Toronto & Niagara Falls in 1954(HD)

Toronto & Niagara Falls in 1954
credit: Eaton's Canada/Archives of Ontario
www.oldtorontos...

[@brentjacks1412]

I can't believe what pristine condition this footage is in. I find these fascinating. Thank you!

[@OldTorontoSeries]

We will be posting new "old" footage every few days. Make sure to subscribe!

[@brentjacks1412]

@@OldTorontoSeries Subscribed. Looking forward to the "new" footage. Thanks again.

[@banlin5458]

你們捐款了

[@banlin5458]

一样

[@banlin5458]

多谢

[@petroanhel125]

So unreal... like completely another world... thank for posting it

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

“...complete subway service for Toronto...” - nearly seventy years on, we’re still waiting...

[@imannonymous7707]

It was then the city has grown . Beyond Scarborough town centre to the north was mostly farms. And there was no train there

[@williamschweitzer6910]

As long as politicians keep interfering progress will be painfully slow.

[@davidrice6075]

come on!!

[@Амарат-ъ4щ]

25 years in Toronto- the state of the subway, shabby look , slow and in permanent interruption of the traffic- the result of neglects. Shame!

[@JIFILMS]

This is a masterpiece! Love the film score. It conjures up images of old Disney movies from that era. There’s nothing like these beautiful archival documentaries shot on film. The irony is that the Toronto housing demand of 1954 is exactly the same in 2022. Traffic and congestion never ending. The rapid expansion is still expanding 68 years later to no end.

[@boratb258]

Two people out of high school working in a factory could buy a house back then, my grandparents were two factory workers who saved their money and bought a house. Today you need a minimum of 200K a year of household income. Middle class is now minimum 70K a year.

[@imannonymous7707]

@@boratb258 my grandmother paid 11000 dollars for a semi detached in 61....she put a thousand dollars down on it. It's in the beaches, it's still there. It's a lot more now lol

[@user-wb1qo6ol4h]

We arrived 19 years later in 1973. Wonderful film. Beautiful. Thanks!

I will have to make a time machine to get out of this time.

[@user-wb1qo6ol4h]

Agreed.

[@rowbom]

Makes me sad to see how beautiful and rural Niagara area used to be. Will never be that way again

[@peacewind-aero]

Mind blown by how tiny the 401 and 400 were at this point. Wow.

[@arananation]

imagine it being that small now. The city would crash!

[@bonniebluebell5940]

@@arananation ...and then readjust.

[@johnboulanger807]

True; 401 was built as a bypass to the city, now it cuts right through the middle

[@jacobrocks7]

This was well before my time but it seems so relaxed compared to today ...no smartphones and internet social media..how wonderful

[@imannonymous7707]

It was before a lot of things. And people were quite happy

[@DragonActual]

I hope there's footage lying around of what malls used to look like. I miss those water fountains

[@johnboulanger807]

@@DragonActual Good call. I fell in one at Sherway Gardens in 1973. I was three years old (one of my earliest memories). Rolled right in and flat on my back under water.

[@DragonActual]

@@johnboulanger807 Right. I've been trying to look for images or even video of that one water fountain at Sherway Gardens. It was one miniature one: It was a Japanese-style water fountain. I did recall a video of that years ago on YT but any attempt to look for media of said fountain gotten nowhere at all.

[@auntiedough2488]

My parents arrived in Canada during this period. They met at a dance at the Imperial Room at the Royal York Hotel in the mid 50s. Fascinating to see what it looked like when they arrived.

[@riobabic8960]

My parents met at the El Mocambo. Father Croatian and mother English !

[@niemi5858]

I was 4 years old living in Toronto when this was filmed. Where did the years go! They must be piling up somewhere.

[@maz1702]

@@MannL0VE good question I'm also curious to know

[@unknownninja4430]

they're piling up at the 401 today

[@stemp2004]

I recognized quite a lot. & Wow So many Union Jacks. Very British 😮 very cool!Casa Lomaa irecognizess, queens park and down at the harbour front etc. So was the Hydro was partly why the growth was so much??

[@Armlesscrayon]

I grew up in the green belt outside of Stoney Creek/Binbrook. This is how I remember Toronto and Niagara as a child in the 60’s..

[@Viggypop571]

So nice and clean.

[@imannonymous7707]

This is Toronto the way my grandparents told me of..the place my father grew up and the way I wish it was still. ..progress isn't always a good thing

[@KJB484]

Love the cars driving on the 401!

