History
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Two Toronto nurses and one of the most terrible nights of the First World War
One dark night in the summer of 1918, the HMHS Llandovery Castle was steaming through the waters of the North Atlantic. She was far off the southern tip...
By Adam Bunch -
How Tomlin’s Creek was lost, found, and lost again
There’s ancient Lake Iroquois sand on Glen Davis Crescent near Kingston Rd. and Woodbine Ave., you just have to look closely to see it. A clue to...
By Chris Bateman -
The first (almost) Canadian President
There’s a small town on the very western edge of England, not far from the River Severn, which marks the border with Wales. It’s called Thornbury. It’s a...
By Adam Bunch -
Lake Ontario is a Sea
A few weeks ago I biked over to The Guild park. Known for its collection of modern Toronto “ruins”, a bonus to visiting the park is its unobstructed view...
By Daniel Rotsztain -
How the CN Tower killed Toronto’s rooftop lookouts
There was a time when observation decks were all the rage in Toronto. The designers and developers of tall buildings like TD Centre, Commerce Court, and...
By Chris Bateman -
A.Y. Jackson paints for his life
It was 1916. The First World War was in full swing. And while men were dying in the trenches all around him, A.Y. Jackson was about to save his own life...
By Adam Bunch -
In memory of the St. Lawrence Market canopy
In 2012, National Geographic ranked the St. Lawrence Market the best in the world. The vendors on both sides of Front Street were lauded for the quality...
By Chris Bateman -
William Lyon Mackenzie’s mission to London
It was 1832. William Lyon Mackenzie was fed up. He’d spent the last decade fighting for democratic reform in Upper Canada. He’d founded a...
By Adam Bunch -
A guide to recognizing Toronto’s five saints
Old Toronto was a city of saints. Their names were stitched into the fabric of the community by the first settlers from the British Isles, starting in the...
By Chris Bateman -
Billy Bishop and the rich and famous
One spring day in 1916, Billy Bishop woke up in the hospital. He was in London, England. Today, the building overlooking Bryanston Square is a prep...
By Adam Bunch -
Get Fortified: Grand opening of the Fort York Visitor Centre + fall 2014 issue of Fife and Drum
Lots of Fort York news this week. First, the long-awaited visitors centre opens this Friday Sept 19 at 1:30PM. This is followed by a weekend of free...
By Shawn Micallef -
Mary Pickford’s nightmare honeymoon
It was 1920. Mary Pickford was the most famous woman in the world. She’d been born in Toronto in the late 1800s: on University Avenue — where Sick...
By Adam Bunch