Mackenzie House

My partner and I decided to visit Mackenzie House to learn more about our city and spent about an hour and a half there. What a hidden treasure!
While it’s not a large place by any means, this lovingly restored house and print shop will give you a sense of what it was like to be a middle-​class family in 1860s Toronto. What we appreciated most were the tour guides — they were friendly, very knowledgeable, and enthusiastic about local history and William Lyon Mackenzie’s place in it.
The mulled cider and ability to try the printing press (under supervision) were added bonuses. Would definitely go again.

William Lyon Mackenzie… a towering figure in Toronto and Canadian history who was a printing press newsman, mayor, rebel, exile and more!
You’ll learn about all those phases of Mackenzie’s life while visiting his well preserved house.
We stopped by on a Saturday afternoon with an admission fee of $ 6. Little did we know that two hours later, we would have had an incredible tour by knowledgeable and enthusiastic guides who had a tremendous passion for their subject matter.
My wife and I have been to many historic homes in the US and it’s rare to find guides as great as these two were. (And they were under 60, a rarity in the historic home game. No ageism meant.)
I learned many things but what stands out are the following:
A demo on the origins of the expression ‘turn the lights on’. Actual turning was involved!
Learning about the 1837 rebellion led by mackenzie and his Québécois counterpart. He fled to the US and wound up working for the NY Times for awhile.
Printing press explanation and demo– I even had a souvenir paper printed with my name on it!
Toronto is lucky to have such a dedicated staff on board at this house. It’s worth a visit to peer into your city’s history from a political and cultural standpoint.