Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts

Saturday, June 30, 2018

# 66 ~ Toronto's Original "Canada Day" in 1867




Well, after a long hiatus of over a year, I've decided to put up another post here in my collection of anecdotal tales of Toronto's history. The patriotic inspiration for this was the fact that another Canada Day is upon us. I'm only one year overdue for posting in time for Canada's 150th, which took place last year, but hopefully any reader will find this almost as informative and entertaining for Canada's 151st. 


The title of this post, referencing "Canada Day" is of course misleading. Traditionally, July 1st had most commonly been known as "Dominion Day". This alluded to the British North America Act, which made reference to the country as a Dominion. There were suggestions to change the name of the holiday to "Canada Day" as early as the 1940s, but it wasn't officially changed until 1982. Although some traditionalist Tories and historical diehards may still refer to the day as Dominion Day, most people these days of course refer to July 1st as Canada Day.

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So, to begin, back in 1861, a few years before Confederation, Toronto had a population of 65,000. We were the most inhabited city in the Province. Only Montreal, with its population of 90,000 people, was bigger. And with Canadian Confederation, we were set to become the capital of the brand-new Province of Ontario. An article in the Globe newspaper, operated by George Brown, one of the Fathers of Confederation, laid out the festivities held in Toronto to celebrate the creation of Canada, on Monday, July 1st, 1867.

The article reported how bells were rung at St. James Cathedral at midnight, as June 30th became July 1st, to “convey the joyful news to the city that the important era had arrived”, as the newspaper put it. The article went on, “Toronto has bestirred herself to make the holiday befitting the occasion … sufficient is announced to secure that the day shall be remembered among us as an eventful one in our history.” 

The old Cathedral Church of St. James had been destroyed by fire in 1849, and the main body of the church was re-opened to the public in 1853. As the photograph of the cathedral in 1867 shows, the spire was not yet complete, and wouldn’t be completely finished until 1874. But enough of the spire had gone up to house the bells, which had arrived in Toronto in 1865, two years before Confederation.

The Cathedral Church of St. James, at the northeast corner of King and Church streets, in 1867.



The first set of bells for the Cathedral were lost in a shipwreck off Rimouski, Quebec. A new set of nine bells were imported from the United States, and made the final leg of their journey along King Street by horse-drawn carriage in 1865. When they were first rung at Christmas that year, an article in the Globe newspaper wrote how “the heart of many an old countryman was warmed again by those old familiar sounds which delighted him in years gone by in his native land.” These same bells are still used 153 years later, in 2018.



Transporting the new bells for the Cathedral Church of St. James along King Street, Toronto, 1865.


A professional bell ringer, one Mr. Rawlinson by name, was on duty at the Cathedral on July 1, 1867. The Daily Leader newspaper had a little bit more to say about the historic ringing of the bells on that day. “The new Dominion was hailed last night as the clock struck twelve by Mr. Rawlinson ringing a merry peal on the bells of St. James’ Cathedral, the effect of which was very fine, in the otherwise solemn stillness of the night. Even at that late hour large numbers of persons were brought into the streets by the chiming of the bells and thousands there remained at their open windows to enjoy the pleasures of listening to the first musical performance of the Province of Ontario. The bells had scarcely commenced chiming when the firing of small arms was heard in every direction.”

The small arms fire was thanks to a detachment of the 10th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Toronto Volunteers. They assembled outside their drill shed and hoisted the Royal Union Flag, as well as their own Regimental Colours. The Royal Union was given a 21-gun salute at about 4 o’clock in the morning, no doubt to the great delight of the neighbours. The Royal Regiment of Toronto would eventually become the Royal Regiment of Canada. 

At six o’clock in the morning, a large ox was put on a spit at the foot of Church Street. One Captain Woodhouse, who commanded a ship called Lord Nelson, was in charge of the patriotic barbecue. The animal had been purchased from a butcher named Joseph Lennox, up in Yorkville. The Globe noted that the ox would take most of the day to roast, and leftovers would be distributed amongst the city’s poor. 

The Daily Telegraph newspaper also noted that parts of the ox were given to two different charities for children. The Protestant Orphan’s Home had opened in 1854, on Sullivan Street, between Queen and Dundas streets. It struggled to accommodate the flood of immigrant children to Toronto, or those who had lost their parents to cholera and the other lethal diseases that swept through Toronto at the time.


Protestant Orphans Home, Sullivan Street, Toronto

The House of Providence stood on Power Street, south of Queen Street. Opened in 1857, it was operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Roman Catholic Church. Nearly always full, the institution would eventually quadruple in size to provide for about 700 residents, including the unemployed, orphans, the elderly, immigrants and widows. Some stayed for a few days, while others were there for years. The House of Providence lasted for over a century before it was demolished in 1962 to make way for the Richmond Street exit from the Don Valley Expressway.


House of Providence, Power Street

Toronto’s church-going faithful also sought out their own edification when Canada became a country on July 1st, 1867. Some assembled at 9:30 in the morning, in the lecture room of the Mechanics Institute at Church and Adelaide streets. They were there for a meeting of the Toronto Branch of the Evangelical Alliance, and “Christian persons of all denominations” were “invited to attend at that hour to invoke the divine blessing of the new Dominion”

The Toronto Mechanics’ Institute had been built in 1853. Paying members could attend lectures and courses and use the library. In 1883, the institute was given financial support by city council, at a time when no other city in Canada had a completely free public library. So, the Mechanics’ Institute became the nucleus of the first public library system in the country. The building was demolished in 1949.


