Kensington Market

This section of downtown Toronto is well-known by just about everyone who lives in the city, as well as those who don't.

There must be dozens of boutiques selling used clothing on Kensington Avenue.

One of the more popular places is "Courage My Love" which has been in operation for over 30 years. It seems to be more akin to a museum than a place to buy. The place is overflowing with beads, buttons and jewelry, as well as ties and hats.

In the 20's and 30's. this area was known to locals as the "Jewish Market".

Today, the market is as diverse as the city with stores selling an immense variety of meats, fish, fruits, vegetables and cheeses from around the world.

Kensington was designated a National Historic site in 2006, but is a real challenge to navigate in the summer months.

I believe that the city needs to close off the main streets of the market to vehicular traffic on weekends in the summer.

Don Valley Brick Works

The Don Valley Brickwork's history dates as far back as 1882, when the Taylor brothers found that the clay soil located in this bush was ideal for making bricks.

It was the longest running business of its kind in Ontario, and offered more products than any of its competitors.

This picture is dated 1891.

Their bricks were used to build such edifices as Massey Hall, T.G.H., and the Ontario Legislature, to name a few.



Over time, four chimneys were built for the wood and coal down-draft kilns.

The words "Don", "Valley", "Brick" and "Works" were spelled out on these chimneys.

When the plant closed in 1984, it had produced over 43 million bricks.

To-day only the "Valley" stack remains.



The area is now being restored as a park and heritage site. You can visit the site of the Evergreen Brick Works here.

The quarry is one of the few places in Toronto where the geological history is visible.
A wetland has been created in this area, along with a boardwalk.




Besides cycling and walking paths in the valley, there is now a market place for folks to enjoy.

Baseball Place

Sometime in the mid 1980's a dead-end street on Broadview Ave. was paved over by the City.

Unfortunately, the street sign was also removed.

This tiny laneway was called "Baseball Place", and at one time housed at least six worker's cottages.

Baseball fans used this avenue to access the "Toronto Baseball Grounds".

Built in 1886, this park boasted a seating capacity of 2,250 paying fans.

The stands were four stories high, and the field was surrounded by a 4 metre wooden fence.

Admission was 25 cents.



The grounds became known as "Sunlight Park" after W.H. Lever opened the Sunlight Works soap factory just south of the park in 1893.



Toronto won its first professional baseball title here in 1897.

To-day Eastern Ave. cuts across the old infield of Sunlight Park, and the only reminder of its existence, is a plaque that's attached to the building at 655 Queen St. East.



Wouldn't it be nice if the City were to put back the street sign so that we can remember the laneway that did exist and how it provided an access route for Toronto baseball fans?

Dragonboat History

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Dragon boats are brightly coloured long narrow wooden boats with elaborately-carved dragon heads decorating the prows.

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The standard crew complement of a contemporary dragon boat is around 22, comprising 20 paddlers in pairs facing toward the bow of the boat, one drummer or caller at the bow facing toward the paddlers, and one person steering the tiller (or helm) at the rear of the boat.

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To-day there are two types of Dragon Boat Racing activities, namely Sport racing, and Festival racing.

Dragon boat races are traditionally held as part of the annual Duanwu Jie festival observance in China.

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This festival commemorates the death of the poet Qu Yuan, who committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth month.

The local people, who admired him, paddled out on their boats, to scare away the fish, and threw rice in the river, so that the fish would not eat his body.

This then is said to be the origin of dragon boat racing.

Yonge and Temperance

The picture below is Yonge Street. looking north from Temperance St. circa 1903.

The photo is courtesy of the City of Toronto Archives.




There are no streetcar tracks down the centre of Yonge anymore, and all of the overhead wires are now buried; but there are still some buildings that are intact.

The building on the left with the sign designating that it is a development site can be seen in the first photo as "Dineen's Hats".
This site currently houses an optical store.

The obvious one, that has survived, is the building on the right at the top (situated at Richmond Street).

It's the Confederation Life Building that was built in 1890.