[@imannonymous7707]

Yea me too , they were simpler times, as they say and they dont build cars that well anymore

[@lrmguitars1224]

Ya and there actually moving

[@JustFluffyQuiltingYarnCrafts]

Wonderful video! Thanks for sharing. ❤

[@argopunk]

6th generation Torontonian here who loves looking at the locations as my family inhabited them before my time. Thanks. The shot at 1:37 -- Avenue Road looking north from St. Clair toward the mansion that is now the South Korean consulate is identical; 1:52 is the same except in '54 there were no Pride, Trans, BDSM flags hanging from the balconies.

[@RC-Flight]

Wow can’t believe how open the area of the 400 Hwy at the old Easton’s warehouse. That’s Finch Avenue and 400 w8th open farm land, sure has changed. I remember going too the discounted sales at that very Easton’s warehouse with my mother as A kid in the 60s and 70s

[@alien_may]

Same here!

[@imannonymous7707]

If i recall correctly i believe eventually they had a similar store that liquidated at warden and eglinton. But it was much smaller and later going into the early 90s i believe. I miss eatons, that was a sad day they closed their doors

[@alien_may]

Thank you for sharing your video!

[@ashley3471]

Fantastic. Thanks so much. So many things I remember and how it was a very different time for children.

[@DeathWish1974]

So clean and soooooo white

[@jango1970]

wonderful. At 0:31, "looking up ... [University Ave] at Queen's Park [College St and University Ave]", I saw a castle-like building on the right. It seems to be located on east side of University Ave, north of Dundas St. It has towers at each corner, like a castle or cathedral. I think it is the old armouries which was at 361 University Ave, near Armoury St. That is the adress of the former "University Ave Armouries" or "Toronto Armouries" built in 1894. It was destroyed in 1963. A courthouse building is there now. Osgoode Hall (courthouse) is just south of it.

[@imannonymous7707]

Didn't know that... cool I know osgoode hall. Yes I see it. Cool

[@bunbee2025]

Correct…..and you can even see SickKids hospital just down University Avenue….amazing!!

[@GaryCameron]

It's wild knowing this was all 70 years ago.

[@bskinny9009]

I grew up right behind the Eatons west of the 400. My house wasn't built yet in '54.

[@hhefner9659]

Did you attend St. Judes CS and St.Basil's HS?

[@jango1970]

I remember shopping at an outlet store (Eaton's or Sears) at Weston Rd and Sheppard Ave West (south side).

[@playbimbo]

@@jango1970 Eaton's Warehouse, it was located on Sheppard and Arrow Rd.

[@bskinny9009]

@@hhefner9659 Yes, I went to both schools.

[@randomrazr]

a more civilized time

[@vassa1972]

Wow I was born at Toronto East general hospital in July 1972

[@dylanb2142]

that eatons building is where my house now stands off sheppard ave west near weston rd...how times have changed so drastically.

[@hhefner9659]

No, that is still industrial/warehouse, you might be think where Woolco was located.

[@lawrencelewis2592]

I first came to Toronto in 1989 and rode those red subways.

[@glen6945]

they were called the red rockets

[@pumpkinpie896]

@@glen6945 no ttc back then ?

[@johnmcgahern3946]

@@pumpkinpie896 Red Rocket was slang for the subway trains, it was still known as the TTC - Take The Car

[@northmorgan5797]

Those apartme that we all see that look so old was SOOO pristine for them at that time

[@andygrenn680]

Can’t believe the space between moving cars in downtown Toronto 1954. The word gridlock yet to be known…

[@SM-fj4kz]

Seeing the CNE was the most exciting part

[@voiceofreason7856]

When we were clean, pristine and uncrowded....Those were the days !!

[@rowbom]

Is this all filmed in 1954, of is some of it in the sixties. Some of the buildings look too modern to be the fifties

[@Laughandsong]

I am born in what used to be the biggest city in Canada and so glad I moved to what used to be the second city 28 years ago.

[@stepheng3667]

Must of felt good to get away from the peppers?

Now everything is turned to crap - on purpose.

[@remiguillette109]

Thank you ❤

[@fringeminority3224]

Wish we could go back to this time. Much simpler 😪

[@David-hi1ej]

Segregation was still a thing back then

[@theschof96]

@@David-hi1ej Where? Not here in Canada.

