Riverdale Historical Society—since 1999

Come out and support your Riverdale Historic Society for its second in-person event since COVID.  Note location, for Nov. only:  St. Matthew’s Clubhouse,  450 Broadview Ave,  Toronto.  6:30pm, Tues. Nov. 28th  Polar bears at Riverdale Zoo Daniel Lamb's professional career started on the floor of his father's factory, Lamb's Glue and Stove Blacking Manufactory, located near the east end of Amelia Street, looking over the Don River.  Established in 1849, Lamb's Manufactory gained a reputation as one of the heaviest polluters in Toronto.   Our story will focus on how Daniel Lamb redeemed his family's unsavoury reputation.  Lamb became active in municipal politics, and worked to improve our city.  But he's best known for establishing Riverdale Zoo, Toronto's first zoo, known today as Riverdale Farm. Riverdale Park 1912 Our speaker, R ichard Fiennes-Clinton has been active in Toronto's historical community for about 35 years.  He h...

  Honouring Toronto's First Black Councillor And Deputy Mayor William Peyton Hubbard, the son of American slaves who in 1837 fled Virginia via the Underground Railroad to take up farming in Canada, was Toronto's first black elected city councillor, representing one of the city's wealthiest and whitest wards and often presiding over council as acting mayor. by Elizabeth Abbott.  Published on Huffington Post,  Oct. 25, 2016.      William Peyton Hubbard, the son of American slaves who in 1837 fled Virginia via the Underground Railroad to take up farming in Canada, was Toronto's first black elected city councillor, representing one of the city's wealthiest and whitest wards and often presiding over council as acting mayor. Recently, as dignitaries including Mayor John Tory, Dub Poet Lillian Allen and Hubbard's descendants gathered to name an elegant park in his honour, the strongest message was that Hubbard's most enduring legacy was not that he broke the colou...