"This is a Canadian family story" remarked one woman in attendance at last Sunday's moving ceremony at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, April 9 to 12, 1917. Hearing descendants tell stories of family members that participated in the battle was an emotional part […]
March 6 is an important date in the history of Toronto and the Toronto Public Library. The City of Toronto was established 183 years ago today. On March 6, 1834, royal assent was given to "An act to extend the limits of the town of York, to erect the said town into a city and […]
Honest Ed’s is closing its doors for good on December 31. The legendary bargain store has been a major feature of the Bloor West streetscape since 1948 when 34-year-old Toronto entrepreneur Edwin “Honest Ed” Mirvish started Canada's first discount retail store at the southeast corner of Bloor and Markham streets. Mirvish eventually extended his retail complex […]
Architectural plan for Wychwood Branch Library, Eden Smith & Sons Architects, 1915 Wychwood Branch officially opened 100 years ago on Saturday, April 15, 1916. The branch was the prototype of three identical libraries that Toronto Public Library built in 1915-16 with a $50,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The other two branches, […]
Toronto Public Library's 100th branch opens May 20 Scarborough Civic Centre, Toronto Public Library's 100th branch, opens on May 20, 2015. This is not the first library to be located in this section of Scarborough, though. Several libraries have operated within a few kilometres of the new branch (mostly on St. Andrews Road) going all […]
Toronto local history collections are provided in more than 30 branches of the Toronto Public Library. The collections include materials of historical significance about a specific geographic area. This could be the Toronto neighbourhood(s) served by the local branch library; an historic community, such as an annexed municipality; or the City of Toronto as a […]
Toronto has been dubbed a “city of neighbourhoods” and neighbourhoods are of great importance to local residents and organizations, as well as to city planners and service providers. But finding local information is often difficult, so Toronto Public Library staff has created an interactive neighbourhood map to assist users in discovering resources in the Library’s […]
Jane’s Walks will be held on May 4 and 5 in almost every neighbourhood in Toronto, as well as in many other Canadian centres and countries around the world. Named to honour writer and civic activist Jane Jacobs, several Toronto walks feature Toronto Public Library branches, including: Layers of Leaside (Leaside Branch) Lawrence Park at […]
You are invited to join me and other library staff, along with our partners in the North York Historical Society, the North York Community Preservation Panel and Gibson House Museum, for an historical walking tour of the North York Centre neighbourhood. North York Central Library, 1987 Meet us at 10:30 in the first floor atrium of […]
Updated: July, 4, 2016 Toronto Public Library has fire insurance plans for the City of Toronto dating from 1858 to 1973, and has digitized the plans up to 1910. Sometimes called Goad's atlases, after Charles E. Goad who started fire insurance mapping in 1875, these large-scale aerial drawings show locations of buildings of the time, […]