W. John Maize, a member of Parkdale CI Alumni Association, and former Head of History at the school, responded to our November 11, 2015 blog post Vimy Cross fragment brought home for a Parkdale boy. “I was fascinated to see the photo of the Jones family stone and to read […]
Back in March, we wrote about three “vanished” schools and invited contributions of photos or reminiscences. Thanks to two blog readers, we add a few details to the story of Grand Avenue School, in Humber Bay, Etobicoke. Kjell Nordenson attended Grand Avenue School in the 1960s. He didn’t have a […]
Thank you Veterans of Canada -sidewalk message in front of Old City Hall cenotaph Toronto District School Board joined the many groups laying wreaths at Old City Hall’s cenotaph ceremony this November 11th. Hours after the crowd had gone, people lingered to “plant” their poppies, take photographs, and read the […]
Mark a stone, but let me lie With my fellows who fought and died With me on Vimy Ridge Parkdale’s Roy Victor Jones was one of some 3,600 Canadians who died at Vimy Ridge. A wooden cross marked the spot where he fell on April 9, 1917. Roy’s parents had […]
We start 2015 with three “vanished” schools. The bricks and mortar of Grand Avenue, Humber Bay, and Silverthorn schools have gone, but their war memorials survive to remind us of students who volunteered for king and country. A fourth school, Fairbank Memorial, rounds out our group. In April 2014, an […]
The year 2014 began with the promise of much remembering. One hundred years since the outbreak of the Great War; 70 years since D-day in the Second World War. Princess Anne would re-dedicate Canada’s national war memorial in Ottawa, 75 years after her grandfather, King George VI, first unveiled it […]
Wellesley Public School, closed in 1956, lingers in the memory of former students, who have responded to our blog post (Vanished School and Vanished Times-March 17, 2013). When the students moved to Church Street School, Wellesley’s bell went with them. Its ringing days long past, the bell sits in a […]
As students and teachers settle into their classes for another year, our project volunteers are celebrating a back-to-school accomplishment—we now have a full 100 schools in For King and Country database! Just added are war memorials and school histories from: The Bishop Strachan School; Davisville Public School; Eastern High School […]
Leslieville (Leslie Street) school will celebrate 150 years on April 26. The school’s first principal was Alexander Muir, composer of “The Maple Leaf Forever.” The school’s war memorials (485 names) have been indexed and a photo is on our website. Congratulations to this east-of-the-Don school and to a neighbourhood packed […]
How did schools collect the names for their war memorials? Danforth Tech, with 2,235 volunteers— more than any other school in the Commonwealth—shows us. A War Memorial Committee sent forms like John D. Marr’s (pictured here) asking former students how their names should appear. This form, not dated, was probably […]