Jesse Ketchum, an immigrant from Troy, New York in 1799, was one of Toronto’s most successful early entrepreneurs. He owned a tannery at the southwest corner of Yonge and Adelaide Streets and had his home in a two-storey white frame house on the northwest corner of the same intersection (both are now long gone). He was a generous philanthropist, giving land and money for the Knox Church as well as six acres in Yorkville for the building of a school and a public park. The school, now located on Bay Street in a different building, bears his name to this day.
The block bound by Yonge, Adelaide, Bay and Queen was owned by him, and when the city approached him in 1837 to help them build a new road west of Yonge between Richmond and Adelaide, he donated the land, with the stipulation that alcohol never be sold on the new street. Thus Temperance Street was born.
Temperance Street remained dry late into the 20th century, although it often wasn’t too difficult to maintain this. During the eighties, the only businesses along the street were either hardware stores or parking garages. Today, the street boasts at least a couple of suspiciously pub-like restaurants (note the patio umbrella in the picture), who may soon receive a haunting from Mr. Ketchum if they’re not careful…
- Source: Jesse Ketchum house tannery page on the Lost Rivers website
The One is Done!
I have a strange feeling of satisfaction learning that ABC’s attempt to copy American Idol, The One, crashed and burned (hat tip to Optimist Realist. I don’t think I would have cared nearly so much (or, in fact, at all) were it not for the CBC’s unwise decision to pick up the simulcast and promote the heck out of it.
No offence to host George Stromolopolos, who I hope has a long career with The Hour, but it offended me that the CBC would stoop to import an American reality show. Although the CBC is no stranger to importing shows to Canada (witness the highly successful revival of Doctor Who), an American reality show seemed beneath it, especially with Canadian and American Idol tearing up the charts on rival CTV.
Our national broadcaster is supposed to be improving the quality of our viewing experience. It should be producing and bringing aboard quality shows that, for whatever reason, can’t find a home on the private networks. Having The One on the CBC felt almost akin to running Survivor on PBS, and you know that the idea is just so wrong.
Way to Break Typecast, Daniel
Erin and I spotted this article under the headline “Dirty Harry” while visiting Stratford, and we spent a couple of minutes staring at it in disbelief. We then spent another couple of minutes desperately trying to get the image of a naked Harry Potter out of our heads. It’s nice to see Daniel Radcliffe breaking out into challenging new roles, but talk about so wrong!