[steveintoronto]

Here's where you can find various Toronto City Directories online
https://wherethestorytakesme.ca/toronto-city-directories/

Excellent! Your pic above is the first I've seen of the front of the building showing it for said context. There is a lot on-line, but mostly inside, and pics of the milk being dumped during an 'infection crisis' that led to a controversy over Pasteurization. (There were profound alternative views, even at that time) What's also profound in retrospect, albeit shouldn't be, is that the bulk of the original supply came from "Dentonia Farm" in Toronto. Don't have pics handy, but looks like something out of Wisconsin today, or the farms of my youth in the Fifties/Sixties. Some things never grow old with farms and barns. Just locations.

Again, many thanks for that. I have to be in an organized frame of mind to use those tools, hopefully later.

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"Here's where you can find various Toronto City Directories online"
Anna.

Well aware of not only that site, but also internearchive.org
however, you may recall that I am a Hard Copy Collector - rather static at 70 feet, although varies due to sell-offs and aquasitions - better copies or for gifts to others.
Sold all, forget the number, of my 1800's City Directories - having dropped one and damaged it's cover rather than going to the computer version; I now only reference from what has been copied fron the above site; much safer, that way!
(Although I would enjoy the "ownership" of the two most rare Toronto books, the number three tome, Illustated Toronto - Past and Present - 1878 - Timperlake - published by P A Gross, does sit quietly within the rear confines of one of the book cases, as with others, NEVER to meet with the above Butterfingers!
Present interest, is the acquisition not-on-the-web, Toronto City Directories, as I presently have a smattering thereof between 1925 through 1970.
We do not OWN these books; we are Custodians Only."

Regards,
J T

 

[DSC]

Well aware of not only that site, but also internearchive.org

Correct URL is https://archive.org//

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

" the Humane Society used to have their building before the big move to River and Queen. Was it Wellesley?"

Yes, s/s mid-block.
(Don't know about now, but check-out as to what happened re Labour Relations between their Management and The Union members; nothing HUMANE.)

Regards,
J T

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"Correct URL is https://archive.org//"
DSC.

Of "coarse" it is.

J T

 

[Goldie]

Steamship Chippewa at Yonge St. dock c.1910 - Soldiers bound for the Niagara Camp at Fort George TPL

 

[adma]

Re the City Dairy: there definitely was the concrete warehouse building--with an embossed logo in the corner--in the alleyway behind the Elmo until the early/mid 90s or so; and I *do* remember at least one article/piece of literature pointing out its existence (which is how *I* found it); surely there's photos floating about (was there anything in Rosemary Donegan's Spadina book?)

 

[steveintoronto]

Re the City Dairy: there definitely was the concrete warehouse building--with an embossed logo in the corner--in the alleyway behind the Elmo until the early/mid 90s or so; and I *do* remember at least one article/piece of literature pointing out its existence (which is how *I* found it); surely there's photos floating about (was there anything in Rosemary Donegan's Spadina book?)

Excellent! "with an embossed logo in the corner-" Bingo! That is one of the features embossed in my memory. I only had to take a few steps into the lane to read that, and marvelled at it many times. I had considered that @J T CUNNINGHAM had it right initially, and now it's gone, there's a vacuum now left behind that address...or the building has been absorbed into the addresses on Spadina, but I suspect if it was there, it was razed.

But many thanks! Your info has given me much more assurance that I will find at least one pic of it...and post a copy here!

Btw: On-line at least, pics of the last Humane Society building on Wellesley (which may have been City owned if memory serves me well) are difficult to find. Sometimes it all comes down to having the right 'tag'...an art in itself. Sometimes the most innocuous detail is enough for intuitive search engine algorithms to weight it to the top of the search. Again, when I find a pic of the older building, I'll post it here if apt.

Ummm...the Humane Society. I almost posted some info prior, then hesitated. I was very close friends with a lawyer friend (who now develops housing estates in the US) whose brother (also a lawyer) was involved in some of the 'nasty business' at the Humane Society. I can't offer an opinion in all clear conscience, save to agree that 'things have been difficult there for some time'. Politics aside, it must be a heartbreaking job with only a few rays of sunshine.

