The seeds of this extraordinary growth were planted in 1827 by John Strachan, a leading member of Upper Canada's Anglican elite, who obtained a royal charter for King’s College. In 1849 it was renamed the University of Toronto and declared non-denominational.

Once a small cluster of buildings in downtown Toronto, U of T today comprises more than 200 facilities on three campuses, covering 2.5 square kilometres in the Metropolitan Toronto area.

U of T faculty past and present include author Robertson Davies and literary critic Northrop Frye, communications guru Marshall McLuhan, and Nobel Prize-winning research scientists Sir Frederick Banting, J.J.R. Macleod and John Polanyi. Former U of T students include Canadian prime ministers and provincial premiers; writers Stephen Leacock, Farley Mowat and Margaret Atwood; musicians Maureen Forrester, Glenn Gould and Lois Marshall; and Roberta Bondar, Canada's first female astronaut.

Many U of T research achievements are as well known as these names -- for example, the discoveries of how insulin controls diabetes and the genetic cause for cystic fibrosis. Indeed, the world's first electronic heart pacemaker, Canada's first chemistry laboratory, North America's first electron microscope, the infant cereal Pablum, and a dental varnish to prevent cavities, were all developed by U of T researchers