The Day The Sun Turned Blue Above Toronto
Plus a new walking tour about a rampaging cow, Love Stories Of The Humber returns, and more...
With wildfire smoke currently creating a strange haze in the sky above Toronto, I thought I’d share an old story I wrote back in 2014. It originally appeared on my Toronto Dreams Project Historical Ephemera Blog, then on the Spacing website, and then in The Sky Issue of Spacing magazine (which is filled with lots of fantastic writing and can still be purchased here).
The first sign of the apocalypse came on a Saturday night in the early autumn of 1950. It was a little after nine o’clock. That’s when a star was seen streaking across the sky above Toronto; some said it was as big as the moon. It was gone in an instant; it broke apart into three pieces and disappeared over the lake. Most people didn’t even notice it. But the meteor was just the beginning. The real show started the next day, when the sun turned blue.
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in Toronto — which is what all Sunday afternoons were like in Toronto back then. The stores were closed. People went to church. They hung out at home and spent time with their families. It was the first day after the switch back from Daylight Saving Time, too, so people were enjoying the extra hour of rest. And since they were already expecting it to get dark early, some of them didn’t even notice how early it really was. It was still the middle of the afternoon when a gloom fell over the city, like an eerie dusk. Something had gone wrong with the sky.
One of Toronto’s most famous astronomers, Helen Sawyer Hogg, looked up. “The western sky,” she later remembered, “became a dark, terrifying mass of cloud and haze, as though a gigantic storm were approaching.”
As darkness descended, the animals began to behave in strange ways. Ducks went to sleep in the middle of the day. Dogs hid under their owners’ beds. Cows started to moo, demanding to be milked. And all over the city, people turned on their lights. Electricity use surged. Power-lines failed. And when the power-lines failed, bank alarms were accidentally tripped. Police scrambled to respond to the false alarms. As they did, the heavens swirled above them.
“Toronto’s sky was filled with weird wonder,” The Globe and Mail reported. “A great saffron-colored cloud filled the sky. Around it rolled steel grey clouds, shot by blackness and rippled, as water is rippled by a sudden light wind. Far off to the north and east the cold white light of the horizon accentuated the darkness that hung over the city.
“It was beautiful with a strange and dreary beauty and filled with ominous portent.”
The sun was most ominous of all. For most of the day, it was hidden behind those dark, swirling, purple clouds. But in the few brief moments when it did shine out from between them, it was shining the wrong colour: a frightening blue-mauve. It was said to cast no shadows and to shine with no rays.
People. Freaked. Out. They didn’t know what was happening. Some thought the sun was exploding. Others thought it was a flying saucer announcing the beginning of an alien invasion. Lots of people assumed it was a sign of a nuclear attack. This, after all, was just a few year after the end of the Second World War; the beginning of the Cold War. Stalin had just gotten the bomb. And every day, newspapers headlines gave updates on the war Canada was helping to fight against the Communists in Korea. Purple skies and a blue sun sounded a lot like the kind of nuclear apocalypse people were expecting: the beginning of the Third World War.
Police stations in Toronto were flooded with phone calls. People asked if an atomic bomb had been dropped on the city or somewhere else nearby. Others thought doomsday had come. One caller, according to The Toronto Daily Star, “said the end of the world was approaching and asked police to tell citizens to be prepared to meet their Maker.” The newspaper reported some people were praying in terror. A few even blamed the clocks: “Some said a supernatural power was angry with the world for tampering with daylight saving time.” Radio stations began to give hourly updates, asking people not to panic.
But the bad omens were far from over. As people woke up on Monday morning and went to work, the skies were still swirling with “yellows, browns, pinks and purples” and the sun was still shining blue. It continued throughtout the day and that night it was replaced by another sign of the apocalypse: a dark shadow swallowed up the harvest moon. It was a total lunar eclipse.
Of course, despite of all the ominous signs, the world didn’t come to an end that week. There was a perfectly rational explanation for everything.
It all started nearly four months earlier and more than three thousand kilometres away, in the forests of British Columbia. No one seems to be entirely sure exactly what sparked it — some think it was an Imperial Oil crew lighting a small fire to drive away some bugs; others say it was a slash-and-burn logging blaze that got out of control. Either way, the conditions that summer were perfect for it. The forests were dry; there was a drought. And since there weren’t any permanent settlements or major roads nearby, the authorities just let the fire burn. It swept across the border into northern Alberta, raging out of control. It lasted for months. By the the time it was all over, the Chinchaga River fire had destroyed millions of acres of forest. To this day, it’s the biggest recorded forest fire in the entire modern history of the continent.
In late September, when the fire was about four months old, there was a big flare up — its biggest yet. And this time, the enormous cloud of smoke hanging over the blaze got caught up in a weather system that swept it east across the Prairies. It only took a few days to reach the Great Lakes and for the strange purple cloud to begin darkening the skies above Toronto. The smoke particles were just the right size: they scattered the red wavelengths in the light from the sun, so it looked blue-mauve instead of yellow-orange.
