When I take a break from writing about Toronto history, I write about Affinity. Now available: The Expert Guide to Affinity by Canva 3.0 - learn how to create books, magazines, newspapers, reports and more. Download the PDF free! mikeloader.ca/2025/12/21/e...

Today is the 149th anniversary of the opening of Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. Postcard c.1903 by Galbraith Photo Co., courtesy Toronto Public Library. #MountPleasantCemetery

On this day in 1912, 700 members of the 48th Highlanders were returning to Toronto from a training exercise in Milton when their CPR train slammed into a Detroit Flyer passenger train pulling out of the Streetsville Junction. Privates Mac Murdock and John Bannatyne were killed instantly... [1/2]

While locating the unmarked grave of Reason Williams in the Toronto Necropolis, we found this antique cap gun, likely lost by Cabbagetown children playing Cops and Robbers between the headstones many years ago. We left it where we found it for somebody else to discover someday.

Mausoleum Row in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in the 1920s before the trees grew. The tall one, third from the left, is the Baillie/Just mausoleum. Neither the man it was built for or the man who bought it are interred in it. It was built for Frank Wilton Baillie who died in 1921 but he was reinterred...

John Wesley immigrated from England to the Town of York (Toronto) where he took over the Neptune Inn on New Street, now known as Jarvis. His wife Elizabeth died during childbirth at age 36 and he died five years later at age 33 from typhus fever. They were buried in Toronto’s Potter’s Field and...

The Mausoleum and Crematorium in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery was designed by Darling & Pearson and its main chapel is named for Thomas Carfrae who led the creation of Potter’s Field in 1826. It is home to 17 stunning stained glass windows. #stainedglass #stainedglasswindow

The Canadian Bank of Commerce building at 25 King Street West in Toronto has a 32nd-floor observation deck which is closed to the public so this is an uncommon view. Each side features four 24-foot heads for Courage, Observation, Foresight, and Enterprise. Photo ©2016 by Michael Leland.

The inscription on Eliza Crawford’s marker reads “This small tribute of respect was erected by her master in testimony of her worth”. Eliza was born in Hull, England and died in Toronto of liver disease at age 32. She was buried in Potter’s Field...

Reason and Rebecca Williams’ daughter Henrietta didn’t survive the day and they buried her in Toronto’s Potter’s Field in 1836. Her marker and remains were moved to Mount Pleasant Cemetery in 1875. Reason was an African American blacksmith who’d come to Toronto from New Jersey in 1825. About 1852...

On July 24, 1892, Jane Lowrie Doran became the first person to die on the grounds of Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. She was being treated in the nearby Deer Park Sanatorium on Heath Street when she left the building while it was still dark, crossed into the cemetery, and drowned in the pond.

John Bannerman was born c.1786 in Kildonan in the Scottish Highlands. He served in the Army and was wounded in the Battle of Toulouse in 1814 during the Napoleonic Wars. He was discharged in 1815, married, and immigrated to Toronto a few years later.

On this day in 1970, all 109 people on board Air Canada flight 621 from Montreal to Toronto died when it crashed in a field in what is now Brampton. The Douglas Super DC-8 was half full because it was to to pick up passengers in Toronto before continuing to Los Angeles. #onthisday #thisdayinhistory

Alexander Rogers mausoleum stained glass window depicting Jesus helping Peter while walking on water in the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 14:31) Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto #stainedglass #stainedglasswindow

John Ross Robertson donated the large Freemasons lot in Toronto’s Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The monument was dedicated in front of 2,600 onlookers on June 24, 1893, the feast of St. John the Baptist who is important in the Masonic Rite. #todayinhistory #onthisday

Today in 1941, instructor Finn Kjos and student Tron Harsvik took off from Toronto harbour in a Northrop N-3PB Nomad floatplane like this one and clipped the rigging of the ferry Sam McBride, killing the Norwegian military pilots. #todayinhistory

William Fitch died in 1885 at the Battle of Batôche and his funeral procession was a mile long. His monument by F.B. Gullett & Sons includes a life-sized bronze bust and was at the centre of a circle in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

1913 ad for the Strath Gowan development on property south of Lawrence Park owned at one time by Jesse Ketchum and last farmed by Nicholas Garland, with a 1911 photo. Ad from The Globe, 17 Apr 1913, and photo courtesy Toronto Public Library.

In 1849 at age 20, Harvey Prentice Dwight became Toronto's only telegraph operator. He rose to president of the Great North Western Telegraph Company and connected Canada with tens of thousands of miles of wire. Harvey was the father of Canadian telegraphy and is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

The Mausoleum and Crematorium in Mount Pleasant Cemetery opened in 1920 and is home to 17 stunning stained glass windows, as well as the final resting place of WWI flying ace Billy Barker and Titanic survivor Mary Fortune. #stainedglass #stainedglasswindow

The leaf-covered Pergola & Art Room for the comfort of female shoppers at the W.A. Murray & Company store (17-31 King Street East), postcard 1906.

On this day in 1940, James Franceschini was arrested and interned as a threat to Canada because he’d been born in Italy. He had arrived in Toronto as a penniless teenager, worked in construction, and became Canada’s largest road contractor.

