Toronto Past Archive

10/13/2026

Yonge and Front Sts looking east on Front at the south side 1955 vs 2026.
(📸Toronto Public Library)

10/12/2026

44 Walmer in the 1940s and today.

Before Uno Prii's famour apartment building was constructed in in 1969.

Which do you prefer?

10/11/2026

The Mystery House - Research is fun!

I sometimes come across photo postcards published by a local photographer ( JW Wilson - 143 Queen St W in this case ) however without any identification or location. I collect them as I they are still a moment from the city's past, and hope to one day ID the house.

The style of the house is more common to late 1800's and probably a farm house. The wood sidewalk however tells us it was possibly in a built up area (still with dirt roads).

The AZO box and 4 diamonds on the back (in the corner) dates the photo postcard to between 1907 and 1909.

My research takes me to the 1908 City Planning Map which identifies all of the different road materials. Unfinished Roads are non-coloured so that points me to the west end ( west of Dufferin ), east end ( east of Logan ), and north of Davenport Rd.

Based on similar postcards and past archival research, my hunch is the house was located around Davenport or just north. It was also common for photographers to take commissions or travel around offering to photograph families in front of their houses.

So my next step will be to search the non coloured roads, looking for white clapboard houses.

If you want to join in on the fun feel free to PM me and I'll send you the details and the map.

Hope everyone enjoys their Turkey!

10/10/2026

Toronto Round House with CPR 3101 Locomotive.
Circa 1930s.

On display in the turnstyle is the Canadian Pacific 4-8-4 Northern type. Only 2 of these were built by Canadian Pacific's Angus shops in 1928 as K-1a locomotives, the 3100 and 3101.

The actual weight iust on the drive wheels was 250,000 pounds. The tenders carried 18.5 tons of coal and 14.400 gallons of water. These two locomotives had 75 inch drive wheels, 25.5x30 inch cylinders, ran on 275 psi boiler pressure, and developed 60,798 pounds Tractive Effort.

They ran on the heaviest mainline tracks CP owned. The 3101 and 3000 are still with us. They ran up to the end of steam on the Canadian Pacific. 3000 is indoors in a museum in Ottawa. However 3101 is owned by IPSCO a huge steel manufacturer in Regina, Saskatchewan and sits on permanent display with talks of possibly reviving it.

(Images: My postcard collection, Toronto Rail Historical Assoc, NFB - movie clip

10/07/2026

Bay & Gerrard: 1915 vs 2026 - sw corner

Originally called "St. Joseph's Academy for Young Ladies," the private school was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph and was located on Power Street.

In 1863, the Academy was incorporated in a new convent built by the Sisters of St. Joseph at the southwest corner of Bay and St. Alban's Streets now Wellesley Street West.

The Sisters' property, which grew to occupy a city block, housed in addition to the Academy, their Motherhouse, Novitiate and later St Joseph's College, which was established in 1911 for women students of St. Michael's College at UofT.

In 1928, the Academy was renamed St. Joseph's College School.

When the Ontario government purchased the convent property to construct four office towers, the Sisters of St. Joseph relocated the College School across the street. Students helped with the move, carrying furniture across Wellesley Street.
St. Joseph's College School at 74 Wellesley Street West opened on September 3, 1961.

The College School became entirely publicly funded in 1987. The Sisters leased the school to the Metropolitan Separate School Board. The last Sister of St. Joseph serving as principal retired in June 1 996.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board bought the College School propertv from the Sisters of St. Joseph in December 2007.

The 1915 postcard is from my collection. The colored postcard is from the Toronto Public Library Archives.

10/06/2026

If you've seen what looks like a siren atop a tall pole at Dundas and Shaw, that's the only fully preserved Cold War Air Raid siren in Toronto. You can still find a few in various states of disrepair around the city.

Here's a brief history of the Cold War in Toronto.

After WW2, tensions between "The West" and the USSR were increasing. In the 1950's governments all over Canada and the US were discussing the possibilities of nuclear att*cks.

Governments put out publications of what to do and kids learned the " duck and cover method " in school ( hiding under your desk...yes I'm not kidding).

Training on the potentials of Air Raids began during WW2 so to many, it may not have been new but it was surely anxiety causing.
The Feds, in combination with the province and Metro TO agreed to install early warning sirens around the city. The idea was if you could get far enough...it gave you a chance.

A company in Scarborough won the contract to produce 200 sirens which were installed across the country. Between 1952 - 1955 through a series of disagreements between the city and the feds the sirens were never installed. The first were installed in 1956 but two years later the system wasn't fully operational. A forced test by the Department of National Defence in 1962, had poor results as many Torontonians reported not hearing the sirens.

The electric sirens were connected to the Bell telephone network and separately controlled. In 1967 a malfunction caused the sirens to go off for 10 minutes. Police reported a flood of calls but that people seemed unafraid.
As the fear of nuclear att*ck waned into the 1970's the sirens slowly became relics of the past. In the 1980's there were some 78 sirens around the city.

The early warning system was finally abandoned in 1996 and slowly the sirens have disappeared with only a few remaining.
The refinished siren ( non functional ) at Dundas and Shaw is the remaining relic of the period. Claire Brydan the executive director of Bellwoods Centres, which provide homes for people with physical disabilities, spear headed the efforts to save, refinish and reinstall the siren.

( Credits: National Archives, CBC Archives ( the siren video ), Spacing Magazine, Civil Defence Museum ).

10/05/2026

Real Photo postcard showing the downtown core in 1940. Can you spot the building which inspired The Daily Planet ( Superman ) ?

10/04/2026

Ode to Scarborough:
Another Nuit Blanche exhibit with a Toronto theme.

A wonderful Ode to Scarborough projected on City Hall.

Installation:
Hiba Abdallah - Everything I Wanted To
Tell You
Originally presented during Nuit Blanche in Scarborough in 2018, Everything I Wanted to Tell You returned in 2026. The text installation transforms Toronto City Hall’s East Tower into a living archive of hidden histories, personal memories and community voices—revealing the stories that shape Scarborough beyond
official narratives.

10/04/2026