Learn a little of Toronto's history as told through its plaques.

J.B. Tyrrell (1858-1957)

Photos by Alan L Brown - September 2006

Have you been to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta? You haven't? Now that's a sad situation! Anyway, here's info on the guy it's named after on a 1996 Toronto Historical Board plaque in a park named after him on Dalton Road just north of Bloor Street West:

Joseph Burr Tyrrell, explorer and mining engineer, was born in Weston, Ontario on 1 November 1858. After graduation from the University of Toronto he joined the Canadian Geological Survey in 1881. His expedition to the Badlands northeast of Calgary (1884-1886) revealed major deposits of coal and dinosaur bones. The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta commemorates these discoveries. In 1893 he led an expedition across the barren lands - 5150 km of mostly uncharted territory from Lake Athabasca to Chesterfield Inlet. He left the Geological Survey in 1898 to become a mining consultant in Dawson City, Yukon Territory during the Klondike Gold Rush. He established his own firm in Toronto in 1907 and was the president of Kirkland Lake Gold Mines from 1925 - 1955. Joseph Burr Tyrrell lived for many years on nearby Walmer Road.

Related Toronto plaque page
Tyrrell House

Plaque Location Co-ordinates: 43.666692 -79.407018

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