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torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
Toronto Archives
@torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
1.5K followers 1 following 19 posts
We maintain & make accessible records of enduring value that give evidence of decisions, policies & activities of the City of Toronto.

www.toronto.ca/archives
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torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
Today we learned that in 1927 the automaker Studebaker named a model the Dictator. It was discontinued after 1937. By then, that brand wasn't cool anymore, somehow.
https://ow.ly/6n3V50XCap6
Black and white photo of a 1931 model Studebaker Dictator. It has large fenders that flow into its running boards. Behind the front fender is a spare tire in a flashy chrome cover. Globe and Mail fonds 1266, Item 23694.
December 12, 2025 at 5:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
Ever wondered about the history of where you live? Join one of our FREE Friday afternoon house history workshops this winter! Info and registration: https://ow.ly/yGGM50XBPvF

Black and white photo of a small one-story house with bare trees and a flat, snowy yard. A few similar houses are visible in the background but the house has no immediate neighbours. Residence, 73 Hounslow Road, Willowdale, circa 1935. Fonds 1034, Item 49.
December 12, 2025 at 1:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
Doing a bit of holiday baking? You might be surprised how many cookbooks and recipes you can find in the Archives collections!

https://ow.ly/x9fJ50XCS6y

Cover of New Royal Cookbook, showing colour illustrations of biscuits, pancakes, strawberry shortcake, and donuts on a black background. New Royal Cookbook, 1922. Fonds 564, Series 2918, File 4.
December 11, 2025 at 5:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
Panoramic view on this day in 1935 of the Victoria Park Water Filtration Plant and Pumping Station under construction.

A decade later, it would be named the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant in honour Roland Caldwell Harris, Toronto's Commissioner of Public Works from 1912 to 1945.
View over the construction site of a large water treatment facility. Wooden scaffolding forms the foundation of a building in the foreground, surrounded by dirt roads and piles of wood. Fonds 200, Series 372, Subseries 77, Item 62. View over the construction site of a large water treatment facility overlooking Lake Ontario. Wooden scaffolding holds the form of a building, surrounded by dirt roads and piles of wood. A large mound of earth is in the foreground. Fonds 200, Series 372, Subseries 77, Item 63.
December 11, 2025 at 1:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
Our digitization team recently added 1,394 new Globe and Mail photos from 1931 to our online database. They include this pic of radio fitness influencer Dr. Harry Shrandhagen and his daughter Bonnie, aged 11 months.
https://ow.ly/Ep6C50XC65g
Inside a room with a wooden door and a bookcase, a man in a suit is holding a baby by her thighs at chest level. The baby, wearing only socks and patent leather shoes, looks like the figurehead of a ship as she performs a back extension. Fonds 1266, Item 24311.
December 10, 2025 at 5:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
A very different view of the northeast corner of Yonge Street and Alexander Street, the location of the Colling Tire Shop, taken on this day in 1929.
Three-story brick building with arched windows and fire escapes on the corner of an intersection. Two large utility poles stand in front of a tire business, and a car is parked outside. A heavy layer of snow is on the sidewalk and some snow on the roads. Fonds 1266, Item 18810.
December 10, 2025 at 1:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
TTC Snow Plough Number 3, photographed at the Hillcrest Yard #OTD one hundred years ago. Do you ever get the feeling these old vehicles would have been fun to drive?
https://ow.ly/uJIQ50XBVa1
Black and white photo of a snow plough from the 1920s. It has a small blade on the front and a larger blade on the side. The side blade is controlled by a second steering wheel on a vertical column behind the driver in the open cab. In the background, you can see a house under construction on Burnside Drive, and large completed homes east of Bathurst Street. TTC Fonds 16, Series 71, Item 4168.
December 9, 2025 at 5:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
City Hall Christmas tree installation day in 1972 at Nathan Phillips Square!

https://ow.ly/3emX50XCRcX
Installation of a large Christmas tree in front of Toronto city hall. A person is standing at the top of a tall ladder extending from the flatbed of a parked truck to the top of the tree. Another person is standing on a smaller ladder in front of the tree affixing lights onto branches. Fonds 1652, File 1126. A man crouched on the ground with a film camera faces a group of children and adults standing outside in Nathan Phillips Square. Behind him, a man is standing next to a Christmas tree on a truck trailer, in front of a sign which reads "The Christmas Tree Express". Old City Hall is visible in the background. Fonds 1652, File 1126.
December 9, 2025 at 1:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
Four men with a plan. Why does this look like the beginning of a Wile E. Coyote scenario? Toronto Bay, circa 1915.
https://ow.ly/If4w50XC9NA
Black and white photo: on the ice of Toronto Harbour, three men in overcoats sit on a sled consisting of a plank mounted on sledges. The man at the front holds a steering mechanism with handlebars. A fourth man at the back kneels facing backwards and adjusts a large fan propellor rigged to the back of the sled. Fonds 1244, Item 482.
December 8, 2025 at 5:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
A 16mm silent film showing footage of the Bloor streetcar in the winter of 1939-1940.

