By: Susan Goldenberg North Yorkers resorted to drastic measures in the 1950s such as bathing their babies in ginger ale because of a severe water shortage. Year after year officials promised relief; it didn’t happen. “Summer after summer for nine years hoses dried up, and the grass and flowers burned,” Patricia Hart wrote in her …
Susan Goldenberg from a tip by fellow NYHS board member Linda Gargaro Downsview Airport experienced its only fatal plane crash in its years of operation 1929 to 1996, close to 70 years ago on February 14, 1956. Made by de Havilland Canada whose plant was at the airport, the single turbine engine, propeller-driven, all-metal, high-winged …
Susan Goldenberg This year (2024) is the bicentennial of North York’s oldest residence, the John Bales House near Bathurst and Sheppard, located in 51 hectare (127 acre) Earl Bales Park created in 1975 partly from land owned by John Bales and named after his great grandson R. (Robert) Earl Bales, North York Reeve (mayor) 1934-40. …
One man, Joseph Shepard (one “p”), with two North York places named in his honour with different spellings. There’s the 14-floor federal government office building, The Joseph Shepard Building, 4900 Yonge St. It’s just north of Sheppard Avenue (two “p’s.”) also named after him. Why this happened is unknown. Ironically, the government building’s namesake was …
Neighbourhoods usually clamour for better roads, but not The Bridle Path, among Canada’s most affluent residential districts, located in North York’s Bayview-Lawrence area. There are more street names, but the whole is referred to as The Bridle Path after the main street. It was started in 1933 by Hubert Page, a land developer, and his …
“Think Budgie Died of Shock As Jets Broke Sound Barrier,” the Toronto Star headed a front-page story Jan. 11, 1954 about the demise of the beloved pet of the Brett family, who lived on North York’s Sunbeam Avenue near Downsview Airport, the jets’ base. “The budgie was playing normally when suddenly there was a loud …
North York’s northwest “Downsview” neighbourhood got its name from “Downs View,” the farmstead home built in 1844 near Keele and Wilson by an important figure in North York history, John Perkins Bull, like many in the area of British descent. “Downs” is British English for low hills covered in grass, used as pasture. Bull liked …
When Dr. Carl E. Hill, then 27, was appointed North York’s first medical officer of health in 1922, the year North York became independent from York Township, the population was 6,500 and his staff consisted of himself and a part-time inspector. When he retired 43 years later at age 70 in 1965, the department had …
“Hi, I’m the Golden Lion (capital letters out of respect, please), the life-size venerable gold-painted sculpture that’s the mascot of the North York Historical Society (NYHS). “Columnist Susan Goldenberg loaned me this column space to announce that after many years of wandering, I’m now in permanent residence on the North York Central Library’s fifth floor …
We know what early Canada was like thanks in large measure to C. W. (Charles William) Jefferys, one of Canada’s finest historical artists and a North York homeowner for 29 years. He bought a house at 4111 Yonge St., just north of York Mills and built circa 1833, in 1922 because it provided a wonderful …