The Toronto Mechanic's Institute, at the northeast corner of King and Adelaide streets


Oliver Mowat was the most notable speaker at the religious rally held at the Mechanics’ Institute on July 1st, 1867. He was vice-chancellor of Evangelical Alliance, a Father of Confederation, and a rival of Sir John A. Macdonald. Mowat wanted strong provincial autonomy, where Macdonald envisioned a very centralized federal government for the country. Mowat served as Ontario’s third premier for 24 years, from 1872 until 1896. He then served as Ontario’s eight lieutenant-governor, from 1897 until 1903. 

Mowat was Ontario’s first great leader, and made the province the richest in Canada. It was under Mowat’s leadership that Ontario’s agriculture was modernized, industry was expanded, areas like education and science were cultivated, urban social problems were addressed, and electoral reforms like voting by secret ballot were introduced. If Macdonald was the “Father of Canada”, then Mowat was the “Father of Ontario”.


Sir Oliver Mowat (born July 22nd, 1820, died April 19, 1903)



But, back to Toronto during the celebrations of Canadian Confederation. They continued all day long. A military review and parade was held on public commons along Spadina Avenue, south of College Street. The afternoon saw a picnic and festival in aid of the new St. Patrick’s School House, and a church on Dummer Street. The Horticultural Society put on an evening concert and dance, with music supplied by two military bands.


The Public Commons, Spadina Avenue, south of College Street, hosted a military review and parade on July 1st, 1867.



Fireworks were set off at Queen’s Park at about 9 o’clock that night, and the park itself was illuminated by lantern light. The area was still mostly a public park at this point, with the parliament buildings still down at Front Street. Today’s legislative assembly wasn’t built on this spot until 1893, and the only building in the park was King’s College, which had been abandoned in 1859 in favour of University College.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper wrote up a good review of Toronto’s first ever July 1st fireworks display, which were set to the tunes offered by two military bands. The paper said, “The great event of the day … was the display of fireworks in the Queen’s Park during the evening. It drew together an immense crowd. The display was the finest of the kind ever witnessed in Toronto and gave universal satisfaction. Several of the pieces were very beautiful and appropriate.”

Monday, July 1st, 1867 was a public holiday across the new Dominion. Businesses were closed, and Toronto celebrated with public musical recitals, choirs, military parades, pageants and picnics, and topped it all of with night time fireworks. At the heart of it all, it doesn’t really sound too different from how we celebrate July 1st these days. 

Sure, those partygoers from 151 years ago wouldn’t recognize the Maple Leaf Flag, and they’d probably be more than a bit startled with what we can do with modern day fireworks. They’d have no idea what a “Canada Day” actually was. But I found it curious that, in spirit, anyway, a lot of our public observances are the same as they were 151 years ago now.




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However you are commemorating Canada Day this year, I hope it's a fun and relaxing one. A simple internet search will reveal a number of "Top Ten" lists of special concerts, fireworks displays, markets, food festivals and activities that are available over this long weekend. As usual, my choice is mostly for the historical, and three of the City of Toronto's historic sites are putting on special events. These are Fort York National Historic Site, Mackenzie House Museum and the Scarborough Museum.


Canada Day at Fort York National Historic Site

"In addition to flag raising and flag lowering ceremonies, the Fort York Summer Guard, dressed as members of the Canadian Regiment of Fencible Infantry (circa 1815) will perform demonstrations of musketry, artillery and fife and drum music. Children can enjoy a drill activity, music classes, and a scavenger hunt. The Fort's volunteer historic cooks will demonstrate period-specific cooking methods and recipes in the historic kitchen."


Celebrate Canada Day at Fort York National Historic Site





Canada Day at Scarborough Museum

"Looking for a unique and memorable Canada Day? Scarborough Museum hosts their annual celebration in Thomson Memorial Park. Demonstrations include historic blacksmithing, spinning, weaving and leather working. Don't forget to check out the Scarborough Historical Archives tent and browse through archival aerial photographs, maps, and lots of information not he history of Scarborough. The museum's annual pie eating contest is also back by popular demand. Finally, enjoy celebratory Canada Day historic treats and stroll through the vendor markets."


Celebrate Canada Day at the Scarborough Museum





Canada Day at Mackenzie House Museum

Celebrate Canada's birthday with a visit to Mackenzie House, the home of Toronto's first mayor! Visitors can use the 1845 press to print their own Maple Leaf postcard.


Celebrate Canada Day at Mackenzie House Museum



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Sunday, March 29, 2015

# 49 ~ Toronto & the First World War, Part II - Mobilization

Crater from a 17" shell near Ypres, Belgium.


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This is the second in a series of nine posts leading up to the centenary of John McCrae's writing of In Flanders Fields, on May 3, 1915.  I've planned for articles to be posted over the next several weeks, and to culminate with actives commemorating the centennial of McCrae's poem.

Images of John McCrae or the poppy, or recitals of the poem, In Flanders Field, are usually just relegated to Remembrance Day.  We have come to associate certain images so much with November 11th, that they seem out of place during the rest of the year.  As I publish these posts, I hope that you will find enough about Toronto's history, to make the articles of interest.

John McCrae wrote his poem during the Second Battle of Ypres, which took place between April 22nd and May 25th of 1915.  The battle saw the first massed use of poison gas by German forces on the Western Front.  It was a important engagement for Canadian troops ~ for the first time, a group of "colonial" soldiers defeated a European power, on European soil.  Military experts often refer to how engagements like the Battle of St. Julien or Kitcheners' Wood helped to usher Canada into national adulthood.  

However, instead of focusing on an analysis of military activity in Europe, my series of posts will mostly follow how the war was "fought" on the Toronto home front.

