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109 plaques found that match your criteria
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Thomson Settlement, The
The first permanent resident in Scarborough Township was David Thomson, a Scot who came to Upper Canada with his brother Andrew in 1796. Each was granted 400 acres, and David built a log cabin on his property that year. He was soon joined by other settlers, including his brothers Andrew and Archibald. The Thomsons, who were stone masons, worked on the first Parliament Buildings at York (Toronto). A road connecting the settlement with York was... -
Corporal Frederick George Topham, V.C. 1917-1974
Toppy" Topham was a medical orderly with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion when it parachuted behind enemy lines on March 24, 1945 during the Allied assault on the Rhine. As he tended to casualties, he saw two medical orderlies killed in succession while treating a paratrooper in the drop zone. Topham rescued their patient and, despite being shot through the nose, continued to clear wounded from the area before seeking treatment. While rejoining his company... -
Toronto General Hospital
This institution, the first general infirmary in Upper Canada, began operation in 1829. It was periodically hampered by administrative and financial difficulties, but through the initiative of the influential businessman, Joseph Flavelle, Chairman of the Board of Trustees (1904-21), services were reorganized and steps taken for the construction here of a new hospital. Designed by the firm of Darling & Pearson, it was begun in 1911 and officially opened two years later. Toronto General Hospital... -
Toronto Normal School
The Toronto Normal School, the first provincial institution for the systematic training of elementary schoolteachers, was established in 1847 through the initiative of the Reverend Egerton Ryerson, Chief Superintendent of Schools for Canada West. In 1852, the School was located in classical revival-style buildings designed for this site by F.W. Cumberland and Thomas Ridout. At first, the Normal School had to provide academic instruction for some poorly educated student-teachers but, increasingly, emphasis was placed on... -
First Unitarian Congregation in Canada West 1845, The
The congregation was formed in Toronto in 1845 and moved to a new church completed on this site in 1854. Members of the congregation have enriched the life of this city and nation. Dr. Joseph Workman, a renowned neurologist, was the first Chairman of the Toronto Board of Education; Dr. Emily Stowe was the first woman to practice medicine in Canada and a leading suffragette; and Professor Goldwin Smith, controversial author and editor, was an... -
Founding of Weston, The
Settlers were attracted to this vicinity in the 1790s by the area's rich timber resources and the water power potential of the Humber River here. By 1792 a sawmill was established on the west bank and within two decades a small hamlet, known as "The Humber", had developed. About 1815 James Farr, a prominent local mill-owner, named it Weston after his English ancestral home. The community subsequently expanded along both sides of the river until... -
Wycliffe College
This college was founded in 1877 to prepare men of evangelical conviction for the Anglican ministry. Four years earlier, a group of Anglican clergy and laity committed to evangelical principles had formed the Church Association of the Diocese of Toronto. The Association brought a noted theologian and administrator, the Reverend James Paterson Sheraton, from Nova Scotia to establish the Protestant Episcopal Divinity School and serve as its Principal and first Professor. It opened on October... -
Yonge Street 1796
The shortest route between the upper and lower Great Lakes lies between here and Georgian Bay. For John Graves Simcoe, Upper Canada's first lieutenant-governor, this protected inland passage had strategic military and commercial potential. He founded York (Toronto) in 1793, then ordered a road built to replace native trails that led north to Lake Simcoe and its water links with Lake Huron. Completed on February 16, 1796, it was named after British Secretary for War... -
York Mills
In 1796, Thomas Mercer, a Loyalist, acquired some 200 acres of land in this vicinity. James Hogg, an enterprising Scottish emigrant, purchased part of this property about 1818 and built a grist-mill on the west branch of the Don River near here. In the 1820s, the mill became the nucleus of a small settlement known as Hogg's Hollow. The first St. John's Anglican Church (1817) was among the earliest built north of York. When the... -
Frederic W. Cumberland 1820-1881
An outstanding Canadian architect, civil engineer and railway manager, Cumberland was born in England and practiced there before immigrating to Toronto in 1847. He quickly gained recognition, designing such notable buildings as St. James Cathedral (1850-53) and University College (1856-59), Toronto. In 1860 he completed this house, Pendarvis, in which he lived for 21 years. As an engineer, Cumberland became increasingly involved in railway construction and management, and after 1858 achieved wide prominence as managing... -
Archives of Ontario, The
In 1903, responding to public demands for an historical records repository, the Ontario government established a provincial archives under Alexander Fraser, a Toronto editor and historian. As first Archivist of Ontario, he initiated an ambitious acquisition program and began the publication of important documents in a valuable series of annual reports. The Archives Act of 1923 directed the transfer of inactive government records to the Archives and by 1934 it had developed as a major... -
Bay Queen Street Store, The
Department stores revolutionized shopping in the late nineteenth century by offering selection, low prices and money-back guarantees. In 1895, Robert Simpson commissioned architect Edmund Burke to design his new department store at the southwest corner of Yonge and Queen Streets. It was the first building in Canada with a load-bearing metal frame and a façade clearly patterned on this internal structure. By 1969, Simpson's department store had been enlarged six times and occupied two city... -
Fool's Paradise
