The Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto's First Immigrant Neighbourood
From the 1840s until the Second World War, waves of newcomers who migrated to Toronto - Irish, Jewish, Italian, African American, and Chinese, among others - landed in "The Ward." Crammed with rundown housing and immigrant-owned businesses, this area, bordered by College and Queen, University and Yonge streets, was home to bootleggers, Chinese bachelors, workers from the nearby Eaton's garment factories and hard-working peddlers. But the City considered it a slum, and bulldozed the area in the late 1950s to make way for a new civic square.
The Ward finally tells the diverse stories of this extraordinary and resilient neighbourhood through archival photos and contributions from a wide array of voices, to raise important questions about how contemporary cities handle immigration, poverty, and the geography of difference.
- 319 pages
- 22.5cm x 15cm
- Coach House Books 2015
- English
- ISBN 9781552453117