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The second part of my presentation is entitled “Mobilization”.   This article explores voluntary enlistment, conscription and the mobilization of troops from Toronto and throughout Canada, during the duration of the war.

Prime Minister Sir Robert Baldwin and his cabinet met Britain’s request for 25,000 Canadian troops.  Canada had a very small permanent, standing army, so at the war’s start, volunteers from the citizenry made up a large part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. 




Recruiting stations were soon swamped.  Toronto had always been a very “British” city.  70% of the first wave of volunteers across Canada had been born in Britain, although many had lived in Canada for years.  100 years ago, there was much less of a distinction between the ideas of “British” and “Canadian” national identity, and for many, these terms were interchangeable.  Often, being thoroughly Canadian and being thoroughly British were one in the same.

Over the next four years, more and more of the Canadian Expeditionary Force would be made up of those born in Canada, with about 50% being born in Canada by 1918.

In this Canadian propaganda poster, a soldier is flanked on either side by the Royal Union flag.

A recruiting office in Toronto, near the start of the First World War.

This photograph shows a First World War recruitment drive at Toronto's City Hall.  Decorations above the main entrance tell the men of Toronto how "Your King & Country Need You Now!"

Another view of the bunting and motto over the entrance of City Hall, calling out to residents of the city as they pass by.  Missing, of course, is the cenotaph in front of the building.  In 1914, the war was new, and many recruits the world over looked at is as a great adventure.  The cenotaph was erected to commemorate the war dead in 1925, and was later updated to remember those who served and died in the Second World War, the Korean War, and Canadian peacekeeping missions.


At the start of the war, Torontonians were bombarded with messages encouraging them to enlist.  Streetcars were turned into a sort of rolling recruitment office on wheels, and would go around the city, adorned with advertisements encouraging Torontonians to enlist.

Below is a Toronto streetcar adorned with an enlistment poster for the Number One Construction Battalion.  The motto, “We Go Overseas Quickly” ensures those who enlist will soon be over in Europe in the thick of the fighting.  The signboard at the front of the streetcar advertises its destination as “To Berlin”. 





Another Toronto streetcar, shown below, was decked out to become the “travelling headquarters” of the 109th Regiment.  Potential recruits were encouraged to “Join With Britain’s Best” and warned “Don’t lag behind”.





And, in what had to be a unique marketing strategy for recruitment, this streetcar encouraged new recruits to “Step Aboard” for a “Free Trip to Europe”.




This Australian propaganda poster mirrored the recruitment advertising seen on the Toronto streetcar, above.  The war was presented as some kind of great, fantastic adventure - the chance to travel the world and make new friends on the government's dime - when no one was trying to kill you, of course.  The surprising thing is how well this sort of material worked, and how many young men thought that their experiences in warfare would be just as described.


MOTIVATION TO FIGHT

There were all sorts of reasons that motivated Canadians to fight in the war.  Germany was perceived as a belligerent nation, and their invasion of Belgium was portrayed as an act of brutality.  Many people were shocked by the way this brutality was presented in the media of the day, and reports of German atrocities would eventually reach great levels of hyperbole.

In some cases, German atrocities were highly exaggerated.  The horrible stories of German soldiers impaling Belgium women and children – as reproduced in this editorial cartoon from 1915 – were based on very flimsy evidence, at best.

An editorial cartoon from Life magazine, July 25, 1915, shows a German soldier on parade with Belgian men, women and children impaled on his bayonet.

This illustration appeared in the New York Tribune.  It shows a great German hand - tattooed on the back with the Imperial German eagle - mauling a Belgian town.  The German invasion became known as "The Rape of Belgium" in British, American and Canadian media.
In some cases, though, there was evidence that the German army carried out shocking, premeditated acts of violence against civilians.  The German army claimed that these civilians were potential guerrilla fighters, and were as dangerous as French soldiers.  German soldiers burned homes and executed civilians – including women and children – in towns all over central and eastern Belgium.  

This illustration shows German soldiers executing Belgian civilians during the invasion of Blegny.  Also shown is a table listing Belgian casualties in some of the towns that Germany occupied.

The propaganda poster below, from 1914, asks Canadians to consider what they would do if the atrocities in Belgium had taken place in Newfoundland.  Although Newfoundland was a separate colony, and would not be a Canadian province until 1949, this sort of propaganda brought the German atrocities in Belgium much closer to home.



In addition to patriotism and the news of atrocities conducted by the Germans, either real or imagined, Canadians often found other reasons to enlist.  The literature of the day, including poetry and text books read in school rooms depicted the war as a romantic adventure, full of honour and glory.  Escapism definitely played a part in inciting some people to volunteer for combat.

Books like “The Children’s Story of the War”, or “Canada in Flanders” made the war sound exciting and appealing, especially to younger audiences.

Read the "Children's Story of War" here, at the online archives for the University of Toronto's Robarts Library.  

Read "Canada in Flanders" here.


This sense of escapism, combined with an economic recession, led some to sign up for the military, although many left decent paying jobs to enlist.  Construction of one of the grandest homes in Toronto – Casa Loma – had begun just before the war started, and many of the 300 labourers who were hired by Sir Henry Pellatt to build his dream castle lay down their tools to go off and fight.

Some of the labourers who helped to build Casa Loma are shown here, below, about 1913, with the partially completed castle in the background. 





Despite the fact that recruiting posters emphasized that EVERYONE should enlist, not every volunteer was accepted.  Recruiting posters tended to show powerful looking, well proportioned young men, going off to fight.  In 1914, volunteers were subjected to strict medical examinations.  A successful candidate had to be at least 5 feet, 3 inches tall, be between 18 and 45 years old, have good eyesight, and healthy teeth, among other qualifications.   This led to the legends of some gap toothed volunteers quipping that they wanted to shoot Germans, not bite them. 


