THE WAY WE WERE: Photos of then and now
Back in the late 1960s, I started collecting old photos of the city in which I was born when someone gave me the photo shown here. It was a rare view of what turned out to be a today's Yonge St. and Eglinton Ave. intersection. However, it arrived with only the words, "Yonge-Eglinton" on the back. After chatting with several senior citizens whom I met at the local library and people who grew up in the area, I was able to add some more features to the photo. What was particularly interesting was the fact that that two of my contacts actually had distant memories of the two fellows seen in the photo, the local garbage man, his horse and wagon and the neighbourhood policeman. Both these men had been employed by the Town of North Toronto and had remained on the job when the town was annexed by the city on Dec. 15, 1912 -- a mere five years before this photo was taken. On that cold Dec. 15, Toronto's population grew by more than 30,000 to a newly assessed figure of 410,000. With help of my library friends, combined with some clues from my 1918 Toronto city directory (that contains 1917 details), my best guess at identifying the old picture was now becoming clearer by matching the photo with the businesses and addresses listed in my old directory. One important clue was the partial Yonge St. sign of the Dominion Bank, one of two banks my confidants told me served the surrounding community. Interestingly, the Dominion, as a TD branch, remained on that same northeast corner for decades. Directly across Eglinton Ave., on the southeast corner, was the other, a branch of the Home Bank that failed in mid-1923 after serving the public for a mere 20 years. I was also told that the old store at the left of the photo was a feed and grocery store run by a Mr. Coon and it had remained at that corner for years and was even lifted and moved back when the intersection was widened in the early 1920s. The modern Yonge-Eglinton Centre now covers the corner. Now, with all those clues, I have concluded that the first photo in my collection is a view looking north on Yonge St. from a point just south of Eglinton Ave. And the year? 1917, within 12 months or so.
Of all the columns I have written over the years, the subjects that get the most response are those that feature "then and now" photographs and stories about historic Toronto anniversaries.
Today's The Way We Were has one of each. Enjoy.
A similar view today shows the ultra-busy intersection where work is progressing on the new Eglinton Crosstown light rail project. (Metrolinx)
It was on this day 64 years ago that 16-year-old Toronto schoolgirl Marilyn Bell became the first person in history to successfully swim across Lake Ontario. She started her quest shortly after 11 p.m. on Sept. 8, 1954 at Youngstown, N.Y., completing the 51.5 km. (32 mile) marathon at the Toronto's Boulevard Club break wall nearly 21 hours later. Her accomplishment remains as one of the city's most memorable and spectacular events. Since 1954, a total of 65 people have completed the Lake Ontario crossing to Toronto's waterfront 54, of those swimmers from Niagara-on-the-Lake, 11 from Port Dalhousie (St. Catharines). Full details about all the Lake Ontario swims see: soloswims.com/swims. Thousands cheered Marilyn's accomplishment during a downtown parade on Sept. 13, 1954. In this photo, Marilyn and her coach Gus Ryder accept the crowd's well wishes as they are driven up Bay St. to City Hall in a rare 1954 Lincoln Capri convertible.
mfiley@postmedia.com