Richard Jordan - 2025 Recipient of the Jean Hibbert Memorial Award
Richard Jordan with the 2025 Jean Hibbert Memorial Award at Montgomery's Inn on Thursday, April 17, 2025.
At the April 17th, 2025 Speaker's Night, EHS presented Richard Jordan with the 2025 Jean Hibbert Memorial Award.
When a young Richard moved from North York to Etobicoke for work in 1978, he soon became fascinated with the area's history and started what became a life-long passion for researching and telling the stories of Etobicoke's past.
Richard had studied geography and environmental studies at York University and had come to work for land surveyors Unwin, Murphy and Esten, which was Etobicoke's oldest company. In researching the company's history, he discovered an 1856 map of Etobicoke by Charles Unwin and the story behind it. With Randall Reid of Montgomery’s Inn, and using company records, Richard was able to draw up a plan showing the original landowners in the village of Islington.
By 1982, Richard had become a board member of EHS as well as The Etobicoke Historical Board and also a member of the Local Architecture Conservation Advisory Committee. From 1984 till 1992, he was a columnist for the Toronto Star writing articles on local history. In the early 1980s, he co-hosted, along with then EHS President Dennis Mills, a documentary series called Etobicoke Then and Now on the local Etobicoke Rogers Cable 10 channel.
Richard was president of the EHS from 1988 till 1990. Career and raising two daughters then occupied Richard until retiring from the City of Mississauga as a GIS Specialist in 2017. He once again joined the EHS Board in 2018. As well, Richard started another career with his venture, Speaking with Seniors, providing travel and historical presentations and leading bus tours for seniors groups and retirement
homes, as well as historical societies and service clubs.
Richard became EHS Chief Historian in 2021. He has been a frequent speaker for EHS Speaker's Nights since 2019 and a regular contributor of articles for EHS's monthly newsletter, The Aldernews. During the recent pandemic, Richard gave a special series of online history talks, the EHS Summer History Series. These were offered during the summers of both 2021 and 2022 as free public events highlighting Etobicoke's history.
Richard was instrumental in the rededication of the EHS's South Humber Monument, a memorial that had been erected by the EHS in the 1960s, but in today's context contained outdated and inaccurate wording. Richard liaised with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and La Société d'histoire de Toronto to design a new plaque memorializing the Humber River in three languages - Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway), English, and French. Richard then worked with the plaque manufacturer to design the new plaque to cover the old monument inscription. It was unveiled in a public ceremony in 2023.
Richard stepped down as a board member in 2023 but is continuing as EHS Chief Historian.
In recognition of Richard's many years of dedication and leadership in researching, preserving and celebrating the rich history and heritage of Etobicoke, EHS is honoured to have Richard receive the 2025 Jean Hibbert Memorial Award.