Some thirty years ago, writer Howard Engel gave the world Benny Cooperman, a new made-in-Canada literary detective whom the Globe and Mail and others would acknowledge as “the country’s first truly Canadian detective hero.” According to Cynthia Good, former senior editor at Penguin, Engel’s pioneering Canadian-Jewish detective opened the floodgates for scores of other Canadian…
Tag: toronto
All in a day’s work: Census takers in ‘the Ward’
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“The Lot of the Census Taker in the Ward is Anything But an Easy One” is the title of the first story; its subtitle is “The Foreigners There Have No Idea of the Months of the Year, and It Takes a Long Time to Convince Them That the Information Is Not for the Tax Collector.”…
A Toronto baseball team from 1880
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From the Toronto Evening Telegram, April 1919 Thirty-nine years ago up on the the old grounds in Queen’s Park, near where now stand the Parliament Buildings, the Clipper Baseball Club performed. That was in 1880, a long time ago, it is true, but not too long for even some of the present day “regulars” to…
Ing Quong, Chinese magnate, in his last procession (1912)
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As “John Bull” he celebrated the inauguration of the Chinese Republic Guards Band Played Him Home Funeral of Well-Known merchant was a remarkable street scene yesterday — He was a patriot and a Christian — a wagon load of flowers ◊ Note: This article describes the funeral of Toronto businessman Ing Quong and is presented in…
“Mashers I Have Met” — Toronto Girl Tells All (1913)
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From the Toronto Star Weekly, July 5, 1913 One popular fellow-singer proposed a jaunt to the Eastern States — Stopped on Yonge Street — How a pretty pianist saved herself from pursuer — jabbed him with hatpin If a girl in any vocation in Toronto would be thought safe from molestation you naturally would presume…
Helen Keller at Massey Hall, 1914
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A WONDER WOMAN AT MASSEY HALL Helen Keller Spoke to Large Audience Who Were Spellbound. HER FAMOUS TEACHER Mrs. Macey Taught Blind, Deaf Mute to Speak and Hear. From the Toronto Star Weekly, January 1914 A magnificent audience almost filled Massey Hall last night, attracted by the appearance of Helen Keller and her almost as…
Ups & downs of a department store elevator (1900)
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From the Toronto Star, 1900 Character Sketches Among the Throngs Who Travel Up and Down in the Big Departmental Stores of Toronto David Harum, who said, when striving with his rich friend, that many a wealthy man would duck his head instinctively at the cry, “beware bridge,” knew what he was talking about, for nearly…
Panic at Yonge Street crossing (1910)
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A Little Panic at Yonge St. Crossing — Crowd Burst Around Behind One Train and Ran in Front of Another From the Toronto Star, 1910 Careless shunting almost caused a serious accident at the Yonge street crossing on Saturday night. The Chippewa came in about 10.30 with a crowd of passengers, anxious to get to…
Davisville hotel to disappear (1928)
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Photostory From the Toronto Evening Telegram, June 1928 Old North Toronto landmark at southeast corner of Yonge and Davisville has been sold for $80,000 — may become site for an apartment house. The sale was made to a Toronto investor through Sam D. Boyd, Ltd., St. Clair and Yonge realty firm. ♦
First Home of Heintzman Piano Factory
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From Toronto Evening Telegram, 1928 When King Street, from Yonge Street to the Market, was Toronto’s busiest shopping district, Heintzman’s piano factory was at number 117, just east of Church Street, opposite St. James Cathedral. This is a picture of the factory taken about 1880. “Ye Olde Firme” occupied these premises until removal to the…