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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Aerial view of Toronto in 1956, from Hwy. 401 looking south. Photo by Gunnar Ekelund from Sweden's Spårvägsmuseet (Tramway Museum)

Very high aerial view in black and white over 1956 Toronto, with Toronto Island seen in the distance

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Jeremy Hopkin @jeremyhopkin.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

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.

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Jeremy Hopkin @jeremyhopkin.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

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...

Colour print ad for the TV series 'Rocket Boy' from "Broadcasting" magazine, Jan. 14, 1985. Stills from the series surround an image of SCTV actor Dave Thomas dressed like Buck Rogers

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Jamie Bradburn @jbcurio.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Layers of the past at Gerrard and Logan

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Stuart Berman @stuberman.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

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

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The Viletones "Screaming Fist"

YouTube video by TObeSCENE

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Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

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

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

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

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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

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

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Toronto Branch, OGS @tofamilyhistory.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

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...

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Jeremy Hopkin @jeremyhopkin.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

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

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

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.

A pen and ink drawing from 1886 of the block of King St. E. that is south and east of Church St. In the middle is Oak Hall, with the name "Oak Hall" along the side of its roof. Busy Victorian pedestrians in the foreground.

An 1895 newspaper advertisement for Oak Hall, with a drawing of the building exterior with "Oak Hall Clothiers" written on the side. The ad text promotes suits and overcoats for boys and men. It also states: "Exactly opposite St. James' Cathedral entrance."

A Google Maps street view screenshot from 2021, showing the view from Oak Hall Lane (south of and parallel with King), looking through the empty space of the Sculpture Garden with St. James Cathedral in the near distance.

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Marta O'Brien @archhistory.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

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.

Large red brick & stone late Victorian building with many rectangular & arched windows. Red tile roof.

Between pairs of engaged columns, 2 angels carved in red stone hold a flat framed piece of stone with "Victoria Hospital for Sick Children" carved on it.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

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.

Colour photo of a grocer and businessman standing in front of a large grocery store display of Lancia pasta and Bravo spaghetti sauce, with a large cardboard display image of the Bravo "mascot," a woman holding a pizza pie. Image from the General Mills Annual Report, 1967.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

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.

Old, sepia-toned photo from 1874, looking down from a rooftop at unpaved Yonge and King streets lined with 3 and 4-story buildings. From the Baldwin Collection of Canadiana at the Toronto Reference Library.

Map of the intersection of Yonge and King in 1830, showing squiggly drawn lines representing branches of a creek, cutting right through this intersection. From a yellowed and tape-repaired surveying document for the Town of York.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

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.

Newspaper photo from the Toronto Star, October 10, 1944, of a young woman walking on the sidewalk towards the camera, holding a sign that says "Keep to the right"

Newspaper cartoon by Jack Boothe, published in the Globe & Mail in 1944. It shows two men in suits on the ground after a collision with each other. "You didn't stop at that stop sign!" says one. The other replies "I did so! You weren't on the right side of the sidewalk." A policeman in a long black coat stands by them, wagging his finger as he reviews a book entitled "By-laws"

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

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.

Canada Dry advertisement, published in Toronto magazine, The Goblin in June 1923. Ad depicts a table with an open book, cigarette, glass and Canada Dry bottle. Slogan is "Between times, perfect contentment"

Advertisement for Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale, published in the Toronto magazine, The Goblin, in February 1923. Drawing of a hand pouring a bottle of Canada Dry into champagne glasses. Slogan is "The champagne of ginger ales."

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Jeremy Hopkin @jeremyhopkin.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

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.

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Kliph Nesteroff @classicshowbiz.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

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

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

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.

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Muddy York @muddyyork.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

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

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

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.”

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

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).

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Jeremy Hopkin @jeremyhopkin.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

🕰 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

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

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).

Colour-tinted engraving of 1840 drawing by WH Bartlett called "Fish-Market, Toronto." It was published in the 1841 book "Canadian scenery illustrated." It depicts the original bay shore along Front St. E. looking towards Church St. Congregation of people (including Indigenous people) in the foreground, presumably part of the fish market. A white building on the right with the sign "City Hotel."

Google Street View of Front St E looking towards Church St, similar to the POV of the 1841 print. The City Hotel image from the 1841 print has been superimposed over the approximate original location of the hotel, based on map comparisons. The Toronto Historical Association states that it was located at the current 64 Front St E.

1834 map of Toronto by Alpheus Todd. This map contains numbered landmarks and an index. The index shows that #15, on Palace Street just east of Church, is the Steam Boat Hotel. That location is circled in red.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

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.

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Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

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...

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

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.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

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.

1906 photo of a man holding something that looks like a square coffee pot, and another man depositing a coin into the top.

Wide shot of Toronto Railway Co. employees in 1906 (men in suits, woman in long dresses) seated at a long table with opened fare boxes, presumably counting and logging coins and tickets. Stacks of fare boxes on special carts are along the wall.

Amber-tinted 1906 photo of an iron furnace surrounded by brick, with the door open and some metal mesh visible inside. A caption reads: Furnace for burning tickets, showing screen cylinder or cage in which tickets are placed."

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

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.

Amber-tinted 1876 wide shot photo of open iron gates, kids in Victorian clothes standing in front, and a long dirt road going far in the distance., lined by trees.

Elegant black ink drawing from the 1890s of carriages and pedestrians moving along two parallel, narrow roadways lined with trees.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

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.

In 1920, a procession of elephants walks down a Toronto residential street, possibly Brock Ave.

A drawn Toronto advertisement from June 1914 promoting Robinson's Famous Show, with images of an elephant, tiger and clown in the corners.

A headline from the Toronto World newspaper in 1913: "Unusual Animals Reach Race Track." "Dufferin Park Claimed Sunday Morning by Circus Cavalcade." Includes parade route description from Dufferin Park to College, Spadina, Queen, Simcoe, Wellington, Jarvis then back.

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

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.

Panoramic sketch of Toronto's lakefront in 1860, with arch structure in the distance circled in red.

Drawing of the 1860 Toronto reception arch (much closer than the long shot) as it appeared in The London Illustrated News (1860)

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Hogtown 101 @hogtown101.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

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.

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