Heritage Toronto will be providing a weekly recap of heritage news in our city.

Feel free to add your comments at the end of this posting, including any stories we may have missed.

Relive 'that end of summer feeling' with CNE online archives (Toronto Star) 

The day Shakespeare was banned (Toronto Star) 

Heritage grants ‘unfair,' Rossi says (Toronto Star) 

Mayoral Debate (National Post)

Mayoral candidates debate heritage (Toronto Sun) 

By Jamie Bradburn

While Torontonians have cast their ballots for their municipal representatives in the fall for the past few decades, a century ago voting day coincided with the start of a new year. January 1 is often associated with drinking (or one's recovery from one tipple too many), and alcohol was top of mind for many voters on the first day of 1909 thanks to a question on the ballot regarding a bylaw that would reduce the number of licensed establishments one could enjoy a boozy beverage from 150 to 110. Would the upstanding citizens of Toronto mark an X, as temperance proponents hoped, in favour of protecting public health and morals?

George Brown College, the Toronto & York Region Labour Council, and CUPE Local 79 have launched a downloadable map that highlights Toronto's labour history through self-guided walking tours of the city.

The map includes three walking tours, each covering a different time period and area: Map A, 19th Century Toronto, begins the city's working history; Map B, Early 20th Century Toronto, records Toronto's early industrial growth; and Map C, Post-War Toronto, takes in key labour sites from the end of World War II to the present.

To download the map, please click here: http://labourcouncil.ca/labourhistorymap.pdf

On October 5 and 6, The Culture & Heritage Institute of Centennial College will host a Symposium on Cultural & Heritage Tourism in Toronto. The 2010 theme is "Intercultural Dialogue in Tourism: 2020 Vision".

Participating in this year's event is Heritage Toronto's Executive Director Karen Carter, who will be partnering with Claire Hopkinson, Executive Director, Toronto Arts Council, Jonathan Tourtellot, Founding Director, Center for Sustainable Destinations, National Geographic and Mike Williams, General Manager of Economic Development, Culture and Tourism, City of Toronto to discuss the "The Toronto Geotourism MapGuide".

For more details on the conference including how to register, please visit: http://www.centennialcollege.ca/chi/symposium

Heritage Toronto will be providing a weekly recap of heritage news in our city.

Feel free to add your comments at the end of this posting, including any stories we may have missed.

On The Bridle Path, one couple sacrifices square footage for ‘vision' (Globe & Mail) 

Beachfront homes for sale (Inside Toronto) 

Historicist: A Village Grows on Markham Street (Torontoist) 

Toronto's concrete heritage can't get no respect (BlogTO) 

Saturday, August 28 - 1:30 PM NEW

The Natural Heritage of the Scarborough Bluffs

Walk down the road built through the Scarborough Bluffs from the Guild Inn to the shoreline of Lake Ontario. Discover the flora and fauna of this dramatic landscape. Learn how the bluffs were formed, the forces which attempt to destroy them, and the methods which have been developed for their preservation.

LEADER: Donald Smith
START POINT: The Guild Inn, 201 Guildwood Parkway, halfway between Livingston Rd and Galloway Rd, S of Kingston Rd, Scarborough. Meet at boarded-up front entrance of main building.
FINISH POINT: Same as start point
LENGTH: Approx. 2 hours
FOCUS: Natural, historical
DIFFICULTY: Challenging walk on hiking trail. Includes a steep 200 foot high hill (down and up)

By David Wencer

In the first half of the Nineteenth Century, the military presence in Toronto was a varying combination of British forces and local militia, with the first Upper Canada militia legislation passed in 1793 (Chambers, 12). While various militia companies existed in and around Toronto in the 1850s, they lacked sufficient numbers and organizational structure to form a full regiment.

Toronto's interest in military affairs was growing, as patriotism increased throughout the Empire due to Great Britain's involvement in the Crimean War. In 1859 a new militia act was passed which allowed for the formation of battalions of infantry and rifles units wherever possible (Chambers, 38). Nine volunteer companies in Montreal were soon assembled into the First Battalion Volunteer Militia Rifles of Canada. Lieutenant Colonel George Taylor Denison, commander of the Toronto district, saw the advantage in forming a similar battalion in Toronto (Chambers, 39) and initiated the process to have the regiment organized.

In September, the Toronto Public Library (TPL) will kick off its six part History Matters lecture series.

The goal of the series is to encourage the development of community and exchange between active Toronto historians and the broader Toronto community. All lectures are free.

This fall's lectures are:

Making the Scene in 1960s Yorkville

Stuart Henderson
Tues. Sept. 14, 2 pm
Yorkville Branch
22 Yorkville Ave. 416-393-7660

I'll Drink to That: Booze in Hogtown

Craig Heron
Tues. Sept. 28, 7 pm
Annette Street Branch
145 Annette St. 416-393-7692

A Public Technology: The Building of Toronto's Yonge Street Subway

Jay Young
Thurs. Oct. 14, 7 pm
Beaches Branch
2161 Queen St. E. 416-393-7703

Isolating Undesirables: Prisons, Pollution and Homelessness in Toronto's Don River Valley, 1860-1932

Jennifer Bonnell
Thurs. Oct. 14, 7 pm
Bendale Branch
1515 Danforth Rd. 416-396-8910

Heritage Toronto will be providing a weekly recap of heritage news in our city.

Feel free to add your comments at the end of this posting, including any stories we may have missed.

Combining the CNE and Ontario Place: Urban renewal on the lake (Toronto Star) 

Danforth's Music Hall shuttered (Toronto Star) 

Bringing a little Mad Men to St. Clair West (Globe & Mail) 

Saturday, August 21 - 11:00 AM

The Royal Alexandra Theatre and its Neighbourhood

The Royal Alexandra Theatre, anchor of the Theatre District, celebrates its 103rd birthday this year. Hear the story of the theatre and explore the multi-layered history of the surrounding neighbourhood.

LEADER: Janet Langdon
START POINT: Simcoe Park, just E of the CBC Broadcast Centre and across from the Toronto Convention Centre (Front St W)
FINISH POINT: Royal Alexandra Theatre, 260 King St W
LENGTH: Approx. 1 ½ to 2 hours
FOCUS: Historical, architectural
DIFFICULTY: Average walk on sidewalks