History
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The slow and deadly evolution of Toronto’s crosswalks
Crossing the street in Toronto has been a potentially deadly challenge for almost a century. Until the 1950s, when the number of automobiles dramatically...
By Chris Bateman -
The giant prehistoric beavers of the Don Valley Brick Works
Meet the giant beaver. It’s one of the largest rodents to have ever walked the earth: as much as seven feet long and more than 200 pounds. So, like, the...
By Adam Bunch -
Good Reads: Special Edition of Fort York’s newsletter Fife & Drum
A special edition of the Friends of Fort York’s quarterly newsletter, Fife and Drum was released recently to celebrate the opening of the new visitor...
By Shawn Micallef -
There are 100 graves in the parking lot of this mall
The 100 or so people interred at Christie’s Methodist Cemetery near Warden and Finch never expected they would spend a portion of eternity buried...
By Chris Bateman -
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