As “John Bull” he celebrated the inauguration of the Chinese Republic Guards Band Played Him Home Funeral of Well-Known merchant was a remarkable street scene yesterday — He was a patriot and a Christian — a wagon load of flowers ◊ Note: This article describes the funeral of Toronto businessman Ing Quong and is presented in…
From the Toronto Star Weekly, July 5, 1913 One popular fellow-singer proposed a jaunt to the Eastern States — Stopped on Yonge Street — How a pretty pianist saved herself from pursuer — jabbed him with hatpin If a girl in any vocation in Toronto would be thought safe from molestation you naturally would presume…
A WONDER WOMAN AT MASSEY HALL Helen Keller Spoke to Large Audience Who Were Spellbound. HER FAMOUS TEACHER Mrs. Macey Taught Blind, Deaf Mute to Speak and Hear. From the Toronto Star Weekly, January 1914 A magnificent audience almost filled Massey Hall last night, attracted by the appearance of Helen Keller and her almost as…
From the Toronto Star, 1900 Character Sketches Among the Throngs Who Travel Up and Down in the Big Departmental Stores of Toronto David Harum, who said, when striving with his rich friend, that many a wealthy man would duck his head instinctively at the cry, “beware bridge,” knew what he was talking about, for nearly…
A Little Panic at Yonge St. Crossing — Crowd Burst Around Behind One Train and Ran in Front of Another From the Toronto Star, 1910 Careless shunting almost caused a serious accident at the Yonge street crossing on Saturday night. The Chippewa came in about 10.30 with a crowd of passengers, anxious to get to…
Photostory From the Toronto Evening Telegram, June 1928 Old North Toronto landmark at southeast corner of Yonge and Davisville has been sold for $80,000 — may become site for an apartment house. The sale was made to a Toronto investor through Sam D. Boyd, Ltd., St. Clair and Yonge realty firm. ♦
From Toronto Evening Telegram, 1928 When King Street, from Yonge Street to the Market, was Toronto’s busiest shopping district, Heintzman’s piano factory was at number 117, just east of Church Street, opposite St. James Cathedral. This is a picture of the factory taken about 1880. “Ye Olde Firme” occupied these premises until removal to the…
From the Toronto Star Weekly, June 13, 1914 “It is a great mistake,” said a local pawnbroker, “to imagine that the pawnbroker deals only with the poverty-stricken classes. The pawnbroker in a big way of business could reveal, if he so chose, some very surprising secrets of the business he transacts with customers whom the…
The Ward Uncovered: The Archaeology of Everyday Life, edited by Holly Martelle, Michael McClelland, Tatum Taylor, and John Lorinc. (Coach House Books, 2018) In recent years the history of the old “Ward” neighbourhood of downtown Toronto has been reclaimed and remembered in books, museum exhibits, and, most significantly, a vast archaeological dig behind City Hall…
Toronto Architecture: A City Guide (McClelland & Stewart) From the Canadian Jewish News, February 2018 In 1985, when architectural journalist Patricia McHugh released the first edition of her encyclopedic Toronto Architecture: A City Guide, the old industrial and residential neighbourhoods near the downtown core were still in decline, and, although the city was experiencing a…
