Images of the St. John’s Ward,
Toronto
Compiled from archival materials
from the City of Toronto Archives
Plate 9 Toronto Fire Map 1884 (Photo Credit: National Library and Archives)
Plate 9 Toronto Fire Map 1912 (Photo Credit: National Library and Archives)
Children of the Ward by William James 1911 (Photo Credit: City of Toronto Archives)
The Ward in 1910 by William James (Photo Credit: City of Toronto Archives)
Rear of Centre Street Houses in Winter, 1912, Arthur Goss (Photo Credit: City of Toronto Archives
Rear of 210 Chestnut Street by Arthur Goss, 1914 (Photo Credit: City of Toronto Archives)
Rear of 21 Elizabeth Street 1913 (Photo Credit: City of Toronto Archives)
Slum Family, 1913, Arthur Goss (Photo Credit: City of Toronto Archives)
Interior of 210 Chestnut, Arthur Goss, 1914.
Rooms containing multiple beds were a common sight in the Ward during the 1910s.
This house, at 210 Chestnut Street, likely offered its inhabitants little in terms of personal privacy and
space of their own. Source: City of Toronto Archives (Fonds 200, Series 372, Subseries 32, Item 324).
At Bay and Albert Streets, 1918. City of Toronto Archives
Sleeping in a doorway on a hot summer night, St. John’s Ward, 1910. City of Toronto Archives- William
James Family Fonds, 1244, Item 1034
Crowded Boarding Houses, St. John’s Ward, 1910s
Unsanitary Living Conditions, St. John’s Ward, 1910s
Children living in the Ward. City of Toronto Archives. William James Fonds. Fonds
1244, Item 8028
Drain being installed, rear of 94 Elizabeth Street. June 1912.
City of Toronto Archives. William James Collection, Fonds 1244, Item 8031
Man sleeping beside store, the Ward. City of Toronto Archives. William James Fonds. Fonds 1244, Item 2547
“The Babysitter” in the Ward, 1912
A Jewish Peddlar in the St. John’s Ward, 1910
Children in the Ward, 1908
Winter scene in the St. John’s Ward, 1910s, City of Toronto Archives
Slum – Price’s Lane (August 27, 1914). This cluttered and cramped backyard on Price’s Lane does
not appear to be an enjoyable place for fun and games for young children. Source: City of Toronto
Archives (Fonds 200, Series 372, Subseries 32, Item 320).
Children enjoy an August afternoon at the Elizabeth Street Playground in 1913. The playground was a
welcome addition to the Ward, given that by the 1910s, dirty and overcrowded premises like the one in
Figure 13 meant that backyards offered little space for games, sports, and socializing. Source: City of
Toronto Archives (Fonds 200, Series 372, Subseries 52, Item 72).
Backyard in the Ward, 1907
Backyard off of Terauley Street, now Bay Street, 1908
A streetscape in the Ward, about 1910, with a Jewish restaurant on the right. On the far left, was a warehouse
for butchering chickens. Agnes Street (later incorporated into Dundas Street) in the Ward. Lettering on
restaurant window is partially in Hebrew. Photo appeared in the Toronto World, December 4, 1910, under the
heading “Picturesque if not Artistic–Glimpses of ‘The Ward’.” Toronto, Canada
Sleeping outside to stay cool in the summer months, St.J ohn’s Ward
Living conditions in the Ward, 1916
Living conditions, St. John’s Ward, 1910, City of Toronto Archives
Living conditions in the Ward, 1910s, City of Toronto Archives
Slum courtyard. 142 Agnes Street. (November 26, 1913). Dirty backyards were characteristic features
of properties in the Ward during the 1910s. The yard pictured here, found at 142 Agnes Street, was
noted by the Bureau of Municipal Research to contain “a very unsanitary toilet.” Such conditions were
not conducive to health and likely facilitated the spread of illness in the Ward during this time period.
Indeed, three children residing at the neighbouring property, which backed onto this dirty yard, had all
come down with scarlet fever in the months before this photograph was taken. Source: Bureau of
Municipal Research Report, 1913, page 22; City of Toronto Archives (Fonds 200, Series 372, Subseries 32,
Item 259).
In the Ward, there existed ample opportunity for individuals to come into contact with one another.
Local shops and the street corner made for excellent meeting places for both adults and children alike.
Source: City of Toronto Archives (Fonds 1244, Item 341).
Slum Children on Price’s Lane, August 1914, City of Toronto Archives
By the 1910s, there were major increases in the proportion of dwellings containing boarders, two or more families,
and ten or more people in the Ward. The six men pictured in this photograph, supposedly recent immigrants from
Poland, rented two small rooms on the upper floor of a two-storey frame house at 50 Terauley Street. The square
footage of the rooms had only provided enough living space for, at most, three individuals, according to the Health
Department. Source: City of Toronto Archives (Fonds 200, Series 372, Subseries 32, Item 254); Report on Physical
Survey, 1913, page 10 (story).
Eviction from a slum (ca. 1919). City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1244, Item 8030.
FIGURE 8: This windowless shack constructed out of pieced-together wooden boards of all sizes was erected in
the rear of 108 Terauley Street by August 1914. It was likely built by the property’s landlord in response to the
pressure for cheap living quarters which emerged following the razing of a number of residential blocks in the
name of urban development. While the number of individuals residing at 108 Terauley in 1914 are not known,
it is quite possible that this shanty, which stood in the backyard of an existing house, offered ‘shelter’ to one or
more families. Source: City of Toronto Archives (Fonds 200, Series 372, Subseries 1, Item 83).
Toronto’s First Chinatown in the St. John’s Ward, 1937
Toronto’s First Chinatown in the St. John’s Ward, 1923
Toronto’s First Chinatown in the St. John’s Ward, 1923