Mike Filey - A Toronto Album: Glimpses of the City That Was

A TORONTO ALBUM

MIKE FILEY

Copyright Mike Filey, 2001

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency.

Publisher: Anthony Hawke

Proofreader: Natalie Barrington

Design: Jennifer Scott

Printer: Friesens

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Filey, Mike, 1941

A Toronto album: glimpses of the city that was

2nd ed.

ISBN 0-88882-242-1

1.Toronto (Ont.) History Pictorial works. I.Title.

Originally Published in 1970 by University of Toronto Press.

1 2 3 4 5 05 04 03 02 01

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credit in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

Printed and bound in Canada.

Printed on recycled paper.

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When this book was first released back in the fall of 1970,1 had no idea it would turn out to be such a success. Within a few months of hitting the book stores, the book made it onto several national bestseller lists. It then went through a number of reprints until the publisher simply let it go out-of-print. Now, thanks to the kindness of the original publisher, the University ofToronto Press, and the confidence of the good people at Dundurn Press, who have published many of my more recent works, A Toronto Album: Glimpses of the City That Was is available once again.

On a personal note, its of particular interest to me as I re-read what was to be the first of more than a dozen books I have written on the subject of Toronto and its past just how much my city has changed in a brief thirty-one year period. When A Toronto Album first appeared, Toronto had CN Tower, Eaton Centre, Sheraton Centre, no Scarborough Town Centre or SkyDome. Metropolitan Toronto was seventeen years old (though they were talking about outright amalgamation) and the subway system, except for extensions to the existing lines, was essentially what it is today, an unfortunate fact that in no small measure has led to the citys present-day traffic crisis.

In 1970, the Leafs 1967 Stanley Cup victory was still a pleasant memory (and we were absolutely sure wed do it again soon), a major league baseball team for the city was being talked about (our Jays were still seven years in the future), and the New City Hall was still just that, a new city hall, having been officially opened just five years earlier. And The Toronto Sun, for whom I still write a Sunday column, was a whole year in the future.

As for this reprint, while the pictures are the same as those in the original edition, the text has been altered slightly to reflect a few minor corrections and, Id like to think, a better writing style that as a Chemical Technologist with the old Ontario Water Resources Commission (now part of the Ministry of the Environment) I just didnt have three decades ago.

Enjoy, again.

MF

There have been many publications about Toronto, both in words and pictures, and some authors have overlooked the citys true historical character; Toronto has been portrayed as if it has only been settled since the end of the Second World War. This is because of the dynamic changes that have occurred in that period, which have made Toronto a cosmopolitan centre.

In this book, Mr. Michael Filey has illustrated some of the benchmarks and the cornerstones of Torontos way of life and temperament its royal celebrations, its emphasis on public transportation, public works, and a progressive, sympathetic attitude towards change.

If in one hundred years a similar book is published on Toronto 1970, it is to be hoped that this trend and attitude will have been maintained.

I would like to commend Mr. Filey for his painstaking research in unearthing this interesting store of photographs illustrating many facets of life in Toronto through the years.

William Dennison

Mayor

City of Toronto

July 10, 1970

William Dennison served as Mayor from 1967 to 1972

The purpose of this book is to present a selection of photographs that record some aspects of the citys evolution during the period 1860 to 1950.1 hope that they will entertain either by stimulating among older readers their own remembrance of a city and a way of life that have all but disappeared or by showing to younger readers some glimpses of the early days of Toronto The sense of tradition, of one generation handing its systems and structures on to the next, is weak in these days of change and inter-generational gaps; it is hoped that the book will give younger Torontonians and new Torontonians some awareness of the citys past achievements. If we are entering an age of cities and of democratic citizenship, a knowledge of the civic past will help give us a good civic life in the future.

The photographs have been chosen for their historical value and general interest, and are generally arranged chronologically, but with some regard to topic. They depict scenes in the public theatre that is city life mud streets and gas lamps, giant steam engines and rollicking trolley cars, favourite steamers and amusement parks. The captions have been written as accurately as possible, and are based, for the most part, on the published books and brochures listed, along with the sources of the longer quotations, at the back of the book. I am not a historian, and the work does not claim to be a balanced social history of Toronto. I hope the captions will add to the readers understanding of the photographs and stir in him an appreciation and deeper interest in our city.

Collecting memorabilia can be very pleasant, not only through discovering a cach of old newspaper clippings at a riotous church rummage sale, but through meeting people who take an interest in ones collection, recalling with obvious enjoyment memories of their youth, such as taking a ride around the Belt Line or cruising the Bay on the Bluebell. I have met others, like myself, who are not old enough to remember a city that hasnt always been a jungle of cars, trucks, buses, and people, and who have been fascinated by these pictures of a past beyond their memory I have enjoyed and will remember my associations with them.