THE following feature profile of Jacob Cohen, a retired Toronto businessman who became Toronto’s first Jewish justice of the peace in 1907, appeared in the Toronto Globe of March 12, 1910. * * * SNUGLY settled in the heart of Toronto reposes a little Hebrew nation sixteen thousand strong and growing rapidly. It has its…
Tag: toronto
Policeman’s job not hazardous (1914)
by •
From the Toronto Star Weekly, March 1914 “When constabulary duty’s to be done, A policeman’s lot is not a happy one.” The risks which a policeman constantly encounters are varied and peculiar. In Toronto, within the last few days, two dastardly assaults have been committed on constables engaged in the performance of their duties. On the…
Betting on the Decisions in Toronto’s Police Court (1914)
by •
From the Toronto Star Weekly, February 21, 1914 Small Sums risked by Regulars in Public Seats By Leo Devaney Just the other day a man who obtained food from one of the free missions in the city of Toronto was arrested as he was about to enter a picture show. He appeared in the Police…
Canada’s 400th birthday — and Toronto at 100 (1934)
by •
From the Brisbane Courier Mail, May 26, 1934 CANADA is to be numbered among the new countries, yet it enters in July upon the 400th year of its history. On July 24, 1534, Jacques Cartier, mariner of St. Malo, in Brittany, set up a cross on the mainland of Canada at Gaspe, and took possession…
The new Arts & Letters Club opens, 1910
by •
The Arts and Letters Club will have unique quarters in the York County Building on Adelaide Street From The Star Weekly, August 1910 By Augustus Bridle Less than a year ago a well-known artist in Toronto, whose name is W. E. H. Macdonald, drew a simple picture of a Viking ship with full sails set…
Goel Tzedec opens on University Avenue, 1907
by •
From the Globe, February 4, 1907 Impressive Dedication Ceremonies Yesterday — Scrolls Removed in State to Their Resting Place in the Ark in Magnificent Meeting Place on University Avenue – Many Gentiles Join Their Hebrew Brethren in Scene of Rejoicing. The opening services at the magnificent new Jewish synagogue on University avenue near Queen street were…
Historic postal station on Yonge needs saving
by •
The federal government has plans to sell Postal Station K, the historic art deco building at 2384 Yonge Street, several blocks north of Eglinton, and local residents are up in arms at the thought that a condo developer may take over the property. “This building is of great historic significance, and also stands on the site of…
Sam Harris witnessed Toronto’s great fire of 1904
by •
Adapted from Canadian Jewish News, March 31, 1978 As a delicatessen delivery boy, Samuel Aaron Harris was standing on the bridge spanning the railway tracks at the foot of York Street, watching the flames consume the city of his birth. It was a spectacular sight for the sixteen-year-old boy. The blaze on April 19, 1904…
Some Early Toronto Film Pioneers
by •
From the Canadian Jewish News, May 4, 2006 Born in the East End of London, leading British cameraman Joe Rosenthal came to Canada about 1900 at the behest of the Canadian Pacific Railway to make Living Canada, a series of documentary films intended to stimulate immigration. The series was a popular success in Britain, and…
Imposing Their Will an ‘original, illuminating study’
by •
In Imposing Their Will: An Organizational History of Jewish Toronto, 1933-1948 (McGill-Queens), Toronto writer Jack Lipinsky presents an original and illuminating study of Toronto’s Jewish community and convincingly demonstrates that the community underwent a crucial maturation in the 15-year period under discussion. Similarly, in The Defining Decade: Identity, Politics, and The Canadian Jewish Community in…
