police Service name and governing board date from the 1998 amalgamation.

When were Toronto police first issued uniforms?

Uniforms were first issued in 1837, according to Peter Vronsky’s history citing C. C. Taylor (1887). Dates for later changes were not confirmed.

When did the Great Fire of Toronto happen?

The Great Fire began on the night of April 19, 1904. The City of Toronto Archives reports losses of $10,000,000 in 1904 dollars.

When was Toronto Fire Services created?

The present service was created in 1998 by merging the fire departments of Metropolitan Toronto’s six municipalities. The older City of Toronto department dates from 1874 or 1875, depending on the source.

Last verified: October 2026

Sources

  • City of Toronto Archives, The Great Fire of 1904
  • City of Toronto, Applying to Toronto Fire Services, and the Toronto Fire Services page
  • Toronto Police Service Museum and Discovery Centre exhibitions listing (summary only; the site blocked direct access)
  • Peter Vronsky, history of the Toronto police 1834 to 1859, citing Toronto council minutes, H. S. Cooper (1981), and C. C. Taylor (1887)
  • Wikipedia, articles on the Toronto Police Service, Toronto Fire Services, and the Great Fire of Toronto (1849) (secondary)
Cite this page

APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 23). Toronto’s Police and Fire Services: A History. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/the-evolution-of-toronto-police-uniforms-tracing-the-rich-history-of-law-enforcement-attire-in-the-modern-era

MLA: “Toronto’s Police and Fire Services: A History.” History of Toronto, 23 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/the-evolution-of-toronto-police-uniforms-tracing-the-rich-history-of-law-enforcement-attire-in-the-modern-era. Accessed .

Chicago: History of Toronto. “Toronto’s Police and Fire Services: A History.” Last modified October 23, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/the-evolution-of-toronto-police-uniforms-tracing-the-rich-history-of-law-enforcement-attire-in-the-modern-era.

The pages have no named author, so the site is given as the author. Add the date you read the page if your style asks for it.