Aurora Armoury

Photos by contributor Lauren Roberts - May, 2008

Plaque Location

The Region of York
The Town of Aurora
At the south-west corner of Larmont Street and Mosley Street
3 blocks east of Yonge Street, one block south of Wellington Street
N 43 59.946 W 79 27.709

Plaque Text

Built in 1874 as a drill shed for the 12th Battalion of Infantry or York Rangers, the Aurora Armoury was part of a network of defence training facilities for citizen soldiers. It evokes the larger stories and traditions of the province's militia regiments, recruited regionally, and possessing close affiliations with their communities of origin. The armoury was also the site of Edward Blake's famous "Aurora speech" of 1874, in which the prominent politician and former Ontario premier called upon the federal government of Liberal Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie to implement nationalistic and electoral reforms. The speech exemplifies how drill halls and armouries fulfil civic roles in the lives of their communities. The oldest purpose-built armoury still used by the military in Ontario, the Aurora drill shed is home to elements of The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC).

Related Ontario plaque pages
Elora Drill Shed
Peterborough Armoury

More
Information

More
Forts and Other Military Places

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