Curiosities
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The curious origin of the original low-floor streetcar
Toronto is in the (unexpectedly slow) process of getting new low-floor streetcars. The goal of these new cars is accessibility — they can be used by...
By Dylan Reid -
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...
By Chris Bateman -
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...
By Chris Bateman -
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...
By Chris Bateman -
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...
By Chris Bateman -
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...
By Chris Bateman -
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...
By Chris Bateman -
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...
By Chris Bateman -
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...
By Chris Bateman -
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...
By Chris Bateman -
The mysterious case of the grave of Stella Vanzant
When little Stella Vanzant died of causes unknown some time in the early 1800s, her bereaved father interred the girl’s young body in a six by...
By Chris Bateman -
Happy birthday to the Toronto streetcar system
There are perhaps few things more symbolic of Toronto than its streetcars. For more than 150 years, surface rail has formed the backbone of the...
By Chris Bateman