A visual history of the Toronto Islands

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The Toronto Islands have been the city's go-to summer day-tripping spot for over 150 years now. The first horse-powered ferries started carrying folks across the harbour in 1833, and by the turn of the 20th century the western side of the Islands was already a bustling resort spot, anchored by the Hanlan family who opened a hotel there in 1878.

The main stretch of the Island actually started as a peninsula, formed by deposits from the Scarborough Bluffs (see the 1818 map of York below) over thousands of years.

It wasn't until two huge storms, first in 1852 and then in 1858, ripped through the city, that the Eastern Gap was formed.

Although the Coney-Island-like atmosphere on the Islands died when the Hanlan's Point Amusement Park closed up shop in the late 1920s, the area still retained a sizable residential community until the 1950s when Metro Toronto Council sought to convert the Islands into City parkland.

Over the next 20 years, numerous homes were demolished, but residents on Ward's and Algonquin Islands continued to battle the City until late 1981, when the province granted them the right to stay until 2005.

The matter eventually come to a close in 1993 with the passing of the Toronto Islands Residential Community Stewardship Act, through which residents were granted the opportunity to buy 99 year land leases that ensured they could continue to occupy their homes.

The Island airport, which opened in 1937, has also see its fair share of controversy over the years.

Like the homes, however, it's not going anywhere. With the exception of Centreville and a few other business, the rest of the Islands remain tranquil parkland with ample beach areas and views of the Toronto skyline.

Here's what the Toronto Islands looked like over the past two centuries.