The Ward

A very broad reaching and thorough overview of Toronto's lost St. John's Ward neighbourhood, now buried somewhere beneath Nathan Phillips Square and New City Hall. The Ward was the first stop of many immigrant families — first predominantly Jewish and Italian, later Chinese — as they arrived in Toronto.

This book is a collection of short stories and essays from a wide variety of authors. Some are excellent, most are good, and a few are thankfully short. The editors chose not to organize the pieces in chronological order, which they point out but don't explain in the intro, leading to a narrative that jumps all over The Ward's timeline. I found it interesting but difficult to keep straight, especially as many of the pieces mention the same people, places, or incidents.

Hidden at the back is a “ghost map”, showing where The Ward's old streets align to today's buildings. I wish the map had been at the front as I only found it part way through reading. I really wanted two maps, side-by-side, one showing The Ward as it was in the 1920s and a second showing how it sits today. I also wanted to learn more about the expropriation and eventual demolition of most of The Ward to make way for Nathan Phillips Square, which is lightly covered but not in much detail. The City of Toronto archives have a pretty good collection of photos of the construction itself (http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=8cf9757ae6b31410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD&vgnextchannel=6c21226b48c21410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD) but not much of The Ward coming down.

I would recommend the book if you're very curious about that part of Toronto's history, but suggest that you feel free to skip pieces and jump around. It's perhaps best considered as The Ward itself was: a somewhat motley collection whose sum is greater than its parts.