This property sits on the ecologically sensitive, geologically significant Scarborough Bluffs that display sediments left by glaciers over 70,000 years during the last phase of the Pleistocene epoch. Aboriginal peoples may have inhabited this site as early as 8,000 B.C. Scottish immigrant James McCowan settled this land for farming in 1833, calling it "Springbank" because of the springs running from the ancient shoreline of Lake Iroquois (predecessor of Lake Ontario) to the north. In 1939... -
George Weston, 1864-1924
George Weston was born in Oswego, New York in 1864. His family moved to Toronto and at age 12 George was apprenticed to a local baker. In 1882, Weston bought a bread delivery route from his employer and two years later a bakery. With the increasing popularity of his "Real Home Made Bread," he opened the "Model Bakery" near this site, in 1897. This bakery used the latest bread-making technology and was praised by the... -
Hurricane Hazel
On October 15, 1954, Hurricane Hazel hit southern Ontario with 110 km/h winds and over 200 mm of rain. Many rivers, including the Humber, Don and Rouge overflowed flooding communities in much of southern Ontario. The storm killed 81 people, left 1868 families homeless, and caused extensive property damage. International and local donations to a flood relief fund assisted victims, and all three levels of government shared the expenses of paying for property damage and... -
King Edward Hotel, The
The King Edward Hotel was built by George Gooderham's Toronto Hotel Company to meet the demand in the rising metropolis for a grand hotel. When it opened in 1903, the hotel, affectionately known as the "King Eddy," was embraced by the city. The fireproof, eight-storey building, designed by eminent Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb and prominent Toronto architect E.J. Lennox, provided luxury and service in dramatic settings. The 18-storey tower, with its top-floor Crystal Ballroom... -
Knesseth Israel Synagogue
The Junction Shul" was founded early in the 20th century in a building at the corner of Maria Street and Runnymede Road, with a congregation primarily of Polish and Russian Jews. As the congregation grew, construction of this building began in 1911 and it appears that services were first held here about 1913. Designed by the architectural firm Ellis and Connery, the exterior is simple and the interior evokes the splendour of Eastern Europe. Typical... -
Loew's Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres
Designed by architect Thomas Lamb for entrepreneur Marcus Loew as the Canadian flagship of his American theatre chain, these double-decker theatres opened in 1913-14. The 2,149-seat, lower theatre was decorated with classical details and red damask, while flowers, leaves, lanterns and garden murals embellished the 1,410-seat rooftop Winter Garden Theatre. Both theatres presented vaudeville acts and silent moving pictures until 1928 when the Winter Garden was closed and Loew's Yonge Street was converted to show... -
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
In 1874 the Trustees of the Toronto General Burying Grounds hired H.A. Engelhardt, who was in the forefront of landscape gardening in Canada, to plan the transformation of ravine and plateau farmland into Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Prominent in this naturalistic setting with its curving drives are E.J. Lennox's Massey Mausoleum, private mausoleums in classical temple style, the public Mount Pleasant Mausoleum designed by Darling & Pearson, and a wide variety of granite monuments. Rare trees... -
Warriors' Day Parade, The
At the end of the First World War (1914-1918), activities took place across Canada to commemorate the country's wartime efforts and to honour the over 60,000 Canadians lost. One of the most significant and lasting events was a veterans' parade held at the Canadian National Exhibition in 1919. Edward, Prince of Wales, opened the Exhibition and conducted a military review of the thousands of veterans who attended. In 1921, the annual parade became the highlight... -
Santa Claus Parade, The
In 1905, Timothy Eaton's department store began the tradition of the Santa Claus Parade. Initially, the parade featured Santa Claus on a horse-drawn cart. The parade has grown in size and splendour to include upside-down clowns, colourful marching bands, mascots, characters in elaborate costumes, ornately-decorated floats and – of course – Santa Claus himself. Over the years, Santa has travelled from the North Pole by train, coach, ice floe, airplane and sleigh pulled by nine... -
Royal York Hotel, The
Built on the site of the Queen's Hotel by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1928-29, the Royal York Hotel was part of its coast-to-coast chain of grand hotels. The skyscraper hotel, designed by Montreal architects Ross and Macdonald in association with Sproatt and Rolph of Toronto, was the largest hotel in the British Commonwealth and dramatically altered the Toronto skyline. Inside, attractive rooms — from the classicism of the 1928-29 interior to the 1957-59 extension... -
"Canada First" Movement, The
Origination in Ottawa, in 1868, with informal meetings of a few youthful patriots, "Canada First" was the name and slogan of a movement to promote nationalist sentiment. Its founding members were Charles Mair, Henry Morgan, William Foster, G.T. Denison and R.G. Haliburton. Two years later the movement created the North-West Emigration Aid Society to encourage British immigration. In 1874 the group, now centred in Toronto, established the "Nation", a weekly journal, entered politics as the... -
"Ned" Hanlan 1855-1908
One of Canada’s greatest oarsmen, Edward Hanlan was born in Toronto. As a child, he took up rowing when his family settled in this vicinity, now named Hanlan’s Point. Although standing only 5 feet 8 ¾ inches and rarely heavier than 150 pounds, he became a leading international sculler. In 1873, Hanlan won the amateur rowing championship of Toronto Bay. Becoming a professional in 1876, he defeated all opponents in the Philadelphia Races of that... -
"Old" City Hall
City Hall was designed in 1887 by E.J. Lennox to fit this central site at the head of Bay Street. In one structure, these municipal buildings combined a City Hall in the east portion, and Court-house in the west. The building, constructed mostly of Credit River Valley sandstone, was begun in 1889 but not opened until September 18, 1899. Massive, round-arched and richly carved, it is in the Romanesque revival style, then popular in expanding...