Toronto was a quieter place in the 1950s. Our skyline was made up of a handful of buildings from the 1930s, our brick buildings were stained with soot from the industry that still dominated our waterfront, and you couldn't get a drink or go shopping on Sundays. Yes, there was a time when this was a downright sleepy town.
That said, Toronto was already starting to change in the '50s. It would take a decade or two for these little seeds to blossom into the type of full scale transformation the city experienced in the late 1960s and early '70s, but the signs are there. In these photos you see the birth of the subway and the suburbs, tidy downtown streets that are about to explode with neon signs and taller developments.
While Kodak released colour film in the late 1930s, it wasn't until the 1960s that its use became widespread among amateurs. As such, the collection of colour photographs of Toronto from the 1950s is tiny compared to that of the decade that followed. Perhaps because of this, they provide an alluring glimpse of a cheerful if somewhat boring city on the brink of great change.
The images below represent a mix of photographs, postcards, and other marketing materials that were deemed important enough at the time to be produced in colour.
PHOTOS
The Toronto skyline in 1956
The massive railway lands before the CN Tower and condo developments
James and Albert streets
Looking up Bay towards Old City Hall
Old City Hall
Toronto Telegram Building at Bay and Melinda
Looking up Yonge St. north of Queen
The pre-sign Royal York
Yonge St. near Summerhill
A streetcar passes Mt. Pleasant Cemetery on Yonge St. pre-subway
Looking north to Yonge and Dundas
Redpath Sugar under construction on Queens Quay
4972 Dundas West
People getting out from Sunday service
The quiet Toronto waterfront (possibly Ashbridges Bay)
Toronto harbour and ferry late 1950s
A picnic on the Toronto Islands
A Peter Witt streetcar near Yonge and Lawton
Davisville Station in 1956
A TTC subway postcard
Scarboro Motel, 1950s
Don Mills Rd.
The birth of Don Mills
Photos via Chuckman's blog, the Toronto Archives, and Greg Wass.
by Derek Flack via blogTO
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