Timeline of Montgomery’s Inn
1812 Thomas Montgomery immigrates from Northern Ireland.
1830 Montgomery builds the main building and opens it as an inn.
Son William born to Thomas and his Ulster-born wife Margaret.
1833 Son Robert born. Of seven offspring, only two brothers survive.
1837 MacKenzie rebels appear in Court on the Inn’s second floor.
1838 East and south wings built to add a tavern, ballroom and kitchen.
1847 Township Commissioners meet at the Inn for Irish famine relief.
1855 Margaret Dawson Montgomery dies, aged 47.
Thomas gives up innkeeping shortly thereafter.
He continues living in the building and rents rooms to tenants.
1877 Thomas Montgomery dies, aged 87.
Son William inherits the property and rents it to tenant farmers.
1946 Inn sold to a Presbyterian church. Most interior walls removed.
1958 First meeting of the Etobicoke Historical Society.
1962 Developer Louis Mayzel buys the Inn and plans redevelopment.
Mayzel then sells the Inn to Etobicoke Historical Society at cost.
The inn is rented to community groups for the next two years.
1965 Inn sold to the municipally appointed Etobicoke Historical Board.
Public debate over the future of the building lasts several years.
1967 The original stucco exterior is removed as a centennial project.
1972 Restoration of the interior begins, to the time period of 1847-50.
Interior partitions are reconstructed and furnishings collected.
1975 Restoration complete, the Inn opens as a community museum.
1990 Rear wing added, including offices, library and the Briarly Room.
2000 Ownership of the Inn is transferred to the City of Toronto.
The inn becomes one of 10 municipally run museums in Toronto.