Events
From our great Speaker's Nights featuring experts on local and national history to specialty event programming, our goal is to entertain and educate. Here is a sample of some of the events being held in the coming months. Come join us!
NOTE: OUR SPEAKER's NIGHT SERIES IS AN EXCLUSIVE EVENT FOR MEMBERS OF THE ETOBICOKE HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND AS SUCH, THERE IS LIMITED SEATING. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING A MEMBER, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
NOTE: OUR SPEAKER's NIGHT SERIES IS AN EXCLUSIVE EVENT FOR MEMBERS OF THE ETOBICOKE HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND AS SUCH, THERE IS LIMITED SEATING. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING A MEMBER, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
Dear EHS Members,
As a result of the unavailability of Montgomery's Inn's meeting rooms due to renovations, EHS will be moving our speaker's nights to online format until further notice.
Please visit our website regularly for updates on future speaker's nights and how they will be delivered. Existing EHS members will receive the detailed information via email to attend these online LIVE events below. To become a member and receive an invite, please CLICK HERE.
Thanks to everyone for your understanding.
Best Wishes,
The Etobicoke Historical Society
As a result of the unavailability of Montgomery's Inn's meeting rooms due to renovations, EHS will be moving our speaker's nights to online format until further notice.
Please visit our website regularly for updates on future speaker's nights and how they will be delivered. Existing EHS members will receive the detailed information via email to attend these online LIVE events below. To become a member and receive an invite, please CLICK HERE.
Thanks to everyone for your understanding.
Best Wishes,
The Etobicoke Historical Society
Thursday, June 16, 2022 - Summer History Series: Ernest D. Banting's Life in Weston
Ernest D. “Doc” Banting (1892-1973), a distant cousin to Dr. Frederick Banting, discoverer of Insulin, was a leading citizen of the Town of Weston in the mid-1900’s. As a salesman and politician in a career that spanned more than five decades from the 1920s to the 1970s, “Doc” was a shameless self-promoter but a constant home-town booster … and a bit of a rogue. Join EHS Historian Richard Jordan as he follows “Doc” around the town while exploring topics like small town sports, municipal politics, the Orange Order, the effects of the Depression, the birth of Canada’s unemployment system, the role of service clubs like the Lions and, last but not least, temperance. Vividly recreating a community from a vanished era, Richard will draw on research from his newly-published book, Ernest D. Banting and Life in Weston 1921-1973.
Richard Jordan is an EHS Board Member, having previously served as a Director from 1980 to 1996, including a two-year term as President. He also served two terms as a citizen member of the Etobicoke Historical Board in the 1980s.
Richard studied Geography and Environmental Studies at York University and later contributed a local heritage column in the Toronto Star from 1984 to 1991 as well as feature articles in a number of genealogy and history magazines. Richard’s family genealogy book, Beyond the Great Pine Ridge was published in 2004. Richard is well known for his speaking engagements with historical societies and seniors groups.
Start Time: 7:30pm ET
Ernest D. “Doc” Banting (1892-1973), a distant cousin to Dr. Frederick Banting, discoverer of Insulin, was a leading citizen of the Town of Weston in the mid-1900’s. As a salesman and politician in a career that spanned more than five decades from the 1920s to the 1970s, “Doc” was a shameless self-promoter but a constant home-town booster … and a bit of a rogue. Join EHS Historian Richard Jordan as he follows “Doc” around the town while exploring topics like small town sports, municipal politics, the Orange Order, the effects of the Depression, the birth of Canada’s unemployment system, the role of service clubs like the Lions and, last but not least, temperance. Vividly recreating a community from a vanished era, Richard will draw on research from his newly-published book, Ernest D. Banting and Life in Weston 1921-1973.
Richard Jordan is an EHS Board Member, having previously served as a Director from 1980 to 1996, including a two-year term as President. He also served two terms as a citizen member of the Etobicoke Historical Board in the 1980s.
Richard studied Geography and Environmental Studies at York University and later contributed a local heritage column in the Toronto Star from 1984 to 1991 as well as feature articles in a number of genealogy and history magazines. Richard’s family genealogy book, Beyond the Great Pine Ridge was published in 2004. Richard is well known for his speaking engagements with historical societies and seniors groups.
Start Time: 7:30pm ET
Thursday, July 21, 2022 - Summer History Series: The Kingsway
One of Canada’s premier neighbourhoods, The Kingsway was the vision of one man, Robert Home Smith. A lawyer by training but a natural-born town planner, Home Smith took 3,100 acres of ordinary Etobicoke farmland and turned it into an elegant series of subdivisions that were deemed “A bit of England far from England”. Centered around the Old Mill, they offered not only a new vision of town planning but of upper middle class life in Toronto. So “jump on the bus” with EHS Historian Richard Jordan for an enjoyable virtual journey through this picturesque and historic neighbourhood.
Richard Jordan is an EHS Board Member, having previously served as a Director from 1980 to 1996, including a two-year term as President. He also served two terms as a citizen member of the Etobicoke Historical Board in the 1980s.
Richard studied Geography and Environmental Studies at York University and later contributed a local heritage column in the Toronto Star from 1984 to 1991 as well as feature articles in a number of genealogy and history magazines. Richard’s family genealogy book, Beyond the Great Pine Ridge was published in 2004 and a new book, Ernest D. Banting and Life in Weston 1921-1973 was published this year. Richard is well known for his speaking engagements with historical societies and seniors groups.
