History
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The Don Mills Safety Village taught kids to drive
1962 was a rough year for kids. In the 12 months between January and December, 20 young people under the age of 14 were killed on Toronto’s streets...
By Chris Bateman -
From folk singers to folklore, 1960s Yorkville lingers
With Canadian Music Week taking place just in clubs throughout Toronto, the historic Masonic Temple concert hall on Yonge Street — which has hosted the...
By Kieran Delamont -
5 Things to know about Heritage Toronto Awards
Nominations are now open for the 2016 Heritage Toronto Awards. Michael Kushnir, development and marketing coordinator for Heritage Toronto, discusses the...
By Kieran Delamont -
Book Review – How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City
Walking was the primary way that people got around cities from the time cities first emerged until the 20th century. But, argues Joan DeJean in her book...
By Dylan Reid -
The “great monster of death” arrives in Toronto
Lenton Williams worked in the printing department at Eaton’s department store. On the evening of June 14, 1905, the 60-year-old was jogging south along...
By Chris Bateman -
When Haileybury burned, Toronto sent streetcars
The town of Haileybury sits on the shore of Lake Timiskaming, a serpentine body of water on the northern reaches of the Ottawa River that marks the border...
By Chris Bateman -
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 -
Toronto’s Depression-era beauty queen baseball star
Women have been playing baseball for as long as anyone can remember. And for much of that time, they’ve been playing despite the men who’ve...
By Adam Bunch -
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 -
Fife and Drum: The day the fort was saved from streetcars
The latest edition of Fife and Drum, the quarterly newsletter produced by the Friends of Fort York, was recently released. As always it’s filled with...
By Shawn Micallef -
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