[@user-conservative-wasp]

@@David-hi1ej We never had segregation in Canada. Our population was literally over 95% Caucasian up until about 1970.

[@stewartgillis4851]

It was such a beautiful city.

[@hhefner9659]

was

[@stewartgillis4851]

@@hhefner9659 yep.

[@generalgrant3189]

2nd that - WAS

[@imannonymous7707]

Ya

[@ingridwootton-mota231]

You are right.....WAS....a nice place....not anymore

[@magicworldbyjorg]

..a cool video keep up the great content.. Thank you…

[@KameaMedia]

My family came to Toronto in 1954. The refugee agency put is up in the Paramount Hotel on Spadina Ave; it was razed a few years later and replaced with an LCBO (government of Ontario liquor store) store. My mother took us to the Scott Mission just up the street, where she spoke to the Rev. Morris Zeidman in Yiddish, -he had converted... It was there, as a child, I started to get a sense of the absurd. There was a cast-iron horse trough at the corner of Spadina and College, which remained in place for many years. Rev. Zeidman gave me a set of lead soldiers, Grenadiers , and sent us to a summer camp staffed by nuns. The Scott Mission is still there, feeding the homeless, including a steady population of alcoholic Native people.Gone are the days.

[@peterjeffery8495]

It was a treat to see all 4 lanes of the mighty 401 circa 1954. I'd love to know exactly where that piece was filmed. They tell us that in 1954 TO was Canada's 2nd biggest city, so in what year did Toronto overtake Montreal as the biggest city in the country? This seems like a cozy group of Torontobergers, anybody know the answer?

[@AgathaLOutahere]

And I have read that today the 401 thru the GTA is the busiest freeway in N. America.

[@We_Need_To_Talk_About_Dougie]

I think it was close to passing Montreal around then. I think it was post war immigration that made Toronto grow fast. It just have been very soon after this

[@thegoldendog7991]

As a kid I recall many peach tree groves in Niagara Falls. Most of them now have been replaced with vineyards. It’s fine of course because I drink more wine than I consume any peach related foods lol.

[@Shamsithaca]

Looks like a warm and often sultry hot city.

[@mitchbarredo3990]

Now look at it.

[@KeepingOnTheWatch]

That was highway 401? Incredible at how much it changed!

[@AgathaLOutahere]

Why does downtown Toronto still have the same streetlight fixtures after so many decades?

[@NotMrPea]

I really want to go show some people back then what a huge city toronto would become!

[@CustomMuscleCarAccessories]

This was the violent-free city.

[@datturaokulkarni6604]

Right.

[@karlq9133]

真好啊，50年代我们还在大跃进

[@georgejetson1025]

Do history of Barrie pls

[@lolli2943]

This is the year my mum was born. Very cool :)

[@BrianShaneRushton]

To the people reading this and longing for the past, maybe the present isn't so great for you right now but looking at the past with rose colored glasses isn't the answer. This comment section is full of people romanticizing the past. The truth is the past was just another day like today, people still had problems, the world was still chaotic, there was uncertainty about the future and concerns about health and money just like today. If you could talk to people in those days it wouldn't be hard to find people like you who miss their version of "the good old days". Yes, this is obvious, but clearly needs to be pointed out

[@thegoldendog7991]

Why does it need to be pointed out as you say? If people find comfort remembering their past so be it. I recall fondly my childhood with my now deceased parents and sister. Things were better then in some ways. Yes, problems existed. Race relations, war, etc. There’s no such thing as the perfect time, but I can tell you that where I lived, life was more simple. Even as a young adult many years ago working, buying my first home, starting a family and just living was easier. Easy? No. Easier? Yes. Identity theft wasn’t a thing like now. You weren’t bound by security and privacy agreements. Internet bullying didn’t exist. Ask parents who have lost kids to suicide if this is important. I could go on and on. This isn’t rose coloured glasses talking. This is clear recollection. I don’t long for the past. What would be the point, but my past was good, so excuse me if I like to recall it fondly.

[@gnomeyg959]

I agree.. it was not that great back then. Europe was still rebuilding from the slaughter of WW2, kids had nuclear attack drills in schools and women weren't allowed to open a bank account. If your husband raped and maimed you in a drunken rage you had zero options but to take it. Gay men were "criminal sexual psychopaths" and measles still killed hundreds of Canadians each year. No birth control, no treatment for cancer, half the diseases hadn't even been identified yet. Complain too much? Institutionalized and lobotomized. I'll take today's problems over all that any day. Oh, and don't even get me started on the racism and residential schools.