Start Time: 7:30pm ET
One of Canada’s premier neighbourhoods, The Kingsway was the vision of one man, Robert Home Smith. A lawyer by training but a natural-born town planner, Home Smith took 3,100 acres of ordinary Etobicoke farmland and turned it into an elegant series of subdivisions that were deemed “A bit of England far from England”. Centered around the Old Mill, they offered not only a new vision of town planning but of upper middle class life in Toronto. So “jump on the bus” with EHS Historian Richard Jordan for an enjoyable virtual journey through this picturesque and historic neighbourhood.
Richard Jordan is an EHS Board Member, having previously served as a Director from 1980 to 1996, including a two-year term as President. He also served two terms as a citizen member of the Etobicoke Historical Board in the 1980s.
Richard studied Geography and Environmental Studies at York University and later contributed a local heritage column in the Toronto Star from 1984 to 1991 as well as feature articles in a number of genealogy and history magazines. Richard’s family genealogy book, Beyond the Great Pine Ridge was published in 2004 and a new book, Ernest D. Banting and Life in Weston 1921-1973 was published this year. Richard is well known for his speaking engagements with historical societies and seniors groups.
Start Time: 7:30pm ET
Thursday, August 18, 2022 - Summer History Series: Etobicoke's Historic Lakeshore
Mimico, New Toronto and Long Branch share many things, including the streetcars of Lakeshore Boulevard West and the beautiful shores of Lake Ontario, but they have very different histories. Mimico is an older town, once the home of palatial estates. New Toronto had its start as a gritty industrial suburb. And Long Branch began as a gated, upper class cottage community and resort in Victorian times. Join EHS Historian Richard Jordan as he travels back in time on this virtual historic tour of Etobicoke’s three lakeshore communities.
Richard Jordan is an EHS Board Member, having previously served as a Director from 1980 to 1996, including a two-year term as President. He also served two terms as a citizen member of the Etobicoke Historical Board in the 1980s.
Richard studied Geography and Environmental Studies at York University and later contributed a local heritage column in the Toronto Star from 1984 to 1991 as well as feature articles in a number of genealogy and history magazines. Richard’s family genealogy book, Beyond the Great Pine Ridge was published in 2004 and a new book, Ernest D. Banting Life in Weston 1921-1973 was being published this year. Richard is well known for his speaking engagements with historical societies and seniors groups.
Start Time: 7:30pm ET
Mimico, New Toronto and Long Branch share many things, including the streetcars of Lakeshore Boulevard West and the beautiful shores of Lake Ontario, but they have very different histories. Mimico is an older town, once the home of palatial estates. New Toronto had its start as a gritty industrial suburb. And Long Branch began as a gated, upper class cottage community and resort in Victorian times. Join EHS Historian Richard Jordan as he travels back in time on this virtual historic tour of Etobicoke’s three lakeshore communities.
Richard Jordan is an EHS Board Member, having previously served as a Director from 1980 to 1996, including a two-year term as President. He also served two terms as a citizen member of the Etobicoke Historical Board in the 1980s.
Richard studied Geography and Environmental Studies at York University and later contributed a local heritage column in the Toronto Star from 1984 to 1991 as well as feature articles in a number of genealogy and history magazines. Richard’s family genealogy book, Beyond the Great Pine Ridge was published in 2004 and a new book, Ernest D. Banting Life in Weston 1921-1973 was being published this year. Richard is well known for his speaking engagements with historical societies and seniors groups.
Start Time: 7:30pm ET
Thursday, September 15, 2022 - Speaker's Night: Toronto's Early History Treasures
As a Toronto Star Reporter from 2000 to 2013, John Goddard developed an interest in Toronto’s early history. Not owning a car, he used public transit to visit each of Toronto’s 10 History Museums and was fascinated by their heritage artifacts and the interesting stories behind them. Realizing there was no guide book to these treasures of Toronto’s heritage led John to write his book Inside the Museums: Toronto’s Heritage Sites and Their Most Prized Objects (2014, Dundurn Press). It explains why Eliza Gibson risked her life to save a clock, reveals the appalling instructions that Robert Baldwin left in his will, and examines how the career of postmaster James Scott Howard shattered on the most baseless of innuendos at one of the most highly charged moments in the city’s history.
John Goddard is an author, magazine writer, and former Toronto Star reporter with a specialty in exploring little-known Ontario wonders. Other books by John include The Man with the Black Valise: Tracking the Killer of Jessie Keith and Rock and Roll Toronto, with pop critic Richard Crouse, a cheeky guide to the city’s rock-and-roll historic sites. He lives in Toronto.
Start Time: 7:30pm ET
As a Toronto Star Reporter from 2000 to 2013, John Goddard developed an interest in Toronto’s early history. Not owning a car, he used public transit to visit each of Toronto’s 10 History Museums and was fascinated by their heritage artifacts and the interesting stories behind them. Realizing there was no guide book to these treasures of Toronto’s heritage led John to write his book Inside the Museums: Toronto’s Heritage Sites and Their Most Prized Objects (2014, Dundurn Press). It explains why Eliza Gibson risked her life to save a clock, reveals the appalling instructions that Robert Baldwin left in his will, and examines how the career of postmaster James Scott Howard shattered on the most baseless of innuendos at one of the most highly charged moments in the city’s history.
John Goddard is an author, magazine writer, and former Toronto Star reporter with a specialty in exploring little-known Ontario wonders. Other books by John include The Man with the Black Valise: Tracking the Killer of Jessie Keith and Rock and Roll Toronto, with pop critic Richard Crouse, a cheeky guide to the city’s rock-and-roll historic sites. He lives in Toronto.
Start Time: 7:30pm ET