History
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Good reads: winter issue of Fort York’s free newsletter, Fife and Drum, is out
The December issue of the Friends of Fort York’s quarterly newsletter, Fife and Drum was released just before the new year. The articles include: An...
By Shawn Micallef -
Book Review: Thinking about Yonge-Dundas Square
2013 is not only the 10th anniversary of Spacing, but also the 10th anniversary of Yonge-Dundas Square. The two anniversaries are related — in the first...
By Dylan Reid -
IN THIS ISSUE: The future shoreline of Toronto
EDITOR’S NOTE: Even before the 10th anniversary hit newsstands, one of the illustrations inside the issue had gone viral. Mathew Borrett’s...
By Mathew Borrett -
Toronto in 1851 — a snapshot of the booming city at the dawn of a new age
In 1851, the year this painting was painted, Toronto was beginning to boom. It had been less than 60 years since the first British soldiers showed up to...
By Adam Bunch -
The Torontonian roots of Doctor Who — the Canadian behind the legendary TV show
Doctor Who turned 50 years old over the weekend. The Guinness Book of World Records calls it the most successful science-fiction series of all-time...
By Adam Bunch -
A.Y. Jackson goes to war — the Group of Seven on the Western Front
“What war?” In the summer of 1914, A.Y. Jackson was far from home, high among the peaks of the Rocky Mountains. He was there to paint. This...
By Adam Bunch -
Crowdfunding Queerstory — a free app that will tell Toronto’s LGBTQ history
A new project started by Year Zero One YZO, some of the folks behind the award-winning TXTilecity project (stories about Toronto’s textile heritage...
By Shawn Micallef -
The ghost of Christie Mansion — the grisly story of a Toronto cookie baron’s secret mistress
Mr. Christie first came to Toronto in 1848. He was still a teenager back then, but he had already spent a few years as an apprentice to a baker back home...
By Adam Bunch -
Toronto celebrates the false end of the Great Boer War — the anatomy of a photo from 1901
It’s the summer of 1901 and we’re looking east down King Street from the intersection at Yonge. (You can see what the same view looks like...
By Adam Bunch -
Icon and architecture in the land of Mirvish + Gehry
In response to Christopher Hume’s piece on Jennifer Keesmaat’s concerns over the proposed Mirvish+Gehry development, I would like to raise a few concerns...
By Kristen Gagnon -
Is this the oldest catch basin grate in the city?
Down at Fort York, amongst the War of 1812 buildings and the construction site of the new visitors centre, lies a grate for a catch basin that may be the...
By Matthew Blackett -
Star Trek and Toronto City Hall
Toronto has made an appearance in the Star Trek universe twice and both times it’s been thanks to Nathan Phillips Square. When our new City Hall...
By Adam Bunch