[@user-conservative-wasp]

Problems are present in all times. However the problems back then didn't involve being arrested for misgendering some guy in a dress. Or having to bypass a riot taking place in the streets in support of a terrorist group (Hamas). Yes, there were and always will be problems, but it definitely was MUCH better in those days. Decency and common sense still prevailed, unlike today.

[@devas1993]

Beautiful

[@FayDougall]

AWESOME!!!! Love Niagara Falls back in the 60's and 70's...but I love looking at old footage like this. If you want to see more of Niagara Falls, may I recommend the movie NIAGARA starring Marilyn Monroe. Simpler times

[@LeRoi715]

Today VIA announced train from Ottawa starts at 4:19 and arrive in Toronto at 8:47 M-F; how about the train from Toronto to Ottawa for us w/out the car,eh? or Montreal/Quebec City?Thank you VIA! Cheers to that. How abut showing us the history of our TRAINS including VIA?

[@faithedem1900]

Awesome video! The music tho 👌

[@highwind8124]

As weird as it sounds, I wouldn't have liked it back then. Other people would, sure. If I were to be dropped back in this point in time, I... if you like traditionailsm, I guess this awesome. Like if you want a wife you can raise a family with, then this is awesome. The 1950s is supposed to be peak times. It's when the WW2 generation came back and settled down and built their home. It's their time of peace. The 50s would have been mind numbing to me. Even though everything is tacky in the 70s, I would have liked it then. If I could go back to any decade, it would be the 90s. That's just me.

[@user-conservative-wasp]

Anything is better than today. But things really started to go south in the late 1960's to early 1970's.

[@ShahidRafiq-p4j]

Eglinton LRT construction is clearly visible in the video.

[@SteveRothfels]

This film could not have been shot in 1954. There is the rear view of a 1957 Chevrolet zooming past the camera on the highway at 3:22.

[@user-conservative-wasp]

That's not a '57 Chevy. The rear fins on the '57 Chevy were much bigger than this. It looks like a 1953 or 1954 Chevy Bel Air.

[@SteveRothfels]

I am sorry sir, I stand by my observation. And, as I pointed out, it is closely followed by a 1956 Chevrolet. To further my point, at 3:34 please note the white, black and red 1956 Hudson proceeding in the left lane away from the camera.

[@privateconfidential4775]

2022: Hasn’t Changed or Improved At All!!!Colgged and Congested Now

[@kevinolesik1500]

68 years ago

[@FishNChips90]

Correct me if I’m wrong but the narrator sounds like Knowlton Nash

[@paulbadics3500]

When U of T was about "research & learning" & there was a focus on "industry" as opposed to just "services"

[@TonyGalano-t5o]

Isnt Toronto the largest city in Canada, not the second?

[@carlfalt174]

Montreal was the largest city in Canada till the mid 70's.

[@sda-clips]

My grandpa was 37 in 1954

[@Doug-b4c]

It is a tragedy what politicians have done to Canada over the past fifty to sixty years with the influx from the third world transforming what was a beautiful clean and safe country into a third world dumping ground with ever increasing violent crime.

[@user-conservative-wasp]

I couldn't agree more. It's sad that we tend to lower ourselves to inferior standards, instead of the inferior trying to raise themselves to our standards.

[@ranyranyranyrany3974]

We have the same subway. What is wrong with this place now in 2022?

[@generalgrant3189]

LOTS

[@user-conservative-wasp]

The subway cars have changed three or four times since then.

[@leinad5243]

Pre Trudeau era

[@BEYONDYOURIQ]

Beautiful Niagara with its outstanding fruit orchards.

[@user-conservative-wasp]

I remember being able to stop and buy fruit at fruit stands on the way to Niagara Falls from Toronto in the 1960's. Great time to have grown up.

[@karinakim5706]

Idk why the old footages make me depressed like shit 😕

[@user-conservative-wasp]

Because of the incredible deterioration of our society.

[@SVMatt]

cool

[@tianly6177]

I agree that those were the good ole days. But I prefer modern medicine and dentistry.....lol...🤭🤭🤭

[@genrevz]

Cheap hyrdo power. Ohh good old days.

