Upcoming Events
Monthly SHS meeting, Wednesday, Apr 3, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Speaker: John Beram
Topic: “The early history of horse-racing and the Queen’s Plate in West
Toronto”
Time: 7:30 pm
Monthly SHS meeting, Wednesday evening, April 3rd, 7:30 pm
Please mark your calendars for the next meeting of the Swansea Historical Society, scheduled for 7:30 pm, Wednesday evening, April 3rd, 2024. Our speaker for March will be John Beram. Tentatively, his topic will be “The Early History of Horse-Racing and the Queen’s Plate in West Toronto”.
Did you know that there was once a race track located between High Park Avenue and Keele Street? The first Queen’s Plate horse races (now called the King’s Plate once again) were held there, starting in 1860. John has previously spoken to the Swansea Historical Society on subjects related to the history of West Toronto and the Junction area. We are pleased to welcome him back as our April speaker.
The April meeting will be conducted in a hybrid format so that participants can attend in-person at the Town Hall or connect on-line using the Zoom tool.
SHS – April Meeting
Time: Apr 3, 2024 07:15 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82601841882?pwd=kLzJwX9OWIfhsw3S2X6ZmT0Rfn1dni.1
Meeting ID: 826 0184 1882
Passcode: 391298
Upcoming Swansea Historical Society Events
Tentative subject – The History of Swansea Public School. Chris Higgins retired from teaching at Swansea Public School in 2020, after three decades there. He has subsequently published 2 books on local history: BRICK by BRICK: Swansea Public School, 1890-2020, and Riverstoryz: Conversations on the Humber. According to his website www.chrishigginswrites.com, Chris is now working on a third book, Hanging on Every Word: Toronto in the Age of Execution, which we expect will dovetail nicely with Lorna Poplak’s
March presentation on the Don Jail.
As above, the May meeting will be conducted in a hybrid format so that participants can attend in-person at the Town Hall or connect on-line using the Zoom tool. Zoom links will be provided closer to the meeting date.
Past Swansea Historical Society Events Highlight
Join us on Wednesday, Mar 6, 2024 at 8 p.m. Our speaker for March will be Lorna Poplak and her topic will be “Toronto’s Don Jail”.
Lorna Poplak is a Toronto-based writer, editor, and researcher. She is the author of two award-nominated non-fiction books: — “The Don – The Story of Toronto’s Infamous Jail”, and “Drop Dead – A Horrible History of Hanging in Canada”. With these and other publications, Lorna is establishing herself as an authority on the history of crime and punishment in Canada. Her presentation will include many fascinating stories about people associated with the Don Jail – the inmates, the staff, the governors, people who escaped from the Don, and people whose lives ended there at the end of a rope.
View a partial list of our past speakers ›
View a partial list of our past guided historical walks ›
