1913-2010
Larger pic of last weeks ” The Skeleton of King and Bay“
Before and After will appear each Friday showcasing mixed Then and Nows by local artist and Toronto history enthusiast Alden Cudanin.
Toronto Archives, Series 372, s0372_ss0032_it0187
3 comments
Great one, Alden! 🙂
Nice, a different view of old city hall, also puts in perspective how old it is! I wonder what all the debris is by the kid?
Paul, you wondered what the debris is near the kid. The Ward was one of the worst imaginable slums in Canada from the mid 1800s to the 1930s. City Hall was built nearby in part to appropriate land and help develop the area. The Ward was where immigrants from Europe (many Irish and Jews) would end up upon arrival if they passed the medical examination or survived the quarantine “fever sheds” at the foot of Bathurst St. Here you would have several families under one roof, no running water, no sanitation… The department of public health documented the squalor there, which is when the old photo was taken (1913).