Amelia Wilkinson was born in England and married to a saddler named Miles. She died in Toronto in 1847 at age 40 and was buried in Toronto's Potter’s Field. Her remains and marker were moved to Mount Pleasant Cemetery in 1875. The cemetery does a great job of maintaining this rare intact slab.

On this day in 1866, Fenian invaders from the United States fought Canadian defenders at the Battle of Ridgeway near Fort Erie. Nine soldiers from the Queen’s Own Rifles of Toronto were killed in action or died of wounds, and 21 others were wounded.

Perry Doolittle (1861-1933) built his first boneshaker bicycle based only on a photo at age 17. He became a doctor and in 1925 he was the first person to drive across Canada from Halifax to Vancouver. He is regarded as the father of the Trans-Canada Highway.

On this day in 1914, the RMS Empress of Ireland sank near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River with the loss of 1,012 lives, including 167 Salvation Army members. This photo is of the 1929 service at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Source: City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1266, Item 16728. #onthisday

I donated these large silk maps of Southeast Asia to the Toronto Reference Library and you can view high res versions by visiting the TRL map collection or digital archive. They were issued to WW2 RAF pilots in case they were shot down so they could find their way back to Allied lines.

The John Catto & Son dry goods store whose motto was Quality Before Quantity, 57-61 King Street East, photo circa 1912-1920 (source: @torontoarchives.bsky.social, Fonds 1568, Item 275)

The modest white bronze (zinc) memorial for Beresford Crawford, a druggist who died in 1884 at age 23 from consumption (tuberculosis). His two sons also died from consumption in their 20s. Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto. #whitebronze #whitebronzegravestone

Charles Blackwell mausoleum window illustrating Revelation 22:4, “They shall see His face”. Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto #stainedglass #stainedglasswindow

A Better Brush Lightens Labor! Ad for the Boeckh Bros. Company Ltd., The Globe, May 30, 1917

Henry Spinney died of inflammation in 1851 at age 26. He was buried in Toronto's Potter’s Field and his marker and remains were moved to Mount Pleasant Cemetery in 1875. A team from the OGS Toronto Branch @tofamilyhistory.bsky.social uncovered his marker in 2024 with the help of the cemetery.

George Albertus Cox mausoleum window illustrating the Song of Solomon “Until the day break and the shadows flee away”. Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto #stainedglass #stainedglasswindow

Richard Sugden Williams angels 2006 vs. 2012 - the original angel was replaced due to significant damage and although the new one wasn't carved by hand, she is holding a fiddle because the Williams store was at "Ye Sign of the Big Fiddle". Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto

Guide to the City of Toronto Presented by the Permanent Exhibition of Manufacturers, Nicholls & Howland 1888, front and back covers. Source: Toronto Public Library

Jacob New mausoleum's stained glass window depicting an angel in Jesus’ empty tomb, Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto #stainedglass #stainedglasswindow

"Killed by an Electric Car" in 1894. The Toronto Street Railway converted from horse-drawn to electric streetcars between 1892 and 1894.

Sometimes corporate histories can be confused. The Canada Malting Company was incorporated in July 1900 with Wilmot Deloui Matthews as president, not in 1902 as shown in its current logo. Sources: The Toronto Daily Star, The Globe, and Might's 1901 Toronto directory

This popular inscription in Gaelic on the Vair/Cameron stone in Mount Pleasant Cemetery means "You who pass by my gravestone, look behind you. You are young and strong today. I was like that yesterday." Even the names on this side of the stone are written in Gaelic.

Stained glass window in the Robert Emmet Kelly mausoleum, Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto #stainedglass #stainedglasswindow

On this day in 1882, a fire broke out on the SS Manitoulin en route from Owen Sound to Manitoulin Island. The captain beached the ship which saved many lives but 20-25 people died. #todayinhistory ontariomarineheritagecommittee.ca/wp-content/u...

The angel for Marion Martin née Maltman, the first new* burial in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto in 1876. Marion was originally buried in Plot P but was moved 15 years later to this larger lot in Plot V. *The remains of thousands of others had already been reinterred from Potter's Field.

In 2023 with the help of Mount Pleasant Cemetery, a @tofamilyhistory.bsky.social team uncovered the badly damaged marker of William Gordon and Annie Bell who died two days apart from cholera in 1849. William was Captain of the steamer "City of Toronto" of the Royal Mail Line.

Downy Woodpecker in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto - photo taken in 2020

“Victory” stained glass window in the Timothy Eaton mausoleum, Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto #stainedglass #stainedglasswindow

For anyone who was following the C18th French gravestone adventure last night, I've just finished a blog post about the discussion because there is no room in my guidebook for it all!! Please enjoy! #archaeology #gravestone #nfld spadeandthegrave.com/2025/05/13/s...

5,691 burials were recorded in the Potter’s Field ledger but not all burials were recorded. We know of 7 who were missed because their markers were moved with their remains to Mount Pleasant Cemetery in 1875, including Sarah Thomas née Hamlin and her infant son.

Robert Bestard (1833-1914) was a saddler and harness maker on the other side of Yonge Street from Joseph Shepard’s general store and his headstone in Mount Pleasant Cemetery features a saddle icon

The original 1876 Receiving Vault at Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery, located opposite the original entrance and built into the hill in Plot U. Gothic style design, columns of Bay of Fundy granite, and capable of holding 300 coffins through the winter months until the ground softened.

Cooper's hawk at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto (photos taken in 2021)