Tag: toronto

OJA exhibit pays homage to Benjamin Brown

From the Canadian Jewish News, February 2016 “Location, location, location,” they say, are the three most important things in real estate. If so, the Ontario Jewish Archives (OJA) has scored a wonderful coup by securing the Urbanspace Gallery in the majestic loft building at 401 Richmond Street West as the venue for an exhibition in…

Infuriated Toronto Youths Riot Over Showing of Swastika (1933)

Police Rushed to Willowvale Park After Ball Game to Restore Order From The Montreal Gazette, August 17, 1933 Toronto August 16 — Hundreds of infuriated Jewish and Gentile youths clashed, and a mob of 10,000 surged riotously around Willowvale Park tonight after a large swastika emblem painted on a white quilt had been displayed on the…

Saving the Babies of Toronto’s Poor—Pure Milk Depots Doing Grand Work (1911)

From the Toronto Star Weekly, August 26 1911 Enterprise of the Household Economic Association Has Achieved Wonderful Results—Little Ones so Frail They Had to Be Carried on Pillows Have Been Bolstered Up Into Strength—Certified Milk Sold for Eight Cents a Quart, the Society Paying Difference Between Cost and Selling Price — Three Depots in Active Operation.…

Toronto had 3,000 cars in 1911 (Star Weekly)

  Hamilton man owned first motor in Canada J.C. Eaton of Toronto Bought the Second – Wonderful Development of the Automobile in the Past Six Years – 3,000 Cars Owned in This City From Star Weekly Feb 11 1911 The development of the automobile during the past five or six years has been simply wonderful.…

Christian missions proselytized Jews in ‘the Ward’

From the Canadian Jewish News, April 2015 Having recently marked its 25th anniversary, the organization Jews for Judaism continues to counter the activities of missionary groups in Toronto that deceptively target Jews for conversion. However, Christian missions to the Jews are certainly nothing new in this city. In the era before the First World War, a…

Is Toronto Troubled by ‘Too Much Sunday’? (1914)

Above: Some 3,500 Torontonians protested at Massey Hall when City Council refused to allow the use of slides at High Park in February 1912. (Star Weekly) A Correspondent Puts Up an Argument for a Freer Sunday With Less Restraints and Less Police Espionage and More Open Air Toronto Star Weekly, September 1914 With the opening of…

Obit: Barnet Markson (1914-2014)

From Beth Sholom Bulletin, Summer 2014 Barnet Markson, who died in March 2014 just three weeks shy of his 100th birthday, was a founding member of Beth Sholom Congregation. Born in Toronto in 1914, Barney became a pharmacist and built a store, Markson’s Pharmacy, at the corner of Westover Hill Road and Eglinton in 1945,…

Landsmanschaft societies stretched forth their helping hands

From the Canadian Jewish News, Spring 2015 In a series of articles in the Canadian Jewish News about four decades ago, the late CJN columnist J. B. Salsberg reminisced with great affection about the “Apter Shteeble” in downtown Toronto that he had frequented in his youth during the First World War. The Apter Society —…

Benjamin Brown: Restoring an architect’s legacy 

From Canadian Jewish News, April 2015 Toronto architect Benjamin Brown (1890-1974) designed many elegant edifices across the city, including the Balfour and Tower Buildings on Spadina Avenue, the former Primrose Club on Willcocks Avenue, the former Beth Jacob Synagogue on Henry Street, the Hermant Building (eastern tower and annex) in Dundas Square, and scores of…