10 Facts About Thornton Blackburn

Three years later, Thornton Blackburn was sent to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was hired out to work as a porter for a dry goods company.

Thornton Blackburn's escape was more difficult because he was heavily guarded, bound and shackled.

The day before Thornton was to be returned to Kentucky, Detroit's black community rose up in protest in the Blackburn Riots.

Thornton Blackburn boarded a boat near the mouth of River Rouge and crossed the Detroit River into Essex County to join his wife.

Once in Essex County, Thornton Blackburn was jailed briefly while a formal request for his return was issued by the Michigan territorial governor.

In 1834, Thornton Blackburn reunited with his wife Lucie in the newly incorporated City of Toronto, where he worked as a waiter at Osgoode Hall.

Thornton Blackburn created Toronto's first taxi service in 1837, named "The City".

Thornton Blackburn started this service by building a red and yellow box cab named "The City," drawn by a single horse and able to carry four passengers, with a driver in a box at the front, which he would operate.

Thornton Blackburn participated in the North American Convention of Colored Freemen at St Lawrence Hall in September 1851, was an associate of anti-slavery leader George Brown, and helped former slaves settle at Toronto and Buxton.

Thornton Blackburn died on February 26,1890, leaving an estate of $18,000 and six properties, and is buried at Toronto's Necropolis Cemetery.