SCADDING CABIN

Scadding Cabin, built in 1794, is Toronto’s oldest surviving building. It is located at the west end of the Exhibition Grounds. 

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The cabin’s first owner was John Scadding, an assistant to Upper Canada’s first Lieutenant Governor, John Graves Simcoe. Scadding’s 250-acre property was on the east bank of the Don River and his log home sat near where present-day Queen Street crosses the Don Valley Parkway.

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In August 1879 John Smith, owner of the cabin, donated it to the Pioneers. The log building was dismantled by the York Pioneers and they reconstructed it on the grounds of the first Industrial Exhibition, now the Canadian National Exhibition.

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How the cabin was physically moved to the CNE isn’t known, but some York Pioneers suspect the logs from the dismantled house were floated down the Don River and along the shoreline of Lake Ontario. The rebuilding of the cabin (then 85 years old) was well-documented in newspapers of the day.

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Several Pioneers met at a seed store on Adelaide Street. Holding aloft the Union Jack emblazoned with “York Pioneers”, they trundled along King Street in a wagon pulled by a team of oxen. At the exhibition grounds, they met other volunteers and the rebuilding “bee” began.

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See a 360° view of the Scadding Cabin's interior on Google Maps. You can even go through the doors and wander outside!

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