Edit to Add: Just staring at the first pic that Anna posted above of the main building on the crescent. What a magnificent building still in great shape.

Older pics, when the dairy was still functioning, showed a water tower on the roof. I was just noticing the extra tall parapets, and considering whether they were for function, rather than fashion in case the tower ruptured?

The design feature is very similar to century+ old UK brick water towers for trains.

https://www.geograph.org.uk/stuff/list.php?title=Water+tower,+Manton&gridref=SK8803

 

[adma]

I believe said City Dairy warehouse might also have been in some way connected to a narrow yet monumental (almost like a public building) Edwardian frontage along College, which was demolished at the same time...

 

[Goldie]

Not the livery stables on Spadina we're looking for, but another view (1920) of the plant on Spadina Crescent:

 

[steveintoronto]

I believe said City Dairy warehouse might also have been in some way connected to a narrow yet monumental (almost like a public building) Edwardian frontage along College, which was demolished at the same time...

Yeah...there's quite a lot 'missing' from my memory as to what was fronting on College there. For a stretch redeveloped, it really is very uninviting, beyond crass almost. @Goldie 's latest pic is up, and notice the smoke stack! To look at that building today, it appears to have always been an academic institution. This intrigues me more as time goes by.

With your new info, I started Googling again, and of course, one lead takes you to another, and came across the recent and excellent TorStar piece and this:

In 1933, Susan Marie Denton, widow of Walter Massey, gifted her residence, photographed here, and estate at Dentonia Park to the Crescent preparatory school for boys. The beautiful 100-room residence was located in 25 acres of woodland and meadow, broken by valleys and ponds, constituting one of the finest estates to be found in the vicinity of the city. There was an indoor heated swimming pool, a theatre seating 200 persons, an assembly hall, library, common rooms, a hospital, billiard room, a dark room for photography, showers, and a small gymnasium.

https://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto...ntonia-park-borne-of-masseys-dairy-dream.html

And this school is still extant!
https://www.crescentschool.org/page

On Bayview now.

But I wondered where Dentonia Park exists, and I've driven and cycled past it many times, often wondering what it was, the name kept ringing bells, and this solves a lot of the missing parts:

[...]
On the west side of Dentonia Park, east of Dawes Road just north of Danforth Avenue, you may be able to see this plaque on a post underneath a tree. Erected by the East York Historical Society in 2006, it tells how the farm became integrated into our city over the years. Here's the plaque text:

Coordinates: 43.693663 -79.294488

In 1897, Walter Massey, President of Massey-Harris Company, purchased about 100 ha of land to establish an experimental farm. Walter named the farm "Dentonia Park" after his wife, Susan Marie Denton. The farm produced eggs and poultry as well as trout. Dentonia was also the home of a prized dairy herd that sparked the formation of the City Dairy Company. The City Dairy produced the first pasteurized milk in Canada, which helped to combat tuberculosis and typhoid fever among Toronto children. In 1901, Walter Massey passed away after contracting typhoid fever, but Susan continued to operate Dentonia Park Farm well after his death. Walter's brother, Chester (and his children Vincent and Raymond) and Susan's children (Ruth, Madeline, Dorothy and Denton) also lived at Dentonia. The Goulding Estate was built in 1921 for Dorothy Massey Goulding.
In the benevolent tradition of the Massey family, Susan donated 25 ha of Dentonia, in memory of her husband, to the City of Toronto around 1926, for use as a public park to be named "Dentonia Park". Susan generously donated her home (built in 1914) along with 16 ha of Dentonia, to Crescent School (an independent school for boys) in 1933. Until Susan's death in 1938, she continued to live at Dentonia with her daughter Madeline.
Crescent School operated at Dentonia until 1969 when it moved and the property was developed into the Crescent Town neighbourhood. Prior to 1900, the neighbourhood south of the Massey Farm developed, a portion of which became part of East York Township in 1924. Many other residential and recreational areas were created out of the Dentonia Park Farm, including the City of Toronto's Dentonia Park Golf Course and part of Taylor Creek Park. The Dentonia Athletic Field continues to serve the community with a soccer field, baseball diamond, basketball court, cricket pitch, splash pad and playground.
[...]

http://torontoplaques.com/Pages/Dentonia_Park_Farm.html

Wow...

