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| King St. looking west from Yonge c. 1865 |
Today we are going to look at 18 great examples of black-and-white photos of Toronto that span from as early as the 1860's up until the 1970's.
These are drawn from two books, both out-of-print. The first is Jay Myers' excellent 1977 popular history of Yonge St., The Great Canadian Road. It really emphasizes the importance the grand street has played in the development of Toronto and the other communities through which it makes its way.
The second is the well-written and very detailed To Serve the Community (1974) by G.H,. Stanford that is a history of Toronto's Board of Trade. For a leftist it is somewhat amusing to read a local history told entirely from the perspective of the capitalist class! It does, however, have interesting facts and anecdotes throughout.
Without any further ado, here are the photos in chronological order!
(Click on images to enlarge)
Looking north up Yonge St. from King St. c.1860
Horse-drawn streetcars on Yonge St. 1890
Stagecoach Stop, Yonge St. Richmond Hill 1896
Toronto Public Library 1897
Toronto Board of Trade building, Front & Yonge c. 1900
Pretoria Day celebrations at Yonge & Adelaide, June 5, 1901
The Yonge St. Radial Streetcar Line
A view of the city from St. James Cathedral, 1907
Lake front industry and railway lines, 1907
King and Yonge bustles with traffic, 1912
A "Peter Witt" streetcar heading north on Yonge St., December 24, 1912
A Peter Witt, still in service, picking up passengers northbound on Yonge
at College St., June 24, 1937
Toronto skyline, 1937
The King Edward Hotel, c. 1940
Subway construction on Yonge, 1950's
Yonge St. when it was a car-free pedestrian mall, 1970's
Toronto skyline, 1974
Thanks for reminding me: I lost my copy of "The Great Canadian Road" many years ago; I went looking and found a copy online which I have now bought. It won't have Jay's autograph, which my copy had, but that's OK.
ReplyDeleteIt is special to me as it was the first book I designed.
The post is shown as by "Unknown". - Chris FA Johnson
DeleteThat is really cool! Glad you were able to find a copy. Fun and interesting book.
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