See map caption below by William D. Reid When Lord Durham, the Governor-General, refused to honor the contemplated autumn meet of the City of Toronto and York County Races of 1838 with his presence, the sponsors considered it advisable, for some unknown reason, to postpone the races altogether for the year. The author of the…
Castlefield was a grand residence north of Toronto built in 1835 by James Hervey Price (1797–1882), a prominent Canadian attorney and political figure. According to accounts, it was a handsome and imposing red-brick, neo-gothic mansion with four crenellated turrets on a long elm-lined drive which became Castlefield Avenue. The estate on which the mansion was…
THIS appraisal of the lot of the colored population of Toronto in 1908 presents a fairly positive and upbeat portrait, but it is clear nonetheless that the “negro” of a century ago faced genuine discrimination in this city, with many doors closed in his face. The era was one in which the vast British-descended Anglo-Saxon…
From The Toronto Star Weekly, May 16, 1914 That well-known Toronto residence occupying the northeasterly corner of Jarvis street and Wellesley crescent, and formerly occupled by Mrs. Treble-Massey, was recently sold to Thos. W. Watkins, long prominent in Hamilton departmental store connections. The large structure and its beautiful grounds went for a good round sum,…
From the Toronto Telegram, Sept. 1 1931 As it looks today:
In Devil in the White City, a riveting page-turner that reads like a murder mystery thriller, Erik Larson resurrects the legend of a forgotten American psychopathic mass murderer, the cold-blooded H. H. Holmes, and overlays it atop the equally dusty story of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, one of the most impressive achievements of…
From the Globe, October 27, 1902 A Centre of History: Frank Yeigh Conducts a Farewell Pilgrimage through old Parliament Buildings A farewell tour of inspection of the old Parliament buildings, now in process of dissolution, was paid by the Canadian Club on Saturday afternoon under the guidance of Mr. Frank Yeigh. Probably 400 persons, including many…
From The City Magazine (Toronto Star), 1978 Nat Taylor emits a throaty laugh and his eyes twinkle when he is asked about his latest venture, a mammoth, 18-theatre cinema complex now under construction in the Eaton Centre. When completed in January, the complex will boast three times as many screens as any other Toronto movie…
Notorious Criminals Whom the Detectives Have Arrested at the Request of Distant Authorities From the Toronto Star, December 5, 1903 The work of the Toronto police authorities is not confined to the depredations committed within the city limits. A generous portion of their work consists in ferreting out and apprehending criminals who have committed offences…
From The Globe & Mail I am one of this city’s great silent army of working poor, and so my name is Legion. I am just one of the masses, evidently, poor and huddled, yearning to breath free; one of the anonymous faces that wash up in the courtrooms of Old City Hall each morning,…
