Businessman, City Father, A founder of Toronto’s first zoo
1842 – 1920

Plaque location: 156 Winchester Street

Daniel Lamb was the son of Peter Rothwell Lamb, founder, in 1848, of Lamb’s Blacking and Glue Manufactory, a local tannery and glue and stove black factory, which made leather, blacking in cakes and tin boxes, neatsfoot oil (made from cattle), paste black, and ground bone for manure. In the 1860s Daniel Lamb took over his father’s factory which was located at the end of Amelia Street on what is now Wellesley Park. He owned a number of workers’ cottages in the area that were rented to some of the employees. Many of the bricks from the original factory were used to build the Hillcrest Park houses.

Daniel Lamb entered politics a few years before fire destroyed the buildings of the Lamb’s Blacking and Glue Manufacturing in 1888. He served two terms as alderman, until his retirement from public office in 1902.

Daniel Lamb donated additional land to Riverdale Park and in 1894 became founder of the Riverdale Zoo, which quickly developed an excellent reputation for the quality and range of its international wildlife. Daniel Lamb inspired friends and eminent citizens to donate animals or money to extend the collection, which started with only a few deer and two wolves. He was also responsible for many civic engineering innovations, including the Rosedale Valley Road and the first public water works on the Toronto Islands, which continue to function to this day. He was also instrumental in providing the main railway routes from the east end, and returning Ashbridge’s Bay to a suitable condition for use.

Daniel Lamb was President of the York Pioneer Society in 1896. His tombstone, located in the Necropolis, is overlooked by the east windows of his original home on Winchester Street.