Toronto Hydro set up stores like this one throughout Toronto in the early days of electrification in an effort to popularize electrification in the City of Toronto. Of course, they also made a tidy profit on appliance sales.

From the Hudson’s Bay Company Collection — now being sold after HBC’s bankruptcy. I feel we should ask City of Toronto or the Toronto Public Library, or the AGO to acquire this painting and keep it public within the city it depicts.

After SCTV, Dave Thomas starred in a short-lived TV sci-fi spoof 'Rocket Boy.' Produced in Toronto by Nelvana and directed by John Blanchard (SCTV; Kids in the Hall), it co-starred John Candy & Ron James. It was re-cut into a TV movie in 1989, which you can see here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahMS...

Layers of the past at Gerrard and Logan

RIP Steve Leckie, the ground zero of Toronto punk youtu.be/2Y8rorqIggc

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.

Birds' eye view of the Princes' Gates in the 1950s: Exhibition Place, Shell Oil Tower and CNE Grandstand in view.

When you got lost inside Honest Ed's, these were basically waymarkers.

The thing about an event at the Ontario Legislature is once it ends the building is empty and you can kinda wander it. It’s basically the Overlook Hotel.

A selection of Toronto restaurants in 1989, published in Margaret MacKenzie's "The Toronto Guide" (1989). Peter Pan on Queen St. W. is one of the last still standing.

Canadian Bank of Commerce branch on the N.E. corner of St. Clair Ave. W. at Dufferin at the time of construction circa 1918.

Interested in presenting the 2025 Toronto History Lecture on August 5? We're still accepting proposals. What's your Toronto story? Get in touch before May 1: torontofamilyhistory.org/learn/toront...

167 years ago today, on April 13, 1858, a powerful storm severed the peninsula protecting Toronto’s harbour, creating the permanent eastern gap to the Toronto Islands. #OTD #onthisday #torontoislands #easterngap #1850s #history #torontohistory #toronto #canada #hopkindesign

Nathan Phillips' Hair (1948)

One of the oddest collaborations of Toronto talent was Doug Henning’s first big production as a magician-showman: “Spellbound” (1973) at the Royal Alex, starring Henning, produced by Ivan Reitman, co-starring Jennifer Dale, written by David Cronenberg, with music by Howard Shore.

For a fleeting moment in 1791, York Township was named Dublin Township. This means that the Town of York might have become the Town of Dublin. And the town-folk in 1834 might have chosen to keep that name. So, Toronto might actually have become Dublin, Ontario. Imagine that.

Oak Hall was a Victorian men’s clothing chain store from Hamilton. The Toronto location (115-121 King E.) was right across from St. James Cathedral – a handy landmark. The demolished site is now Toronto Sculpture Garden, behind which is Oak Hall Lane. You can see St. James through its empty space.

Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children ("Sick Kids") is 150 years old. Many Torontonians don't know that before it was on University Ave it was in College St building below. Opened as the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in 1891, designed by Darling & Curry. Now Cdn Blood Services.

In the 1950s, an owner of Toronto Macaroni Co. asked his wife, Rose Viggiani, to develop a tomato sauce to accompany the pasta they’d been producing since the 1930s. The result, Bravo, featured a likeness of Rose, as seen in this display from 1967. Bravo was bought by General Mills that same year.

A view of Yonge Street (looking north) in 1874, south of King St., looking at the Yonge & King intersection. Just 40 years earlier, there was a creek running through this intersection.

In 1920, a Toronto traffic by-law demanded that pedestrians pass each other on the right on the sidewalk. Reportedly, no one was ever charged under this law, which was likely never enforced. In 1944, the province approved a revival of this law, but criticism and ridicule quickly buried it.

Canada Dry originated in Toronto in 1904. When Americans caught-on in 1922, import costs made it much more expensive than other pop. The premium price inspired its title the “Champagne of ginger ales,” which is why the former plant site in Toronto is now called Champagne Drive.

The Great Toronto Fire of 1904 city models built in the 1980s & 1990s by Dick Tatton were a hit among the visitors, illustrating the scope of the overall destruction.

Westminster Hotel (240 Jarvis St.) began in 1913 as a modern, fire-proof "private hotel." During its final years leading to 1981, its basement bar and music stage, called Midwich Cukcoo, hosted live performances by the likes of Rough Trade, Ian Thomas, The Good Bros. and Downchild Blues Band.

This is what the S.E. corner of Bloor & Spadina looked like in 1903. The building here is St. Margaret's College, a girls’ boarding school (est. 1897) whose property extended the block eastward to Huron St. By 1910, it was torn down and replaced with the current U of T building.

Yonge Street as seen in the SCTV parody of Midnight Cowboy.

After 1850, the daily ringing of the bell atop St. Lawrence Hall at 6 AM, 12 noon & 6 PM was the job of the building caretaker, who lived on site. When he died in 1892, his widow, Elizabeth Riddle, took over bell-ringing duty for 15 years, into her 70s.

On this date in 1827, King George IV issued a royal charter for King's College, better known today as the University of Toronto.

251-253 College St., torn down in 2014. Seen here in 2012, 1913 and 1904. Seems that it had been a storage company since being built circa 1904. Stay tuned to Hogtown101 for more thrilling Friday night content to start your weekend off right.

Ad for McLean Publishing Co. in 1892, a year after incorporation, with its office at 10 Front St. E. next to the brand-new Board of Trade (now opposite Meridien Hall). At the time, McLean published trade magazines, but will later famously print Maclean’s, Chatelaine and other big Canadian mags.

