Gibraltar Pt. light an historic beacon

Octagonal stone structure on Toronto Island dates back to early 19th century. Once the tallest building in the city, it survived war and is shrouded in mystery

Adam Mayers
Toronto Star

Not many people enjoying a stroll on Toronto Island this long weekend would guess that the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse, tucked away near the Western Gap, was the tallest building in the city for almost 50 years.

To be fair, in the first half of the 19th century Toronto wasn't Toronto yet, and the island wasn't an island. The Eastern Gap had yet to be created by a powerful storm, and the curving forested peninsula that jutted out into the lake had just one opening, at the west end.

The lighthouse's place in local history was assured when our first lieutenant-governor, John Graves Simcoe, moved Upper Canada's capital to York in 1793 to stay a safe distance from the American border. Simcoe liked the location because the harbour offered natural protection in all directions except the west. With Fort York strategically placed on shore, it was a safe, well-guarded harbour.

More than a decade later, Lieutenant-Governor Francis Gore built the lighthouse, an octagonal stone structure with walls almost 1.8 metres thick and a centre packed with stone to add stability. Originally 16 metres high, the structure was raised in 1832. Now, from bottom to top, including the vane, it stands 25 metres tall. It's also about 100 metres farther inland now, as storms and currents have created a silt and sand barrier in front of it.

By the War of 1812 the lighthouse was continuously manned, and during the American invasion and burning of York in April 1813 it was one of the few buildings along the shoreline that was spared.

One of the strangest bits of lore is the unsolved murder of lighthouse keeper Radan Muller on Jan. 2, 1815. Two men were arrested but later released, and Muller's body was never found.

The story goes that Muller had a sideline smuggling liquor, and two soldiers from the nearby fort came by for a drink. Muller obliged, but when he tried to cut them off, there was a fight and he was killed.

The York Gazette printed an obituary in mid-January 1815 noting that despite Muller's missing body there was "moral proof of his having been murdered." About a month later the paper reported there were no convictions and the two men had been released.

In the 1890s, local historian Ross Robertson, founder of the Toronto Telegram, interviewed the resident lighthouse keeper, who claimed to have found bits of Muller's coffin and parts of his jawbone buried in the sand. He told Robertson it had long been rumoured that Muller was buried near the lagoon on the south side of Blockhouse Bay. To verify the story he started digging. He claimed to have found human remains about 1 metre down, about 150 metres west of the structure.

It does seem odd that drunk soldiers would have a coffin at the ready, tools at hand, the presence of mind to dig a grave in frozen earth, bury Muller and then have the good sense to keep quiet about it. It's even more odd that remains just a metre deep remained undiscovered for 80 years. Anyway, it makes for great ghost stories on Halloween.

The lighthouse was manned until 1957, when the federal government turned it over to the city. Now managed by the city parks department, it's worth a quick visit next time you're on the island.