Footage includes Bay Street at Albert Street, the former Jane loop, Bloor Street at Dundas Street West, Bloor Street at the CN/CP underpass, and a small Witt car on King Street West.

https://ow.ly/j2WR50XCPmb
December 8, 2025 at 1:51 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
The Toronto Eaton Centre decorated for the holidays 25 years ago. Did you know that both the Eaton Centre and the City of Toronto Archives were designed by the architect Eb Zeidler?
https://ow.ly/ECnN50XALaG
The interior of the Eaton Centre mall seen from a high angle. A large conifer with white batting and gold ribbons around its base is hanging from the roof, seeming to float in the air. Behind it, you can just see the Flight Stop sculpture. Photo by Jose San Juan. Series 2311, File 3228, Item 14.
December 5, 2025 at 5:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
Looking north east to the corner of Front Street and Yonge Street #OTD in 1925. You can see the Bank of Montreal that became the Hockey Hall of Fame. Across the street is the Toronto Board of Trade Building, which was torn down in 1958.
https://ow.ly/3xSr50XzaTH
A black and white photo looking diagonally across a parking lot filled with cars from the 1920s towards an intersection. On the left is a four-storey building with mansard roofs. Next to it is the neo-classical Bank of Montreal. Diagonally across the intersection is a sandstone building that has a rounded corner with a conical roof. Photo by John Boyd Sr. Fonds 1548, Series 393, Item 20161.
December 5, 2025 at 1:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
The Toronto Public Library recently purchased 339 Queen Street East, on the corner of Parliament Street. Here's what that building looked like in 1972.
https://ow.ly/T19O50XAReu
Black and white photo of a three-storey brick building on a street corner criss-crossed by streetcar tracks. The bricks are painted white, and signs on both sides of the building read, "Home Furniture". Large windows on the ground floor and second floor display furniture showrooms. Fonds 2032, Series 841, File 16, Item 16.
December 4, 2025 at 5:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
Get your photo orders in! December 5 is the final day to place Archives photo orders for completion by December 25. Orders received after that date will be ready in the new year.

Find out more under under the tab "Copying What’s in the Archives" at toronto.ca/archives

#TOArchives
A young child wearing a winter coat, hat, and boots. They are on their tiptoes, reaching up to place a letter in a postbox attached to a pole on a residential street. Fonds 1266, Item 6710.
December 4, 2025 at 1:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
Looking east from the Bathurst Street bridge over the lakeshore railway tracks in late 1975. Almost none of these buildings can be seen from that vantage point today.
https://ow.ly/4E0N50XzaRL
The windows of Toronto's downtown skyscrapers glow orange in the setting sun. At left, First Canadian Place extends upwards out of the top of the frame. The three black Toronto Dominion towers are clearly visible next to it. At right, you can see the Royal York Hotel in front of the north and south towers of the Royal Bank Plaza. The latter have cranes on top of them, and the gold mirror windows are only partially installed. Series 1465, File 458, Item 1.
December 3, 2025 at 5:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
The big reveal at Scarborough Civic Centre in 1986 as Santa flips the switch on the Christmas tree lights.
#ScarbTO
A small crowd gathered around a large novelty light switch marked "On / Off" in front of a Christmas tree at Scarborough Civic Centre. Santa Claus has just turned the switch to ON. Fonds 218, Series 1762, File 3519. A small crowd walking down the steps outside the entrance of Scarborough Civic Centre. Most people are wearing rain jackets and some holding umbrellas. Santa Claus and a person dressed as an elf are in the centre of the crowd. Fonds 218, Series 1762, File 3519. Two figure skaters in the centre of a large rectangular rink outside Scarborough Civic Centre. A large crowd is gathered around the rink perimeter watching the performance. Fonds 218, Series 1762, File 3519.
December 3, 2025 at 1:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
Why is this photo titled "ALF Pumper" you may ask? American LaFrance was a manufacturer of fire engines. This shiny model once belonged to Toronto Fire Hall No. 8.
https://ow.ly/Z6Yp50Xzb7q
Black and white photo of a fire engine from circa the 1920s. The driver's seat and steering wheel are open to the sky. It has ladders strapped to the back, and polished metal fittings throughout. From the Karl Lee collection. Series 61, File 7, Item 1.
December 2, 2025 at 5:50 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
A look back at the early years of skating in Nathan Phillips Square, where a rink has been operating for over six decades! The rink opened almost year before the rest of the square and New City Hall were completed in 1965.
A rectangular skating rink outside Toronto City Hall covered by three concrete arches. A large crowd is skating on the ice. Fonds 220, Series 35, File 15, Item 16. A rectangular skating rink at Toronto City Hall covered by three concrete arches. Many people are on the ice and the rink is lined by onlookers. Fonds 220, Series 35, File 15, Item 15. A rectangular skating rink at Toronto City Hall covered by three concrete arches. A packed crowd is on the ice and observing around the rink. Old City Hall is visible in the background. Fonds 220, Series 35, File 15, Item 22. Toronto City Hall illuminated at night. Two people are sitting at a bench by a skating rink covered by three concrete arches in the foreground. Fonds 220, Series 35, File 15, Item 13.
December 2, 2025 at 1:58 PM
torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca
We have permission for take-off! Hello Bluesky!

Follow this account for images and news from the City of Toronto Archives.

#Toronto #TOHistory #TOArchives
The Toronto skyline seen across the water from Hanlan's Point on a clear day in 2009. A small plane is taking off from the Island Airport into a bright blue sky. Photo by Peter Mintz, Fonds 589, Item 196.
December 1, 2025 at 6:10 PM