Recruitment posters like this one would have played on a sense of guilt or shame felt by those who didn't join up to fight.


Enlistment was presented with the morally right, "manly" thing to do, and all the men who appeared in recruitment posters were illustrated as fine male specimens, in good health.

A propaganda poster calling for recruitment during the war asks Canadians to judge themselves by the nationalism of their enemy.

A recruitment poster for the 48th Highlanders of Canada advocates that those who read it help "Avenge St. Julien".  The Battle of St. Julien was a battle in which Canadians fought during the greater conflict near Ypres.  The Battle of St. Julien took place between April 24th and May 5th, 1915.  McCrae penned In Flanders Fields on May 3rd, 1915.

This broadside from early in the war is entitled "The Story of  His Brave Canadian Father", and tells the story of a young boy from Ontario, who learns of his father's death in the war, and runs off to enlist.  It was meant to inspire grown men to do the same.  The caption at the bottom reads "It is related of a little York County (Ontario) boy, on being told by his mother the particulars of the gallant death of his after on the battle fields of France, ran off to a nearby recruiting station and asked to be enlisted.  The officer in charge took down his name and promised him a place "as soon as he could fill the physical requirements".  The boy, quite satisfied with the promise, trotted back to his home and his toys."


By 1917, the Canadian government felt that volunteer recruitment was no longer providing the necessary number of Canadian soldiers for the war effort.  The war had dragged on much longer than anyone first imagined, and had taken a great toll in cost and casualties.  Many leaders felt that Canada still had to live up to its obligations to our allies, and Prime Minister Borden believed that Canada needed to continue to show its military might in order to secure international influence. 

Conscription was eventually adopted and went into effect in Canada on August 29, 1917.  All male Canadians between 20 and 45 were now subject to military service, if called upon. 

Ultimately, conscription had a limited impact on the war effort.  By the end of the war, in November of 1918, only 48,000 conscripts had been sent overseas, and only half of those served at the front.  Over 50,000 conscripts were due to go overseas in 1919, but ended up never leaving Canada, as the war ended before they were shipped across the Atlantic.

These last two pictures show injured soldiers, home from the war and recuperating at a hospice in Toronto.  These men were almost certainly volunteers who had gone overseas to fight before conscription was enacted in Canada.  Chalked on the wall behind the soldiers in the first photograph is a slogan warning all “Slackers, beware the green eyed monster of conscription.”


In this photograph we see more injured Canadian soldiers.  Phrases chalked on the brick wall behind them include “You conscript, your time has come at last”, "We have done ours”, “Join now”, and perhaps, as more of a plea than a warning, “Don’t forget us”.




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Coming up : My next instalment of the "Toronto & The First World War" series is entitled "Preparation".  It explores the training of soldiers around Toronto.  It includes some photographs of familiar spaces in the city as they were taken over for military training.

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Thursday, March 27, 2014

# 45 ~ Old Banks of Toronto, Then and Now, Part Two

 
In my last article, I introduced the history of just a few of Toronto's historic bank buildings. Many are gone, while several that still stand have been turned over to other purposes, and are no longer temples (or at least, smaller chapels) dedicated to the exchange and storage of funds. However, we are fortunate than an elegantly built bank will often always still look like a bank, even decades after it has stopped serving as one.
 
 
In this second article on the history of banks in the city, I will carry on with the same format that I have used for the first article. Of course, whole volumes could be assembled on old banks in the city. What I've offered up here, even in two articles, is not even the “tip of the iceberg”, and I envision there being more entries to come, either more immediately or at some point in the future.
 
 
THE BANK OF TORONTO
 
The Bank of Toronto was established in 1857.  Both William Gooderham and his son, George, were active in the early years of the Bank of Toronto. William Gooderham was the family patriarch who led an entourage of 54 family members to the Town of York in the summer of 1832. William Gooderham had been encouraged to emigrate by James Worts, who was married to William's sister. Together, the various members of the Worts and Gooderham clans operated a windmill on the east side of town at the Don River. Within a few years this windmill evolved into the family run distillery which would become the cornerstone of the families' fortunes and the Distillery District that we know today.
 
 
THEN : William Gooderham, Sr., 1790 - 1881
 
THEN : The Worts and Gooderham windmill formed the basis of today's Distillery District.


 
There was no denying the business acumen of either William or his son George. In 1856, George became a full partner in the family distillery business, along with his father and his cousin James Worts. Financial newspapers of the era, like the Monetary Times, credited George Gooderham with helping to grow the family business. He had an excellent technical knowledge of the business and was also a perfectionist.
 
 
 
THEN : George Gooderham, 1830 - 1905.
 
 
The two Gooderhams, father and son, saw the writing on the wall and had the foresight to invest in some of the emerging enterprises of the mid-nineteenth century. The first was the construction of railways, which had been launched in Ontario when the first steam train to operate in the province ran between Toronto and Aurora in 1853.  By 1870, George Gooderham was a director of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway, which, along with the Toronto and Nipissing Railway, was controlled by Gooderham and Worts and distributed all the freight for the family firm.
 
 
THEN : The Toronto, the first locomotive to operate in Ontario, was steam powered and travelled from Toronto to Aurora in the Spring of 1853.
 
