R.C. Harris

The Market Gallery above the St. Lawrence Market on Front Street has an exhibit on until March 2 that gives credit to a City Works Commissioner.


Rowland Caldwell Harris was our Public Works Commissioner from 1912 until his death in 1945.


Many know him as the builder of the R.C. Harris Water Treatment plant and the Bloor Street or Prince Edward viaduct.

In addition to these monumental feats, he also built hundreds of kilometres of roads, streetcar tracks, sidewalks, water and sewer lines, as well as several bridges.



But he was more well-known for the Art Deco water treatment plant at the foot of Victoria Park (which I've toured, and posted pictures under "Doors Open").

Years ago around 1907-8 there were many cases of Typhoid Fever in this City, as well as in the US. Thousands of children were dying of this infectious disease, due to contaminated milk and unclorinated drinking water from Lake Ontario.
Both Dr. Charles Hastings and Mr. R.C. Harris lost a child from this epidemic. Both men went to work to change all of that despite the nay-sayers in public office.

John Lorinc has a blog spot that details quite a bit about this "Water Czar", under "The R.C. Harris Project".