By Chris Bateman
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The half-built relics of nixed Toronto skyscrapers
In 1914, John Eaton, the third son of retail magnate Timothy Eaton, began preparing plans for a massive expansion of his family’s empire. Aged 38...
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A history of developers and holdouts in Toronto
When the Imperial Oil company began assembling land for its new executive offices on St. Clair Ave. W. in 1952, it didn’t reckon on tangling with...
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How Exhibition Place got the retro Dufferin Gate
You can tell a lot about a place by how it greets its visitors. The goofy lights at Honest Ed’s tell customers “there’s no place like...
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The modernist Bloor-Danforth line at 50
The Bloor-Danforth line turned 50 today. Five decades ago, on February 25, 1966, the first section of Toronto’s first east-west subway opened...
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The independent Toronto Republic of Rathnelly
To celebrate the Centennial, on Saturday, June 10, 1967, the roughly 400 residents of Rathnelly Ave. and several nearby streets decided to quit Toronto...
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Pour one out for the Toronto Coach Terminal
The Toronto Coach Terminal is a sorry sight. Marooned a significant distance from the city’s main railway station, disconnected from other forms of...
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The great Stanley Cup thefts of 1970
The last person to lift the Stanley Cup in Toronto was an unknown thief who swiped the trophy from the Sports Hall of Fame in December, 1970. Though...
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Remembering the ill-fated CN Turbo train
On December 10, 1968, a sleek new locomotive glided out from the sooty train shed at Toronto’s Union Station. Streamlined and silver with a bright...
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How the TTC lost and found its subway style
Not many people could have known that behind the advertising billboards on the platform of College station was something no-one had seen for more than...
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The cold war siren system Toronto never used
At Dundas West and Shaw, near Trinity-Bellwoods Park, there’s a conspicuous piece of Canada’s Cold War history. On top of a 15-metre pole sits...
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The killing of Aune Newell
She was found beneath a coat hidden under dogwood and sweet clover. Toronto parks department employee Harry Lemon saw her shoe first, carelessly discarded...
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5 subtle signs of lost rivers in Toronto
Like many North American cities, the street grid in downtown Toronto is (for the most part) rigidly geometric. Where there’s an unexpected deviation...