[@generalgrant3189]

Even in 1954 - idiots driving the 4 lane highways too close to the vehicle in front.

[@creedencebakken2686]

70 years later and Toronto still has a traffic problem 😹😹😹😹

[@lightmeupper]

The TO city planners did good local design. The overall GTA design was a disaster. A happy city needs space. There is no space when there is a continues city between Whitby and Hamilton. Missesauga, Oakville and Burlington, whitby, oshawa, vaughn around toronto should never been turned into suburbs. Instead, Hamilton, waterloo region, barrie, kingston and Belleville should have been developed or kept into a city of 600 000 people.

[@glen6945]

ace

[@capistrano999]

whoever designed the city did not have any consideration for the future.. how did we only have 2 subway lines when other places had multiple lines.. not progress at all. The highways in the north are still 2 lane traffic, when it should have ben widened by now. Niagra is a toilet now.

[@user-conservative-wasp]

You are so negative, and misinformed.

[@Argonaut121]

The year I was born, in Toronto. Have lived here ever since. The changes in the city from then to now are astonishing. It was such a boring place back then, and so interesting now.

[@hhefner9659]

lots of white people and everyone was happy got along.

[@rogerthomson9461]

Yes interesting drive by shootings . Real improvement. Remember when you were a kid and people left the keys in their car when they went shopping?

[@meerkat1954]

Interesting = drugs and gang warfare?

[@user-conservative-wasp]

Personally, I don't find degeneracy interesting.

[@clauderain4888]

The 401! Zero traffic and cars going 60km/hr

[@Armlesscrayon]

60 “miles” per hour back then. 🙂

[@PhamVans]

Back when people were more creative with their time and money rather than just building condos.....

[@stewartgillis4851]

" Ever increasing population " . My generation was sold a bill of goods...development, development, development, a wonderful thing.Right !!

[@SteveRothfels]

...followed by a 1956 Chevrolet.

[@adamsolomon7877]

No minorities back then. Oh how I wish we could go back to those days

[@Philvalentine7]

It’s not really minority anymore when we are the majority. get used to it.

[@matthewsemenuk8953]

"modern plants and buildings" lul 1954 .. whats an Eatons?

[@user-conservative-wasp]

Eaton's was a large department store famous for it's Christmas display in downtown Toronto. I miss Eaton's and Simpson's. Simpson's later became Simpson's-Sears.

[@silveryrealm]

did he say 2nd largest? like whattttt? lol

[@GpL_2000]

Montreal was bigger at the time, the city of Toronto was just the downtown potion of what is modern Toronto. The city expanded in size and population to become a mega city in 1998. The amalgamation of Old Toronto (Downtown), Etobicoke, Scarborough, East York, North York and York.

[@user-conservative-wasp]

@@GpL_2000 Yes, but Toronto was bigger than Montreal by the early to mid 1970's.

[@dancostello6465]

So clean and civilized. What happened? Now Toronto looks like a bordello.

[@brandondodd4713]

Subversive elements. We need to get control of our central banks if we want to go back to this.

[@user-conservative-wasp]

Irresponsible, weak politicians.

[@blankblanker7627]

I notice something ? 🤔🤥

[@suprabrajbhandari548]

80 years later and still not a good subway

[@GpL_2000]

Someone needs to refresh on their rudimentary math skills.

[@arananation]

0:15 cheap hydro power 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@bonniebluebell5940]

We cannot stand still but soulless "progress" is a recipe for ruin.

[@myjourneytotruth]

Everything still is the same as before except electricity isn't cheap, we are over populated, housing is still a problem and we are nowhere near completing the transit system 🙄

[@user-conservative-wasp]

Transit systems are NEVER complete, anywhere. They are ever changing.

[@timyumichuck9262]

One of the ugliest cities even then

[@user-conservative-wasp]

Toronto is, and was one of the most beautiful cities in North America. You obviously don't travel much.

[@timyumichuck9262]

@@user-conservative-wasp the third world chimes in

[@RusskiCommieBot]

Beautiful footage before the tyrants took over Canada. May God make their land free again. #BankRunCanada #BankRunWorld

[@danrook5757]

I went to Niagara Falls on New Year’s Day, I never heard anyone speak English

[@superpaul2099]

if they only knew what a shit show it would become!

[@Diabolik3]

Yo man it's Toron'o not Toronto man...

[@i.p.9318]

It was a great city, clean and beautiful, but one of the third world cities now 😂