During the winter months people reach the lagoons and Toronto Harbour from the islands for ice skating when conditions permit.

[5] Prior to European colonization, the group of islands (then peninsula) and sandbars was considered a place of healing, leisure, and relaxation by Indigenous peoples.

According to British Crown records, Treaty 13, often referred to as the Toronto Purchase of 1787 and 1805, included the Islands and compensated the Mississaugas with "goods including 2,000 rifle flints, 24 brass kettles, 120 mirrors, 24 laced hats and 96 gallons of rum valued at £1,700 for the sale of Toronto.

[9] The peninsula and surrounding sand bars that now form the Toronto Islands were surveyed in 1792 by Lieutenant Joseph Bouchette of the Royal Navy.

D.W. Smith's Gazetteer recorded in 1813 that "the long beach or peninsula, which affords a most delightful ride, is considered so healthy by the Indians that they resort to it whenever indisposed".

It is perhaps best known for the demise of its first keeper, German-born John Paul Radelmüller, whose alleged 1815 murder by soldiers from Fort York forms the basis of Toronto's most enduring ghost story.

[12][13] Although the precise circumstances of his death remain a mystery, recent research has verified many aspects of the popular legend.

In 1867, the City of Toronto acquired the Islands from the federal government, and the land was divided into lots, allowing seasonal cottages, outdoor amusement areas and summer resort hotels to be built.

John's son, Edward "Ned" Hanlan, earned international recognition as a rower before taking over his father's business.

Along the lakefront of Centre Island, large Victorian summer homes were built by Toronto's leading families looking for refuge from the summer heat and drawn by the prestigious Royal Canadian Yacht Club, which had moved to a location on the harbour side of RCYC Island in 1881.

In 1897, the Hanlan's Point Stadium was built alongside the amusement park for the Toronto Maple Leaf baseball team.

During the first few years of the Second World War, expatriate Norwegian (RNAF) pilots-in-training used the Toronto Island Airport as a training field for both fighter and bomber pilots.

Several accidents, including one where a pilot under instruction clipped the funnel and mast of the island ferry boat Sam McBride and crashed, led to the training school being moved north to Muskoka, Ontario.

In 1947, Toronto City Council approved the year-round occupancy of the Islands to help cope with housing shortages after World War Two,[8] an emergency measure meant to expire in 1968.

[26] Not long after its creation in 1953, Metropolitan Toronto Council undertook to remove the community and replace it with public parkland.

The 1970s saw no further demolitions as the Metro Parks plans were delayed by year-to-year leases and the election of Toronto City Councillors who were more sympathetic to the Islanders' situation.

At the time, a minority provincial Progressive Conservative government was in place with both the Liberal and NDP opposition parties in favour of the Islanders.

In 1993, Premier of Ontario Bob Rae helped to get Toronto Islands Residential Community Stewardship Act, (S.O.

If the house must be sold for personal reasons, and if a child or spouse will not be the new owner, the process is handled by the Toronto Islands Residential Community Trust Corporation.

The house and the land lease are sold for the owner's benefit, but the buyer must be an individual on a 500-person waiting list which was established through a lottery.

This process was intended to eliminate the risk of the homes being sold on the open market, driving up the prices, and preventing a windfall for the owner.

[54] The climate differs from the mainland in that cooler lake waters surrounding the island cool spring, summer and early fall daytime temperatures by 2–3 °C, on average.

Under the terms of the Toronto Islands Residential Community Stewardship Act there are strict rules under provincial law governing the buying and selling of these homes.

There are approximately 150 residences, most of which are occupied on a yearly basis and a centrally located Ward's Island Association club house which was built 1937–8.

The islands are represented federally by Independent MP Kevin Vuong, provincially by NDP MPP Chris Glover, and municipally by councillor Ausma Malik.

There is no fixed road link from the mainland to the Toronto Islands, which therefore rely on ferries, water taxis and other boats for their transport needs.

A fourth public ferry service provides a vehicle and passenger connection from a dock at the foot of Bathurst Street to the airport.

The bridge carrying traffic from Avenue of the Islands can support large vehicles, but not cars or heavy trucks.

Since they were withdrawn it has become usual for TTC to assign to the Island a bus from a series that is coming to the end of its service life.

In Take This Waltz, a 2011 film by Canadian director Sarah Polley, the main character Margot (Michelle Williams) rides the Scrambler at the Centreville Amusement Park.