#OTD April 19 1904, the (second) Great Toronto Fire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Toronto_(1904)

note the large areas on the map marked "all gone"

#TOhistory i don't often post BlogTO stories, but this one's pretty good

disappointed that the only options were share, tweet, and save this article... share was facebook, no other options

anyhow...

https://www.blogto.com/city/2025/04/queens-hotel-royal-york-toronto/

#OTD April 12 1838, Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews were publicly hanged in Toronto for their roles in the Rebellion of 1837... they had 22 children between them

richly detailed story here -- http://uppercanadahistory.ca/tt/tt10.html

#TOhistory lovely interactive map showing the growth of Toronto from 1834 through to amalgamation in 1998, with details about all the villages and towns that were incorporated along the way

https://www.mapto.ca/maps/amalgamation

after visiting North York library yesterday, i left by a side entrance, only to discover this house which i had never seen before... pretty impressive, stuck right in the middle of a forest of condo towers just off Yonge St

#ThenAndNow Leaside Jail

1955 -- Toronto Public Library archive
2011 -- google streetview
2024 -- buy a car already

#TOhistory #OTD December 4 1837, at 8:00pm, "William Lyon Mackenzie set out by horse down Yonge Street to scout the route for his attack on Toronto. At the top of Gallows Hill (below St. Clair Ave.) he met Tory alderman John Powell, himself on patrol from the city."

that's the opening of an article in the Canadian Encyclopedia (by Historica Canada) about the 1837 Rebellion

https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/rebellion-in-upper-canada-feature

#Toronto #TOhistory Tales From the Hollow
The story of Hogg's Hollow and York Mills
by Scott Kennedy

lovingly written, with deep research and many aerial photographs showing where historic buildings were located relative to Yonge St, Avenue Rd, York Mills Rd, Bayview...

#TOhistory #OTD August 14 2003, the Northeast Blackout of 2003 (not to be confused with the Northeast Blackout of 1965)

https://www.cbc.ca/archives/the-great-north-america-blackout-of-2003-1.4683696

#TOhistory did anyone else stay up till 2am, or 3, knowing you'd have to get up by 5:30 to catch the 6:20 bus to get to work, just so you could watch Chas Lawther as Chuck the Security Guard on The All-Night Show

here ya go, 2 hours of nostalgia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo4-OQmpj0o

#TOhistory Loring-Wyle Studio plaque has seen better days

this building used to be a church schoolhouse located where Lawton Parkette is today -- it was picked up and moved to 110 Glenrose Ave when "the girls" acquired it

(see "The Girls" https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM437932&R=437932)

see ALT for plaque text

delighted to meet Jeremy Hopkin at his #DOT24 Doors Open event celebrating the Leaside Aerodrome

he's a #TOhistory #Leaside treasure

#Toronto "A Walk through Toronto's Old Town"

a #TOhistory Jane's Walk, tomorrow May 3, with Rebecca Rizzo

https://www.janeswalkfestivalto.com/3-may/a-walk-through-torontos-old-town

#Toronto #TOhistory #ThenAndNow Thorncliffe Ski Jump

its heyday was in the 1930s, and it was gone by the 1950s

today you can easily see where it was, because the side of the ravine has been denuded for the new Ontario Line bridge

#Toronto #TOhistory #WarOf1812 #OTD April 27 1813, the Battle of York

the definitive resource is Robert Malcomson's excellent book "Capital in Flames: The American Attack on York, 1813" ISBN 1896941702

wikipedia has a good summary -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_York

The Great Fire of Toronto April 7, 1849, also known as the Cathedral Fire. https://bit.ly/3xkxEtC #TOHistory #Toronto #OTD