August 2017 – historynerd.ca

South Porcupine Burns, 1911

Carrying the dead, Porcupine fire, 1911. Image: Arthur Tomkinson / Library and Archives Canada / PA-029806.

South Porcupine burning, July 11, 1911. Image: Henry Peters / Library and Archives Canada / PA-029808

Storm and fire in Porcupine, 1911. Image: Canada. Patent and Copyright Office / Library and Archives Canada / PA-029820

Refugees embarking in a boat on Porcupine Lake to escape from the flames of the Great Forest Fire of 1911. Image: Toronto Star / Library and Archives Canada / PA-179598.

The Porcupine Fire, 1911. Image: Canada. Patent and Copyright Office / Library and Archives Canada / PA-203588.

When you grow up in South Porcupine, one of the early historic lessons learned is about the Great Fire of 1911. In addition to burning more than 200,000 hectares of Northeastern Ontario and killing 70, it also levelled the two young mining settlements in the area, Pottsville and South Porcupine.

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Norm’s Open Kitchen, 1973

Norm’s Open Kitchen in 1973. Image: Keith Beaty / Toronto Star / Toronto Public Library, Baldwin Collection Item TSPA 0114771f.

We’ve seen it happen a few times recently here in Ottawa. A business attracts a clientele that the neighbourhood feels is a threat and works to have the business removed through regulatory measures. In Toronto, Norm’s Open Kitchen was one of those establishments.

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Tragedy on Gladstone, 1953

It’s fairly unassuming today and may even catch your eye for the formerly commercial addition. Image: Google Maps, May 2016.

It’s sometimes a happy story, and sometimes a sad one, but buildings always have stories to tell. In the case of 82 Sherbrooke in Ottawa’s Hintonburg, it’s the latter.

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Then & Now: Parliament and Winchester

Southeast corner of Parliament and Winchester, 1954. Image: James Victor Salmon / Toronto Public Library, Baldwin Collection, Item S 1-1846.

The corner in April 2015. Image: Google Maps.

Parliament and Winchester, southeast corner, 1954 and 2015. It’s wonderfully-restored and a listed property, but gosh do I wish that 1941 signage would have been kept.¹See the city staff report for details about the 2005 renovation plan.

Notes[+]

Notes
↥1	See the city staff report for details about the 2005 renovation plan.

Then & Now: Parliament and Dundas E

Northwest corner of Parliament and Dundas St. E, 1954. Image: James Victor Salmon / Toronto Public Library, Baldwin Collection, Item S 1-810B.

The corner in 2016. Image: Google Maps.

Parliament Street and Dundas East, 1954 and 2016.