Apart from the production of alcohol and the running of railways, banking was the other major endeavour for the Gooderham family. George Gooderham served as a director and later a vice president of the Bank of Toronto for several years, and as its president from 1882 until his death in 1905. Gooderham ran the Bank of Toronto in a style similar to his other business entrances. Growth came slowly, perhaps, but surely. New branches of the bank opened gradually, and the mainstream of the bank's customers tended to be in industries like distilling, brewing, and milling, as well as farmers and merchants.

The first branch of the Bank of Toronto to be opened outside of Ontario was one that began operation in Montreal in 1860. As northern Ontario and the Prairie provinces became more developed in the 1880s and 1890s, the Bank of Toronto expanded a little more quickly. Like other banks, it was offering loans to manufacturers and those who were harvesting natural resources. The Bank of Toronto reached the west coast in 1899 when it opened a branch in the mining town of Rossland, British Columbia.
 
 
THEN : A "branch" of the Bank of Toronto operates out of a tent near the Dome Mine in Timmins, in this photograph from 1913.
 
During the First World War, Canadian banks were solicited to help finance the expense of war, and the Bank of Toronto became involved with the marketing of War Bonds to the Canadian public. A significant portion of the staff of the Bank of Toronto gave military service during the war. The 1920s were generally prosperous for the Bank of Toronto, and although the bank's earnings declined during the Great Depression through the 1930s, it didn't suffer any great losses. Like every other chartered bank, the Bank of Toronto resisted the introduction of a central Bank of Canada, but when this was established in the 1930s, the Bank of Toronto gave up their rights to print their own currency.
 
 
THEN : Canadian troops celebrate their victory at Vimy in 1917.  Images like this were incorporated into advertisements for War Bonds, like the one below.  Canadian banks were involved in marketing War Bonds, as part of their campaign to help the Canadian Government finance the war.



 
During the Second World War, the Bank of Toronto, along with its competitors, was once again involved in marketing war bonds, as well as rationing and the control of the foreign exchange. The Bank of Toronto had little more than one thousand employees during the war years, and nearly half that number went into the armed forces.
 
In the six years that the war went on, the Bank of Toronto more than doubled its assets. However, the bank also faced much larger rivals, and began to contemplate a partnership with another bank of equal size in order to take advantage of new economic opportunities. So, on February 1, 1955, the Bank of Toronto merged with the Dominion Bank, giving birth to the Toronto-Dominion Bank.  In 2000, the Canada Trust Company was acquired by the Toronto-Dominion Bank, giving us the present day company of TD Canada Trust.
 
 
The very first branch of the Bank of Toronto was constructed in 1856, with staff preparing for the official public opening of the institution the following year. This branch was located at 78 Church Street, just south of Adelaide Street, and had a staff of three people. Rather remarkably, this building is still standing, and his now home to the Commissionaires. 
 
THEN : The very first branch of the Bank of Toronto was operated out of 78 Church Street from 1856 until 1862.  The building is shown here in 1956.
 




NOW : 78 Church Street, now home to the Commissionaires, in 2014.
 
 
Just a few years later, the Bank of Toronto moved to new headquarters on the northwest corner of Wellington and Church streets.  This building opened in 1862 and has become a rather notorious example of lost buildings in Toronto.  This beautiful Bank of Toronto building on the north side of Wellington Street would stand for just under a century, before being demolished in 1961, and becoming one of the first casualties of the so-called “urban renewal” of the 1960s.


 
THEN : The Bank of Toronto at the northwest corner of Wellington and Church streets is shown here in 1890.




NOW : What we have now, instead of the old Bank of Toronto building, is a stunning example of postmodern Toronto architecture ...


Gooderham's office – now more commonly known as the Flatiron Building – still stands across the street, on the south side of Wellington Street. So, his office stood across the street from the bank with which he was so involved, and rumours abound of an underground tunnel that Gooderham could use to sneak across the street and get into the bank's vaults. According to some sources, anyway, the tunnel is still there, but access from the tavern that is now in the basement of Gooderham's office has been completely sealed off.


 
THEN : The Bank of Toronto building at the northwest corner of Wellington and Church streets is shown here in 1870.


NOW : An accessible tunnel once ran from the Gooderham Building, on the left, under Wellington Street, to where the Bank of Toronto once stood on the right.  Apparently, the entrance to the tunnels from the basement of the Gooderham building are all bricked up.  Goodness only knows what one would find in the basement of "The Works".
 

As early as 1901, the Bank of Toronto began contemplating the construction of a new headquarters. The bank purchased a large plot of land at the southwest corner of King and Bay streets in 1902. With a frontage of 120 feet on King Street, and 134 feet on Bay Street, it was the largest parcel of land that had been bought up for redevelopment up until that point in the city's history. The lease on some of the buildings that stood at that corner did not expire until 1911, so actual construction of the new Bank of Toronto building did not begin until January of 1912.
An American architectural firm, Carrere & Hastings, was chosen to design the new building. It was a time when there was a great deal of nationalism in architectural design in Canadian citizens, and the choice of an American firm probably caused a stir. But Carrere & Hastings was at the top of the list of respected American architectural companies, and their work on the building would have brought the Bank of Toronto a lot of prestige, as well as the security of knowing that their new headquarters would be well designed and well built. The design of the new Bank of Toronto building was inspired by the Bourse de Paris – the Paris Stock Exchange building – that had been constructed over almost twenty years from 1808 to 1826. The Bank of Toronto building took considerably less time, and was completed in 1913.
 
THEN : The elegance and grandeur of the Bourse de Paris would serve as inspiration for the Bank of Toronto's new headquarters at King and Bay streets.


THEN : The new Bank of Toronto headquarters were completed in 1913.
 
