History
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The Canadian stop on the London Underground
This is Canada Water Station. It’s a stop on the London Underground. It’s right near the River Thames, in the middle of the city, just a...
By Adam Bunch -
A proud history of sidewalk superintendents in Toronto
Between 1931 and 1939, the construction at Rockefeller Center in New York City was a magnet for curious onlookers. America was mired in the depths of the...
By Chris Bateman -
Toronto’s founding dog — and how he almost got eaten
It was the summer of 1793. The summer our city was founded. On an early Tuesday morning, as the late July sun rose above Lake Ontario, a British warship...
By Adam Bunch -
First Canadian Place: 40 years on top in Toronto
First Canadian Place has been the tallest skyscraper in Canada for four decades now. At 298.1 metres from sidewalk to rooftop, the brilliant white tower...
By Chris Bateman -
Remembering the Great Toronto Fire of 1904
It was a miserably cold night, with bitter gusts of wind and a light snow even though it was the middle of April. And about an hour after sunset, things...
By Adam Bunch -
Good Reads: Spring 2015 Edition of Fort York’s newsletter Fife & Drum
The spring edition of the Friends of Fort York’s quarterly newsletter, Fife and Drum was released recently. Loads of maps and pictures in this issue, and...
By Shawn Micallef -
The true story of Toronto’s island ghost
They say that on some dark nights, as an eerie mist creeps over the Toronto islands, you can still hear him moaning somewhere in the distance. On others...
By Adam Bunch -
How Toronto learned to love the patio
For all the time Torontonians will spend sipping lager and pinot on patios this summer, it would be easy to conclude that the people of this city have...
By Chris Bateman -
How Toronto invented the PC, then forgot about it
The Royal York Hotel, September 25, 1973. Computer experts Mers Kutt, Gordon Ramer, Ted Edwards, and Reg Rea are standing around a small machine about the...
By Chris Bateman -
An illustrated history of baseball in Toronto
No one knows exactly when baseball was born. There’s a story about an American war hero, Abner Doubleday, inventing the game in the 1830s, but...
By Adam Bunch -
Stadia mania: Toronto’s six-decade quest for a civic stadium
The Stadocentre, Metrodome, Astrodome, and Tower Dome: Toronto historically has had no lack of imagination when it comes to dreaming up gleaming...
By Chris Bateman -
The bloody Burlington Races and the war for Lake Ontario
They appeared out of the darkness, looming above the waves. Ten warships sailing across Lake Ontario, far out in the water south of Toronto. They were...
By Adam Bunch