Yorkville in the 1960s was a place for peace, that occasionally became a battleground.   It started with fights between rival youth.  It became a fight for the future of Yorkville itself. 

She's mostly remembered as the first female Doctor to practice in Canada.  But before that, Emily Stowe was the first female school principal in the country.  She was also a giant in the Suffrage movement who fought tirelessly to open doors for women.

Voicing and Production: Dan Grant
Theme Music: Emily Klassen
Other Music:

• Midnight Hangover (https://www.shutterstock.com/music/search?artist=Cool-Cat-Music)
• Blue World (https://www.shutterstock.com/music/search?artist=Mocha-Music)

What is the Toronto File? Why am I doing it? Where is it going? What about that theme music? All that and more, in just three minutes. 

Thornton took a job as a waiter at Bencher’s Dining Room, in Osgoode Hall, home to the Law Society of Upper Canada. And while working among society’s most affluent, he saw opportunity. The well-to-do had private carriages, and that was quite an asset. There’s a reason this town was called “Muddy” York. Making matters worse, townsfolk routinely dumped their sewage into the filthy, unpaved streets. 

Remembering the horsedrawn carriages-for-hire back in Louisville – and noting the lack of a cab service here in Toronto – Thornton saved up his earnings. Just two years after his arrival, had commissioned a firm to design a cab that could carry passengers over the disgusting roadways.

His service was called “The City” – a red and yellow, four-seater with a taxi stand outside St. James Church. It was so successful that not only did he add more vehicles to the fleet, but other cab companies – commonly owned and operated by other Black residents – started to appear.

#BlackLivesMatter

THEME MUSIC

• Full Bloom, by Emily Klassen - http://cfccreates.com/alumni/2180

OTHER MUSIC

• A Celtic Tale, by Emily Klassen - http://cfccreates.com/alumni/2180
• Inca Spa, by Carlos Carty - www.nativerelax.com

LINKS

• I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land (Toronto Public Library): https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM178251&R=178251
• Toronto Dreams Project: https://twitter.com/TODreamsProject/status/1274070044805390348
• Torontoist: https://torontoist.com/2016/02/now-and-then-thornton-and-lucie-blackburn/
• Global Television: https://globalnews.ca/news/6601355/thornton-lucie-blackburn-toronto/
• The Toronto Star: https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/02/11/escaped_slaves_helped_build_to.html
• CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/taxi-history-1.3526912
• The Ward Museum: http://www.wardmuseum.ca/pathways/thorntonblackburn/

NOTE: THIS IS A RE-VOICED RE-PRODUCED VERSION OF THE (SINCE DELETED) ORIGINAL, FEATURING A MUCH BETTER MICROPHONE

Born in 1914, Ruth Lowe spent the first few years of her life in Toronto before moving with Mom, Dad and little sister to California. The family had been struggling, but Dad – an American – had a couple brothers in Glendale… so he opened a butcher shop there.

One problem. You’ve probably heard of it. It’s called the Great Depression and it eventually put an end to Dad’s business. So the Lowes uprooted again and returned to Canada with little more than the piano Ruth and her sister Mickey had trained on.

THEME MUSIC

• Full Bloom, by Emily Klassen - http://cfccreates.com/alumni/2180

FEATURED MUSIC

• Doin' The Suzie Q, by Ina Ray Hutton and the Melodears
• I'll Never Smile Again, by The Percy Faith Orchestra, composed by Ruth Lowe
• I'll Never Smile Again, by Glenn Miller, composed by Ruth Lowe
• I'll Never Smile Again, by The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, composed by Ruth Lowe
• Put Your Dreams Away, by Frank Sinatra, composed by Ruth Lowe, Paul Mann, and Stephan Weiss

BACKGROUND MUSIC

• StrangeViola.WAV by martysonic - https://freesound.org/people/martysonic/
• Unreal Piano | tictac9 by tictac9 - https://freesound.org/people/tictac9/