Portrait of the Mechanic’s Institute, Church St. Photo is courtesy of the Toronto Public Library Digital Archives. Baldwin Collection. Families in the Bedford Park area grabbing a TTC family pass on Canada Day to head…

Portrait of James Metcalfe is courtesy from Library and Archives Canada The story goes that James Metcalfe, on returning to Toronto in 1858 from Australia, gave a large banquet to which he invited all the…

Photo of William McDougall is from Archives Canada Standing sentinel behind the Locke library, a federal plaque pays tribute to the Honourable William McDougall, one of Canada’s most interesting Confederation characters. In the 1860s, McDougall’s…

Yonge Street, looking south to Lawrence, circa late 1800’s. Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library Digital Archives. It’s a beautiful spring day in 1850, so what could be nicer than walk up Yonge Street, starting at…

The Atkinson family poses outside their store at the northwest corner of Yonge & Lawrence in 1894. Photo on loan to the Toronto Public Library from the Atkinson family. In the five years following 1846,…

This view of the Durham Ox Hotel was sketched in the early 1900s (long after the disappearance of the building) by Bernard Gloster. Courtesy Toronto Public Library. Yonge Lawrence Village – the business improvement area…

Hogg’s Hollow Toll Gate (by today’s Loblaws), looking south on Yonge. Sketch courtesy of Toronto Public Library Digital Archives. As angry farmers trudged out of Hogg’s Hollow on their way to Montgomery’s Tavern for the…

Sketch, circa 1921, by CW Jefferys, of the 1937 March of the Rebels upon Toronto. From the Government of Ontario Art Collection. In the first week of December 1837, community residents watched as a growing…

Harvest time at the John Lawrence farm on the northwest corner of Yonge and Lawrence circa 1895. Courtesy of Toronto Public Library Digital Archives. For nearly 100 years, various members of the Lawrence family played…

January 24, 1896 snowstorm. Courtesy City of Toronto Digital Archives, Fonds 200, Series 36, File 3, Item 6b. The Bedford Park neighbourhood didn’t acquire its first public school until 1911 — conveniently enough, called Bedford…