For the first half of the nineteenth century most of Toronto’s Roman Catholics were buried in parish cemeteries, notably St. Paul’s Church on Power Street. St. Paul’s Church was established in 1822 and the large property behind the Church served as its cemetery.
In 1845 Bishop Michael Power began construction of St. Michael’s Cathedral with plans to have a cemetery attached. These plans were altered with the heavy immigration of Irish Catholics fleeing the potato famine, and the outbreak of the typhus epidemic. The large number of deaths including Bishop Power in 1847 quickly filled the parish cemeteries. Bishop de Charbonnel, the second Bishop of Toronto, responded to the needs of his people by purchasing property near the corner of Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue. On September 28, 1855, St. Michael’s Cemetery was consecrated.
As the Catholic Community grew, Mount Hope Cemetery opened its gates on Erskine Avenue in 1900. At that time parish cemeteries continued to meet the needs of the population outside of the city of Toronto.