In the 1950s, the Metropolitan Toronto Convention and Visitor Association (est. 1926) created artistic travel pamphlets to lure visitors to Toronto. Here are some of the exciting things they had on offer.

From about 1805 to the 1850s, travellers feared the “Blue Hill,” a stretch of Yonge St. between Davenport & Summerhill that had been cut through a hillside made of blue-hued clay. “Indescribably bad” when wet, the muddy route was “impassable,” a “terror” & “hopeless.”

Yonge Street at Gould, night, Feb. 25, 1957. While this snapshot in a German archive (united-archives.de) doesn't identify it as Yonge, we can make out signs for the Edison Hotel (335 Yonge), Olympia Tavern (333 Yonge) and Disney men's clothing (327 Yonge).

🕰 Erasing 100 years between two photos taken at the same spot - TTC bus at MacLennan & Summerhill Aves., Toronto. March 8, 1923: Alfred Pearson March 8, 2023: Jeremy F Hopkin #erasingtime #thenandnow #ttc #bus #transit #rosedale #1920s #2020s #torontohistory #toronto #canada #hopkindesign

This c.1840 drawing of Toronto by W. H. Bartlett (published 1841) shows the original shoreline on Front St. E. looking towards Church St. On its right is the City Hotel, one of Toronto's earliest prominent hotels (since the 1820s), once known as The Steamboat Hotel (or Inn).

The U.S. placed a 10% tariff on Canadian imports in 1971. Here's a selection of Canadian beers you may have opted to choose over your usual Bud or Schlitz at the time.

Alarmed by KKK activity in Toronto, in April 1980 the first Rock Against Racism concert was held in the city. Inspired by the recent RAR movement in Britain, these concerts featured multiple genres (reggae, punk, rock, pop) to bring together racially diverse fans and promote an anti-racist message.

Announcing my new online course... TORONTO vs THE UNITED STATES: A HISTORY OF CROSS-BORDER TENSIONS. It will be filled with stories of people standing up to threats of annexation & working to make our city a safe haven for those fleeing hardships south of the border: adambunch.com/versusregist...

From 1901-1908, one of Toronto’s most vicious street gangs had a most unexpected name: The Gay Cats. Reportedly led by a future prizefighter, the thugs were older newsboys who extorted younger newsies and assaulted citizens found on their turf around Bay, Adelaide & York St.

The N.W. corner of Yonge & Queen seen in 1894, occupied by two men’s clothiers: P. Jamieson (middle) and J. Sutcliffe & Sons (wrapped around it). In 1895, they both were gutted by a fire that destroyed much of this intersection. But they rebuilt on the same spot. Those buildings still stand today.

Hipness in 1963 Toronto: “Man, this town is starting to swing,” reports a young man because people no longer stare when he wears sunglasses at night. Meanwhile at 72-74 Gerrard St. W. (at Bay), folksingers perform on the sidewalk in front of a Communist bookstore.

Turmoil in the U.S.A. in the 1860s prompted Canada to reform its militia system. Military schools opened to assure that officers were well-trained and ready. The Toronto Military School was at King & Simcoe where recruits (seen here in 1865) trained at Government House and on the Parliament grounds.

Leon Schlesinger, the original producer of the Looney Tunes & Merry Melodies cartoons that gave us Bugs, Porky & Daffy, used to manage Toronto's Strand theatre (91 Yonge St.) in 1914-15. Schlesinger, an American, managed theatre venues in various cities before landing in Hollywood.

When boarding a Toronto streetcar in 1906, the conductor brought you a portable, security-locked fare box (a “coffee pot”) into which you put your coin or ticket. Later, the boxes were delivered to the Comptroller’s Office for counting, then a special furnace was used to incinerate used tickets.

Queen Street Avenue. Sounds weird, right? But that was the first name for University Avenue. Here’s its entrance (from actual Queen St.) in 1876, and a drawing of the promenade c.1890 when the name was changing to “College Avenue.” Queen St. Ave. was lined with chestnut trees and had a bike path.

110 years ago, elephants roamed the streets of Toronto – at least when the circus came to town. In the 1910s, Dufferin Park Racetrack (now Dufferin Mall) hosted visiting circuses. To promote the event, elephants and other exotic animals were paraded up and down city streets from Bloor to Wellington.

This view of Toronto in 1860 (published in Harper’s Weekly) happens to document the “reception arch” that was built at the foot of John St. that year. The 65’ x 27’ “Welcome to Toronto” structure greeted the Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII) during a visit in September 1860.

This steam-powered, snow-clearing beast (“The Excavator”) was built by Toronto’s Inglis & Hunter (Strachan Ave). It left Toronto on a trial run on April 23, 1883 along the Toronto, Grey & Bruce Railway line. Near Orangeville, it blasted through 150-feet of a 6-ft high snow pack on the tracks.

In 1957, weekly jazz concerts were held in the basement of La Maison Doré, a French restaurant at 38 Asquith Ave. Here, jazz fan John Norris suggested the club release a newsletter; they offered that he do it. The result was ‘Coda’, Canada’s oldest and longest-running jazz magazine (1958-2009)

Toronto loves to bury its sidewalks and streets with salt every winter. This wasn’t always the case. As this 1876 Toronto bylaw shows, the use of salt for melting snow and ice on city streets was at one time prohibited. Sand and ash were allowed as alternatives.