 
 
The Corinthian columns of the building evoked a sense of the Classical world that could be found in a number of bank buildings from the time. A large plinth, taller than the height of pedestrians passing by, held the columns above the level of the traffic, and evoked a sense that the bank was built on a strong foundation. The building looked like an imposing, geometric monument that exuded self confidence. The elegance of the exterior of the building hid the fact that there were five levels of offices on the inside, and two full basements with space enough for vaults and storage. Inside, at the centre of the building, was a vaulted two storey banking hall. Marble, bronze and glass certainly made it one of the most stunning commercial interiors at the time.

 
When the Bank of Toronto amalgamated with the Dominion Bank in 1955, a decision was made to construct a new building to house the combined offices of both of the former banks. The 1913 Bank of Toronto building, and the current Toronto-Dominion Centre was built in its place. Two towers were built in the second half of the 1960s, with another four being built between 1974 and 1991. The bronze tinted glass and black steel of the buildings are perhaps the best example that Toronto has of the “International Style” of corporate tower that was popular in North America fifty years ago. On one hand, it is easy to imagine a film about the world of banking, set in New York City in the 1960s, being set in and around the complex. On the other hand, it's hard not to miss the classical style of the old 1913 Bank of Toronto building.
 
THEN : Topping off the 56-storey tower of the Toronto Dominion Centre, just prior to its completion in 1966.


THEN : The original two towers of the Toronto Dominion Centre in 1966.  The Royal York Hotel can still be seen to dominate Front Street in the background.  The Toronto Stock Exchange building can be seen in the lower left hand corner of the photograph.  Later additions to the Toronto Dominion Centre would eventually wrap themselves around the Toronto Stock Exchange building, and the old Art Deco façade now looks out from a wall of black glass.

THEN : The original two Toronto Dominion Towers, circa 1967, just after they were completed. With "new" city hall in the background, and the Royal York and the Bank of Commerce building visible, I really think that this photograph points to a time when Toronto was delineated between the first and second halves of the twentieth century. The hotel and Bank of Commerce are still obvious giants, but the nuances of Revell's city hall and the soaring height of the new TD towers are like the opening chords of the modern glass and steel symphony.
 
 
The first run of banknotes from the Bank of Toronto were printed between 1856 and 1865. Few survive, so they are quite valuable to collectors. However, a large number of the banknotes from this period issued by the Bank of Toronto were counterfeited. Banknotes from these years were issued in denominations of $1, $2, $4, $5 and $10. Many of the banknotes were overprinted with the location of branches, including locations in Barrie, Cobourg, Collingwood, Montreal, Peterborough, Port Hope, and St. Catharines. Like any other chartered bank, the signatures of various bank officials appear on these banknotes – two names of note were William Gooderham and James Worts.




THEN : $1 and $4 banknotes from the Bank of Toronto, dating from the 1856 to 1865 period.

In 1876, the Bank of Toronto did a run of only 25,000 banknotes, all with a face value of $4. No other denominations were produced. They were either overprinted to show branch locations in Collingwood or St. Catharines, or had no overprint at all. J.G. Worts is pictured on the left and William Gooderham is on the right. Because of the limited number that were produced, these banknotes are considered to be rare and quite valuable.



THEN : $4 banknote from the Bank of Toronto, dated 1876.  J.G. Worts is portrayed on the left, and William Gooderham is on the right.
 
For a little more than forty years between 1887 and 1929, the Bank of Toronto did little to change the appearance of their banknotes. Perhaps they felt that loyal customers would be more secure having a recognizable mode of currency from year to year. However, printing also cost less if the design remained stagnant. The opening decades of the twentieth century were years in which other banks modernized the appearance of their currency, but banknotes issued by the Bank of Toronto retained a more “retro” look. Overprints from various branches show a wide range of locations all across Canada, signifying that the Bank of Toronto was growing across the country.





THEN : Bank of Toronto banknotes from the period between 1887 and 1929.  The $5 note portrays the Canadian Coat of Arms at the time, while the $10 note portrays what was then the Coat of Arms for Toronto.  The $20 note contains a reference to the railroads, a cornerstone of the Gooderham family fortune, while the $50 banknote shows Toronto's 1899 City Hall.
 
These Bank of Toronto banknotes from either 1935 or 1937 show little variation at all from what had been produced between 1887 and 1929.





THEN : Bank of Toronto banknotes from 1935 and 1937, looking like something out of the nineteenth century.
 
THE DOMINION BANK
The Dominion Bank began in 1871, and had a history that was in some ways similar to the Bank of Toronto. It was founded on cautious and conservative principles, but spread its branches of networks fairly quickly. In 1872 it became the first bank in Canada to have two branches in the same city – right here, in Toronto.
James Austin was to the Dominion Bank what William and George Gooderham had been to the Bank of Toronto. Born in Northern Ireland in 1813, he was sixteen years old when his family came to Canada. He became a printer's apprentice and spent a decade in that trade, both in Canada and the United States. However, the cornerstone of his fortunes would lay in other endeavours. He went into partnership with Patrick Foy and together they established the Austin & Foy wholesale company, which operated out of the Daniel Brooke building, which had been built at the northeast corner of King and Jarvis streets in 1833 and which still stands today. The venture was a profitable one, but Austin was drawn away by interests in other ventures. The partnership was dissolved, and Austin was left with a decent sum of money to invest elsewhere.


 

THEN : The Daniel Brooke building has stood at the northeast corner of King and Jarvis streets since 1833.  The Austin & Foy Wholesale Company has been just one of the enterprises to inhabit this building, which is one of the few intrepid survivors from Georgian Toronto.

