Although no longer the capital, in the 1840s Toronto installed gas lamps, plank sidewalks and sewers on main streets. A fire wiped out much of the downtown in 1849, but it was quickly rebuilt. Toronto's population reached 30,000 in 1851. City residents were overwhelmingly British in origin, and fervently loyal to the British monarchy. Many were Protestant Irish, and the Orange Order soon dominated political and cultural life. Toronto celebrates Queen Victoria's birthday, 1854 Toronto, 1851 Topographical Plan of Toronto, 1851
	In the 1850s, railways linked Toronto to provincial outposts and other cities. They also ushered in the industrial age. By the 1880s, Toronto was a major manufacturing hub. Toronto, Canada West, 1855 Toronto Rolling Mills, 1864 Toronto from the Northern Railway elevator, c. 1876 King Street East, ca. 1872 Esplanade East, 1894
On July 1, 1867, 10,000 citizens gathered at Queen's Park to celebrate the Confederation of Canada and the new province of Ontario, with Toronto its capital. By 1899, when a new city hall opened, Toronto's 200,000 residents also enjoyed the University of Toronto, the Star, the Globe, Eaton's, Simpson's, the Parliament Buildings, streetcars, the Toronto Island ferry, the Exhibition and the Toronto Public Library. Toronto, 1893