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The Federation of the Jewish Philanthropies was established in 1917 to more effectively raise and distribute funds for charitable work within Toronto's Jewish community.

Photo 1: In the decades before publicly-funded health insurance, the Federation helped provide medical care for Toronto's poor. An early Jewish dispensary, supported by the Federation, became Mount Sinai Hospital in 1923. Mount Sinai, seen above at its first Yorkville Avenue location, was supported by the Federation until 1940.

Photo 2: Edmund Scheuer and Ida Siegel, shown here circa 1927, were two of a handful of people responsible for the formation of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Toronto.

Photo 3: Gathering donations, circa 1950. For many years, the annual fundraising campaign initiatied by the Federation relied heavily on door-to-door canvassers. 

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In 1912, the city formed The Harbour Comission (THC) as a way to have control of the waterfront. One of their plans was to establish an amusement area and beach in West Toronto, and since the Sunnyside area, at the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue where it meets King and Queen Streets, was already a popular swimming hole this location was chosen. In the early 1920s, The Commission dredged the bottom of Lake Ontario, placing 3 million cubic metres of landfill along the shoreline. This allowed for the creation of Lakeshore Boulevard, a boardwalk, and a 3-kilometre long park along the water.

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Dunn's general store in Islington was on the north east corner of Dundas Street West and Burnhamthorpe Crescent. It was the only building between Burnhamthope Crescent and the west bank of the Mimico Creek.

In this photo are seven residents (left to right): Unknown, Josephine Dunn, Harry Tier, John Dunn husband of Mary Ann Thompson, Unknown, Robert Tier Sr. and George Wood, husband of Elizabeth Peers.

Some of the merchandise sold is advertised on signs in the windows. Small implements were also sold. They were stored on the second floor and were lifted by a pulley system and taken inside through the door visible on the west end of the building.

The building was probably constructed shortly after 1843.

Text contributed by Randall Reid.

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Scarborough Centennial celebrations on Thomson farm, June, 1896. The site is now Thomson Memorial Park.

Text submitted by Rick Schofield

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Between 1885 and 1895

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Gibraltar Point Lighthouse is the oldest surviving lighthouse on the Great Lakes and the second oldest surviving lighthouse in Canada. It was constructed in 1808/09 of hand-quarried stone from Queenston, near Niagara Falls. Its walls are almost two metres thick at the base. Its wick lamps were fuelled with hundreds of gallons of whale oil, then coal oil, until an electric light was installed in 1917.

At the end of the 1957 shipping season, and after nearly 150 years of service, the stone lighthouse was replaced by the federal Department of Transport with a fully automated, modern skeletal tower. The ownership of the old lighthouse was transferred to Metropolitan Toronto Parks Department in 1958. The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse has since been restored, and the surrounding land integrated into Toronto Island Park.

For details on the 200th anniversary celebration, please click here.

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Green Meadows, otherwise known as "The McDougald Estate", was constructed circa 1950 for John Angus "Bud" McDougald and his wife Hedley Maude. Though the main house, an elegant Colonial Revival mansion, is all that is left of the estate today, the McDougald property once comprised 300-acres of land stretching north from what is now Van Horne Avenue to Finch Avenue, and east from Leslie Street to what is now Don Mills Road. Green Meadows was focused around two of Bud McDougald's great interests - horses and antique automobiles. It featured barns for thoroughbreds and a track for racing, and included garages with room for 30 cars. Preserved and restored when the surrounding estate was developed into residential neighbourhoods, the main house remains a fine example of a Canadian Establishment estate house from the mid-twentieth century.

Please join us for our plaque presentation on Saturday, June 28th.