With his establishment of the Dominion Bank in 1871, he became a central figure in Canadian finance. He was involved in several different insurance and mortgage companies. He had also been one of the founding directors of Consumers' Gas, and by 1881 he had staked out further control of that company and became its president.
In 1866, Austin had a new family home built on top of Spadina Road, overlooking the escarpment. The Eaton family were nearby neighbours, and of course, Sir Henry Pellatt's notorious residence, Casa Loma, would eventually be built across the street. The estate had been previously owned by the Baldwin family, and noted Canadian political reformer Robert Baldwin had died in the home that stood on the property. Austin had this house replaced, but kept the estate name as Spadina. Austin ended up selling off some portions of the eighty acres that he had purchased, and the 1866 home was renovated and added to, but it still survives today.


NOW : James Austin's estate of Spadina, as it looks today.  Built in 1866 on the foundations of the Baldwin family estate, it now functions as a jewel in the crown of Toronto's museums.
 
The last member of the family to live in the house was Anna Kathleen Thompson, a granddaughter of James Austin. In 1982, she negotiated to turn the house over to the City of Toronto, and two years later, the house opened as a municipal museum, and is still in operation as such today. Renovated in 2010, the museum offers a number of unique historical experiences, including an exhibit on the wardrobe and costuming from the popular television series Downton Abbey.

Find media coverage for the "Dressing for Downton" exhibit at Spadina here ...
... or visit here for official information!




NOW : The Austin family vault at St. James' Cemetery.
 
Getting back to the Dominion Bank, it spread through northern Ontario and western Canada, just like the Bank of Toronto, and many other Canadian banks. The bank's target clientele were employees of utility, resource and manufacturing companies. The bank's history also mirrored that of the Bank of Toronto when it got involved in War Bonds in the First World War, and then rationing and foreign exchange in the Second World War.




THEN : An ad campaign for Victory Bonds from 1918.  All major Canadian banks were expected to help finance the war effort by promoting investment in the Canadian government.

 

The Dominion Bank didn't suffer too greatly during the Great Depression, and the late 1930s and 1940s were a very prosperous time for the bank as an institution. However, in order to compete with other large banks, the Dominion Bank merged with the Bank of Toronto in 1955. The two conservative institutions with a very similar history made for a successful partnership that still exists today.
 
 
The very first branch, which also housed the corporate headquarters of the Dominion Bank, stood at 40 King Street East, opening there when the bank was established in 1871. The bank was actually renting these quarters from a retailer, known as the Harris Store, and was paying a rental fee of $92.50 per month. Within a few years, the bank outgrew this location, and in 1879, a new building was constructed at the southwest corner of King and Yonge streets, at 1 King Street West. The location had originally been home to a retail outlet, the Michie & Company Grocers and Wine Merchants, but this would be demolished in order to build the headquarters for the Dominion Bank. The cost of construction was $40,000.


 

THEN : A photograph of the Dominion Bank building at 1 King Street West circa 1879, the year it was opened.
Standing at a height of five stories, the new building that was constructed for the Dominion Bank in 1879 was an early entry in the race for architects to build taller and taller. The Beard Building stood at a height of seven storeys at the southeast corner of King and Jarvis streets from 1894 until 1935, the twelve storey Temple Building towered over Richmond and Bay streets from 1896 until 1970, and the Trader's Bank Building, constructed in 1905 to an amazing height of fifteen storeys, still stands at the northeast corner of Yonge and Colborne streets. But the five storey Dominion Bank headquarters at King and Yonge streets was certainly seen as a “skyscraper” when it went up in 1879.
 
 
THEN : The Beard Building, on the southeast corner, King and Jarvis streets, 1894 to 1935, stood seven storeys.


THEN : The Temple Building, on the northwest corner of Richmond and Bay streets, 1896 to 1970, stood twelve storeys.



NOW : The Trader's Bank Building, at the northeast corner of Colborne and Yonge streets, built in 1905 and still standing, soars to fifteen stories.  All of these buildings, in turn, amazed Torontonians with their ever growing heights.  They all came after the five storey Dominion Bank building, constructed in 1879.

 
THEN : The Dominion Bank building in 1903, looking diagonally across the street, from the northeast corner of King and Yonge streets, towards the bank at the southwest corner.
 
 
THEN : Looking east across King Street towards the Dominion Bank, on the corner of Yonge Street.  When the bank replaced Michie & Company at the corner, that enterprise seems to have found a new home, two doors west (so, towards the camera) from the bank.
 

That record would seen be toppled, of course, and the ever growing success of the Dominion Bank led to the construction of an even taller building. Work on the building began in March of 1913, and the result was a twelve storey Beaux-Arts skyscraper. When plans were unveiled for the new building, detractors claimed that such a tall building would ruin the city's skyline. However, the work of the architectural firm of Darling and Pearson silenced all the critics when the new Bank of Dominion building was completed in 1914.


  Pearson and Darling would work on a great many number of Toronto landmarks from the early 20th century, including Flavelle House (now a part of the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law), Convocation Hall and the Sanford Fleming Building (both also located at the University of Toronto), wings of both the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Bank of Commerce building, which still stands at King and Jordan streets, and is a neighbour of the Dominion Bank building. The architectural firm's work on the Dominion Bank building was acclaimed as an attractive addition to Toronto's blossoming financial district.

 
NOW : The (former) Dominion Bank building at 1 King Street West, as it appears today.
In addition to the building's soaring height of twelve storeys, there were certainly other grand properties to the building, too. The Grand Banking Hall, on the second floor, boasted a forty-five foot high ceiling. The hall seems cavernous, measuring 154 feet long and 68 feet wide. In a time when the bank lobbies of today are only large enough to fit a few bank machines, the banking hall of the 1914 Dominion Bank seems enormous indeed. The massive nature of the building was also supported by an excavation that went thirty-five feet beneath street level.



