Merriam-Webster defines “clown” as “a fool, jester, or comedian in an entertainment (as a play); specifically: A grotesquely dressed comedy performer in a circus.” Lately, the grotesque element seems to be winning over the comedic one, with reports of scary clown hysteria sweeping the world, and a frightening orange-faced one running for the White House. […]
In spring of 1966, the once thriving commercial strip along the western portion of Danforth Avenue appeared to be struggling. “The area, universally referred to as ‘The Danforth,’ was the classic Canadian shopping strip of the Nineteen Forties and early Fifties,” reported the Globe and Mail that April. “[The district featured] local merchants in small […]
“In the sight of the people of Toronto the dream of one thousand years came true last night,” wrote the Toronto Telegram on July 14, 1910. “Rising from the crowd like a creature of life and being, a monoplane circled above over the heads of the crowd, then departed southward and westward, sailing away like […]
Great rivalries: The Maple Leafs and Canadiens, the Blue Jays and Orioles, and Scarborough and Indianapolis? Despite their geographic and cultural differences, starting in 1973 close to 1,000 athletes from the borough of Scarborough and the U.S. city of Indianapolis participated in a recurring amateur sporting event in the name of friendship and goodwill.
Toronto sports fans needed a champion in 1976. The Argonauts hadn’t hoisted the Grey Cup since 1952. The Maple Leafs were nine years into their Stanley Cup drought. The Toros had fled to the hockey hotbed of Birmingham, Alabama. The Blue Jays were preparing to launch their first season, so who knew how long it […]
This post originally appeared on September 15, 2012. In 1878, the federal government passed the Canada Temperance Act, drafted by Liberal Senator Richard William Scott. Sometimes known as the Scott Act, this legislation granted individual municipalities the right to put alcohol sale to a plebiscite, and to enforce a ban on its sale should the […]
This Historicist installment originally appeared on September 5, 2009. What were the ingredients needed to produce a Labour Day weekend in Toronto 87 years ago? A visit to the CNE? Check. Tourists crowding local highways? Check. A day at a beach? Check. Union members proudly marching in a parade wearing white suits and straw hats? […]
There’s an old Catholic saying: Christ called us to the Kingdom. We answered with … the Church! Not every public project turns out quite the way that it is planned. It’s hard to understand—at a distance of half a century—just how optimistic and even joyous a cocoon of rhetoric encased the Don Valley Parkway at […]
While it only lasted six years, the Telegraph filled an important role in shaping one of Toronto’s most powerful newspaper publishers. The experience taught John Ross Robertson the pitfalls of being caught up in party politics, and provided a dry run for the eventual success of the Telegram. Born in Toronto in 1841, Robertson’s passion […]
This Historicist installment originally appeared on September 7, 2013. Ned Hanlan, the world’s single-sculls rowing champion from 1880 to 1884, was this country’s “first national sporting hero,” in the estimation of the Montreal Gazette. At a time when singles rowing was perhaps the world’s most popular sport—drawing upwards of 100,000 spectators when top racers squared […]
The 1927 Canadian National Exhibition broke its attendance record by nearly 300,000 visitors. In addition to the varied entertainments and usual commercial exhibits, highlights included an appearance by the Prince of Wales (with his younger brother, George), for the official opening of the Exhibition grounds’ new landmark, the Princes’ Gates. Another notable draw that year […]
George Orton probably never knew he won Canada’s first Olympic gold medal. The talented, record-setting Ontario-born runner claimed first place in the 3,000-metre steeplechase at the 1900 Paris Games. Later the same day, he took third in the 400-metre men’s hurdles. Both feats were achieved as an American. Orton was competing on the United States […]
“Everybody is sick of York. But no matter, the Lady likes the place and therefore everyone else must.” – Hannah Jarvis The lady to whom Mrs. Jarvis, the wife of William Jarvis, was referring was Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, the eponym of the annual Ontario holiday that takes place the […]
Depending on your disposition, “our cops are tops” is either a rallying cry that honours the dedication and sacrifices made by the city’s law enforcement officials and supports their law-and-order agenda, or a trite expression trotted out whenever police morale is low or conservative-leaning publications require a catchy headline. The expression has been part of […]
George A. Barber came to Upper Canada from England in the 1820s to assume a teaching position at the Home District Grammar School in the town of York. When Upper Canada College was formally established a few years later, in 1829, Barber was recruited as one of the school’s first faculty members, teaching writing and […]
20-year-old Ruth Taylor was a stenographer in the transfer department of the Toronto General Trusts, an insurance firm in the heart of downtown. On November 4, 1935, she was working late into the night with a colleague, Mrs. Melville. A short distance away at Maple Leaf Gardens two teams of NHLers were playing a pre-season […]
John R. Robinson would have been well suited to the internet age. The style “Black Jack” employed editing the Telegram between the Victorian era and the Roaring Twenties easily fits Twitter and other social media platforms—short, snappy, obsessed with local politics, and filled with bile and venom. His outbursts knew few grey areas, an attribute […]
“Meet me under the clock”—for several decades, it was the slogan of the St. Charles Tavern. While it began in the early 1950s as a cocktail lounge owned by a prominent local horse breeder, the St. Charles gradually became one of the city’s most prominent gay bars, thanks to a combination of location and unintended […]
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