Koffler Scientific Reserve - History

History

Starting in the 1880s, much of the present day's Jokers Hill was heavily deforested and settled as 16 small farms. In the 1950s, Major General Chruchill Mann and his wife Billie McLaughlin Mann consolidated these farms and developed the property as a horse farm and estate; a race track, barns, pastures, and other equestrian relics remain from this era. The property was purchased by the Koffler family in 1969, and served as their country home. They retained noted architect Napier Simpson to expand and remodel the estate house, first built by the Manns. The Koffler's hosted a variety of charitable and sporting events, including Canada's first three day equestrian event competition. Guests to Jokers Hill during the Koffler years included HRH Prince Phillip, Princess Margaret, Pierre and Margaret Trudeau, and numerous luminaries from the Canadian business and arts communities.

The Kofflers generously turned over the estate to the University of Toronto in 1995. Estimated to be worth $18 million at the time, it is the most valuable land gift ever given to a Canadian university. Under the guidance of founding Director, Prof. Ann Zimmerman, Koffler Scientific Reserve quickly became a favored site for biological research by members of the University's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and its Faculty of Forestry. In 2007, Arthur E. Weis, a longtime professor of evolutionary biology at the University of California, was hired by Toronto to succeed Zimmerman as director. He oversaw a construction project that converted the former "racing barn" barn into the state-of-the-art Laboratory for Biodiversity and Global Change Biology.