NOW : The grand banking hall at the Dominion Bank today.  Like a number of historic venues, the bank has been converted to entertainment space.  As familiar as we are with small little vestibules for automated banking machines, it's hard to remember a time when so much space was needed to efficiently process bank customers.
 
The vault located in the basement soon became a famous feature of the Dominion Bank. Located at the base of a grand marble staircase that leads down from the main floor, the vault was at one time considered to be one of the biggest and best in Canada. It measures thirty-three square feet square, and has a height of twenty-five feet. The vault is actually divided into two levels. The upper one is known as the Safety Deposit Vault and the lower one is known as the Treasury Vault. The circular door to the upper vault is over four feet thick, and has a circumference of over seven feet.  Before the door could be installed, it was pulled down Yonge Street by a team of horses.  This turned into something of a procession and was covered by local newspapers, which no doubt enhanced the bank's profile. 



THEN : This photograph from 1914 shows the vault of the Dominion Bank being transported to the new bank headquarters at Yonge and King streets.
 
NOW : The marble staircase that leads down from the refurbished main floor of the bank, downstairs to the Safety Deposit Vaults.

NOW : The massive vault in the basement as it appears today.


With the merger of the Dominion Bank with the Bank of Toronto in 1955, many of the corporate functions of the new Toronto-Dominion Bank were moved to what had been the Bank of Toronto headquarters, just down the street at the southwest corner of King and Bay streets. A branch of the bank did continue to occupy the building at King and Yonge streets into the 1990s. Ownership changed in 1999, when the old Dominion Bank Building at 1 King Street West was bought up to form the nucleus of a new hotel and condominium complex. By 2006, the adjacent glass and steel tower, nicknamed “the Sliver”, was completed and the complex – commonly referred to as the 1 King West Hotel - opened for business.


NOW : The Dominion Bank building and "the Sliver" at 1 King Street West.
 
The Dominion Bank printed its first currency in 1871, with another series following shortly after in 1873. Available denominations were $4, $5, $10, $20 and $100 bills. The $4 bill shown here carried a portrait of Prince Arthur, who had been born in 1850 and who would go on to become a Governor General of Canada. His mother, Queen Victoria, is pictured on the $5 bill. Like early banknotes from the Bank of Toronto, these often fell prey to counterfeiters, so authentic banknotes are very rare today.




THEN : $4 and $5 banknotes from the Dominion Bank shortly after it opened.  The $4 banknote features Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, who would serve as a Governor General of Canada.  He had many connections with Toronto.  Prince Arthur Road, which runs west from Avenue Road, just north of Bloor Street, is named for him.


In a five year period between 1876 and 1881, the Dominion Bank printed a series of 110,000 banknotes with a denomination of $4, 312,000 banknotes with a denomination of $5, and 105,000 banknotes with a denomination of $10. Like other banknotes from the Dominion Bank, these are considered to be rare and valuable today.




THEN : Banknotes issued from the Dominion Bank between 1876 and 1881.  Generally speaking, the Dominion Bank issued banknotes that were more elaborate and vibrant than those of the Bank of Toronto.
 
 
Through to the final years of the nineteenth century, banknotes from the Dominion Bank continued to display the signature of James Austin. He died in 1897 and his son Albert William Austin (1857 to 1934) took over the family fortunes.





THEN : Signatures on the banknotes from the Dominion Bank at the end of the nineteenth century began to reflect a change in bank management, when Albert William Austin took over after his father's death in 1897.
 





In 1931, the Dominion Bank issued a banknote series in denominations of $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. The various denominations show a uniform type of design. A portrait of Albert William Austin appears on the banknotes, along with one of Clarence A. Bogert. Austin was the president of the bank from 1925 until 1933, and Bogert was president from 1933 until 1934. $5 bills were the most commonly printed, with one million of them going into circulation. 600,000 of the $10 bills were printed, 46,000 of the $20 bills were printed, 8,800 of the $50 bills were printed, and only 6,800 of the $100 bills were printed. This gives you an idea as to the relative scarcity of each of them, and a sense of the corresponding numismatic value.






THEN : The 1931 series of banknotes from the Dominion Bank, featuring the portraits of Albert Austin (left) and Clarence Bogert.
 
Although the $5 and $10 banknotes issued by the Dominion Bank are more common than other issues, they were still designed in a very attractive manner. Austin and Bogert have disappeared off the banknotes in favour of Clifton Carlisle, the new bank president, and Dudley Dawson, the vice-president. These banknotes, as well as those produced in 1938, were slightly smaller than those previously issued by the Dominion Bank.



THEN : The $5 and $10 banknotes issued by the Dominion Bank in 1938, featuring Clifton Carlisle and Dudley Dawson.
 
The 1938 $5 and $10 banknotes featured portraits of Robert Rae and Clifton Carlise.



THEN : The 1938 $5 and $10 banknotes featuring Robert Rae and Clifton Carlisle.
 
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Here's a throwback to an advertisement produced by Canada Trust, before they amalgamated with Toronto-Dominion. It showcases a brand new technology in banking – the ATM. Johnny Cash made a cameo appearance to help Canada Trust to convince bankers that the “Johnny Cash cash machine” was a safe, secure and convenient way to do banking.
 
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Don't go away! An upcoming article will relate the history of institutions like the Royal Bank and the Bank of Nova Scotia.