Montgomery’s Inn Museum highlights the historical role played by the inn as a tavern, farm, local gathering place and community hub in the development and history of Etobicoke. The site is located in Thomas Riley Park, which includes wildflower gardens, trails, a lawn bowling facility, tennis courts, playgrounds and a community garden. The site includes a free-standing, brick wood-fired bake oven built in 2011.
Features of the building include the 1830s Inn which features twelve restored rooms, a tea room, a bar room and a commercial kitchen, as well as a modern addition featuring a 3,000 volume research library, a gallery space, archives, and a gift shop.
The museum continues to extend the tradition of hospitality started by the Montgomery family in the 1830s, and is available for special event, wedding or meeting rentals. Visitors can explore the pivotal role of the tavern in colonial Canada through ongoing educational programs, tours, events, exhibits, and farmers’ market.
Please note: the interior of Montgomery’s Inn can be seen by self-guided or guided tour. Please refer to the open hours below or call for more information.
Adults: $8
Seniors (65+): $7
Youth (13-18 years): $7
Children (12 and under): $5
Groups of 10 or more receive a 15% discount on general admission. Pre-booking recommended.
Drive to the south-east corner of Islington Avenue and Dundas Street West. Free parking is available off Montgomery Road.
Take the Bloor/Danforth subway line to Islington station and either walk north or board the Islington 37 northbound bus. For specific TTC route and schedule information call 416-393-4636 (INFO) or visit the TTC website.
Montgomery’s Inn was once part of a 400-acre farm which supplied food for the Montgomery family, guests of the inn and for retail sale. Much of this land continued to be farmed by tenant farmers through the 1940s. Though the farm is long gone, we celebrate the Inn’s agricultural roots once again by offering farm-fresh produce for sale.
Every Wednesday from 2 – 6 p.m.
For the past five years, Montgomery’s Inn has run a successful farmers’ market program. The market has proven to be of great benefit to the museum, the local community and participating vendors.
Using Montgomery’s Inn as a case study, this how-to guide is aimed at heritage sites and community museums in the province of Ontario, with the goal of encouraging more sites to consider a farmers’ market at their location. Please email montinn@toronto.ca to receive a .pdf copy of the Farmers’ Market Toolkit for Heritage Sites.
Montgomery’s Inn was designed in the Loyalist or late Georgian architectural style, and was deemed Classical because it had been inspired by ancient Greek and Roman architecture. Features such as the centre-hall plan, the symmetrical balance of the building and the fanlight over the front door are typical. The Inn is built of rubble stone and was originally covered with pebble-dashed stucco, finished, or “coined,” on the corners to give the appearance of cut stone.
After Thomas Montgomery’s death in 1877, the contents of the building were sold at auction. The furnishings in the museum are either donated or purchased pieces of Canadian, American and English origin and reflect those of a conservative country innkeeper. The paint colours on the walls and woodwork are similar to the original colours, which were discovered by scraping down to the original coat of paint in each room.