Barn raising, Highland Creek, Scarborough, 1909. Image: Toronto Public Library
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Original JPG File | 1920 × 1400 pixels (2.69 MP) 16.3 cm × 11.9 cm @ 300 PPI |
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Screen | 1097 × 800 pixels (0.88 MP) 9.3 cm × 6.8 cm @ 300 PPI |
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Resource ID
8093
Access
Open
Credit Line
Toronto Public Library
Date of Creation
1909
Keywords
agricultural history, Eglinton East, Scarborough, farming, rural, Toronto history, Toronto Heritage, barn raising, Highland Creek
Program Category
Tours
Rights
Public Domain
Caption
Barn raising, Highland Creek, Scarborough, 1909. Image: Toronto Public Library
Description
The journals of Thomas Edward Hough, a member of one of Scarborough's early-settler families, describes life in the rural community in the early 1800s. Hough describes barn raising parties, where friends and family from neighbouring farms would gather to help build a barn.
Throughout the nineteenth-century barns grew in size, and became large and costly structures, difficult for one family alone to build. Barn raisings enlisted unpaid help from community members, a type of mutual aid, with an expectation it would be reciprocated when needed.
"Raising" refers to the task of lifting into place large vertical frames and connecting them with cross-girts (horizontal frames connecting end posts below the roof plate). Raising required many men to work cooperatively to move and properly place the heavy beams.