Btw: I'm in awe of @J T CUNNINGHAM 's claim:

I am a Hard Copy Collector - rather static at 70 feet,

Is that a stack of raw pics, or the albums containing them? Either way....highly impressive.

So let me ask, since you have replaced some with digital access: Can (and do) the digital copies capture the 'spirit' of the photos, as well as the minute pixels? It's a theme of mine, and I'm far from being alone in thinking that digital may be exacting in some aspects, but bereft of life in others.

 

[steveintoronto]

Bingo!

1924 Plans are submitted to replace the westernmost building at 291 College with a "stable entrance" for the City Dairy Company, which develops the land directly south 4

4: The company's main stable (1909) at 487 Spadina Crescent is listed on the City's Heritage Register Intention to Designate Under the Ontario Heritage Act - 281-289 College Street

[...]
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-109020.pdf

Historical maps are in the report above.

To: Toronto East York Community Council Re: Designation of 281-89 College St. Item: TE28.94
[...]

[...]
https://harbordvillage.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/281-289-College-designation.pdf

Now to find some pics!

Post Script: I'm a little shaken that the memory is from 1992 at the latest. Over 25 years ago. I would have guessed maybe ten. Yikes....

 

[Goldie]

Congratulations steveintoronto. Your efforts are paying off!
Did I mention that my father worked at City Dairy as a maintenance mechanic in the plant on Spadina in the 1940's?
Also, as an East York youngster, I was aware of Dentonia Park but didn't know its history.

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

Water towers, upon a building and/or water within below ground reservoirs, one and only function was that of Fire Protection; parapet walls also are a Fire Protection attribute, especially between joined buildings; Ontario Fire Code - each foot of height, rates at one hour protection. Do bear in mind, each Building Water Tower equates it as being sprinklered in The Old Days.
If memory serves, Massey Harris had an underground reservoir of vast proportion, one million gallons below the West Driveway and The E W Gillett Plant, aka "The Magic Castle", a 75,000 gallon holding, beneath it's Boiler Room, it, the Boiler Room, now used as a Coffee Shop on Pardee Avenue.
(I believe the above building to be a Pump House - the reservoir being below the foreground concrete pad.)

Regards.

 

[steveintoronto]

Congratulations steveintoronto. Your efforts are paying off!

It did become obsessive, and it was only putting together some of the nuances other posters offered that got the result. Still no pics, but now I have dates and address to use @Anna 's prompts on accessing the Archives.

I have to repeat though, I'm a little distressed at getting the time frame so off. The usual ratio at my age is two to one for guessing 'how many years ago'. Perhaps the building wasn't actually demolished until much later than the '92 issuance of permit? My memory of it was one of a sad, neglected building.

Did I mention that my father worked at City Dairy as a maintenance mechanic in the plant on Spadina in the 1940's?

That was an honourable profession back in those days. The plant looked state-of-the-art for the time. I'm impressed with the 'cadre' of drivers in the pics posted by others.

If memory serves, Massey Harris had an underground reservoir of vast proportion, one million gallons below the West Driveway and The E W Gillett Plant, aka "The Magic Castle", a 75,000 gallon holding, beneath it's Boiler Room, it, the Boiler Room, now used as a Coffee Shop on Pardee Avenue.

Very useful info! I'll hand that info along to an architect working the next block over restoring one of those buildings to a more historically correct shape. It used steam to run a lot of the metal stamping machines, and later electric, (the grid didn't arrive, I'm told, until after many of those buildings went up) so one wonders if Massey or someone else ran a local generator and sold electricity to the neighbourhood before Niagara power arrived?