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Gas lights and radiant stars in Toronto’s old Grand Opera House

THIS story, highlighting Toronto’s fabled old Grand Opera House on Adelaide Street, has been reprinted from the Toronto Telegram of 1924. * * * Glamor and Magic of the Great Old Days in Toronto, when Footlights Flickered While Real Brilliance Held the Stage A THEATRICAL SERIES Reminiscences of Thos. H. Scott, Sr., Who Was for…

A ‘gipsy’ encampment near Davisville (1911)

Note: The following article, which appeared in the Toronto Star Weekly of January 28, 1911, describes a so-called “gipsy” encampment of a century ago in the woods to the east of the Toronto neighbourhood of Davisville and Eglinton. The people then commonly described as “gypsies” are today referred to as “Roma.” * * * A…

Magistrate Jacob Cohen profiled in Globe, 1910

THE following feature profile of Jacob Cohen, a retired Toronto businessman who became Toronto’s first Jewish justice of the peace in 1907, appeared in the Toronto Globe of March 12, 1910. * * * SNUGLY settled in the heart of Toronto reposes a little Hebrew nation sixteen thousand strong and growing rapidly. It has its…

News flash: 102 violent deaths in Toronto in 1911

THE following article, which appeared in the Toronto Star of January 8, 1912, summed up the various violent calamities that took the souls of 102 Torontonians during the past year of 1911. The article is reprinted in its entirety: 102 VIOLENT DEATHS IN TORONTO IN 1911 Suicides and Drownings Numbered 26 and 25 Respectively —…

Remembering the Temple Building on old Bay Street

THIS article, by an unknown writer, is reprinted from the Toronto Telegram of July 7, 1928, along with the photo, restored from the microfilm. The photo at bottom, with an earlier view of “Old Bay Street,” has been added.   DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN . . . the Temple Building used to loom up on the west…

Snapshot of Jewish education in Toronto, 1917

From the Toronto Daily Star, August 11, 1917 Toronto Jews Foster the Higher Education Schools Many, and No One Is Neglected Among the City’s 35,000 Hebrews AND LIBRARIES TOO Hebrew and Yiddish Taught, and a Yiddish Paper is Published Although the Jewish population in Toronto forms but one-sixteenth part of the entire city’s population, there…

Obit: Rabbi Moses B. Clavir (1857-1928)

From a Toronto newspaper, October 27, 1928. Well-known Rabbi Dead Tribute paid by 3,000 at funeral of rabbi Nearly 3,000 persons crowded in and around McCaul Street Synagogue yesterday to attend the funeral services for Rabbi Moses B. Clavir, acclaimed one of the most erudite general scholars and greatest authorities on the Talmud on this…

Great new structures pierce Toronto’s skyline (1928)

THE Toronto Telegram reported on Friday June 1, 1928 the construction of these six buildings that would considerably alter Toronto’s skyline. Here is the caption information to this large illustration: * * * Great New Structures Pierce Toronto’s Sky Line Cost Millions to Construct Never in the history of Toronto has there been any year…

1911 profile of Mrs. Jacobs, wife of Holy Blossom rabbi

Note: The following article, which appeared in the Toronto Star Weekly of April 15, 1911, highlights the various activities of Mrs. Jacobs, wife of the Rabbi Solomon Jacobs of the city’s most prominent Jewish congregation, Holy Blossom, then situated at 97 Bond Street.  * * *  Mrs. Jacobs, Leader Among Jewish Women, and Working Girls’…

Sammy Lichtman profiled in Toronto Star, 1913

The following is a newspaper profile of newspaper vendor Sammy Lichtman that appeared in the Toronto Star on July 31, 1913 under the heading “Sammy Lichtman is Afraid to Go Home to Austria.” Lichtman, who was then 25 years old, went on to become a major newspaper distributor who built up a chain of newspaper stores.…