Learn a little of Toronto's history as told through its plaques.

Thornton and Lucie Blackburn

Photos by Alan L Brown - September 2006

On the grounds of a school at the corner of Sackville Street and Eastern Avenue is an historic plaque, near the bottom left in the photo, that tells us about the lives of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn who arrived in Toronto via the Underground Railroad. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada plaque says this:

The Blackburn's determination to build free lives provides a window on the experience of many refugees in the Underground Railroad era. Having fled slavery in Kentucky, they were arrested in Detroit in 1833. Their capture sparked riots and in the confusion they managed to escape to Upper Canada. Here, the government twice defended them against extradition, and by 1834 the couple had settled in Toronto. Respected citizens, they established the city' first cab company, worked for Abolition and contributed to the well-being of their community.

Plaque Location Co-ordinates: 43.653664 -79.359307

More Emancipation pages

Here are the comments for this page.

Posted March 20, 2009
For further information on this couple's remarkable story, see the book "I've Got a Home in Glory Land" by Karolyn Smardz Frost. It's a fascinating and thrilling tale.
G Trew, ON

Posted March 16, 2009
My goodness what an enlightening story. As an African Canadian woman, I really cherish this history and hold in high esteem the price my fellow ancestors paid for me to be a free woman in North America.
K Sawyer, BC

Posted September 8, 2008
Have there been any words of Lucie and Thornton preserved for us?
duke.vipperman@sympatico.ca

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