It wasn’t just Toronto. Reports flooded in from all over the Great Lakes. And when the winds continued to carry the cloud east, it soared right across the Maritimes and out over the Atlantic. By the end of the day on Tuesday, the cloud had reached the other side of the ocean. The sun turned blue in the skies above the British Isles. In Denmark, it sparked a run on the banks before the cloud finally broke up.
In the end, it was the changing seasons that brought the great fire to an end. The rains and snows of late October doused the flames. The devastation left in its wake finally convinced the government to change the rules. Forest fires would now be fought more vigorously. And while days like today make you wonder whether it’s just matter of time before it happens again, the sun above Toronto hasn’t been blue since.
A New Tour About A Rampaging Cow!
One June morning in 1913, a cow escaped from her owner in downtown Toronto and went on a rampage through the heart of the city. She raced up Spadina Avenue, startled crowds of church-goes, and left chaos in her wake wherever she went.
Jamie Bradburn wrote a wonderful article about that cow’s adventure for Torontoist years ago — and I’ve been a huge fan of the story every since. So, for the 110th anniversary of this bizarre bovine escapade, we’re teaming up for a walking tour that will follow in the cow’s hoofprints and explore the history of Edwardian Toronto.
When: Thursday, June 15 at 6:30pm.
Where: Meet in Victoria Memorial Square — at Wellington & Portland. The tour will last about 2 to 2.5 hours and end in the Annex.
Price: Pay what you can.
“Love Stories of the Humber” Is Back!
One of my favourite memories of 2022 was the walking tour I created in partnership with Myseum: a romantic stroll uncovering stories of passion and heartbreak that have shaped the landscape over the last few hundred years. It even had live music! And now that tour is returning in just a couple of weeks!
“Take in the beautiful city lights at dusk with accompanying music as you listen to stories from tour host Adam Bunch, who will tell tales of heartbreaking farewells, torrid affairs, and long-lasting romance. Hear about the legacy of two artists who challenged the city’s attitudes toward same-sex relationships, the war-time romance behind Toronto’s most notorious highway, a French-Canadian fur trader’s four weddings, and many more.”
Love Stories of the Humber is part of Myseum’s “Sidewalk Stories” series, which also features some other fascinating-looking tours. (I’ve included them in the event listings below.)
June 17 & 24 — 5pm & 7:30pm each day — I recommend the 7:30 “sunset” timeslot
If you aren’t already a paid subscriber to the newsletter and you’d like to make the switch, all you have to do is click the button below. Not only will you get 10% off my online courses and invites to exclusive online events, you’ll also be supporting all my work while helping to ensure The Toronto History Weekly survives. This newsletter is a ton of work! Only about 5% of readers have made the switch so far, which basically means that by offering a few dollars a month you’ll be giving the gift of Toronto history to 20 other people.
QUICK LINKS
The best of everything else that’s new in Toronto’s past…
PRIDE PHOTOS NEWS — A new book shares the photographic history of Toronto’s Pride. Joy. Sorrow. Anger. Love. PRIDE: A Celebration of Toronto Pride, 1970s – Present is the creation of a partnership between the ArQuives, OCADU and Toronto Metropolitan University. Rebecca Tucker writes about it for The Globe and shares some of the images. Read more.
The book’s release is also being accompanied by an exhibition at Collision Gallery. Devon Banfield writes about it for NOW. Read more.
INDIGENOUS HISTORY MONTH NEWS — June is also National Indigenous History Month. Sonya Davidson shares some of the events happening around Toronto over the next few weeks. Read more.
CLEVER OLD RACOON NEWS — On Twitter, Andrew Lupton shared a fascinating theory about paw prints frozen in brick:
(Click it to read it on Twitter.)
DROP THE NEEDLE NEWS — A new documentary on Prime explores “the story of the Toronto-based record store, Play De Record, and how it became a hub for underground music lovers across Canada” and features local hip hop legends like Maestro Fresh Wes and Kardinal Offishal. Watch the trailer.
GOD IS IN THE DETAILS NEWS — Raavya Bhattacharyya takes us on a tour of the TD Centre’s 54th floor, “a 1960s Toronto time capsule” in the skyscraper designed by Ludwig Mies ver der Rohe. Read more.
TORONTO HISTORY EVENTS
MODEST HOPES: HOMES AND STORIES OF TORONTO’S WORKERS FROM THE 1820s TO THE 1920s
June 7 — 7pm — The Beaches Sandbox — The Beach & East Toronto Historical Society
Don Loucks and Leslie Valpy talk about their book. “Despite their value as urban property, Toronto’s workers’ cottages are often characterized as being small, cramped, poorly built, and in need of modernization or even demolition. But for the workers and their families who originally lived in them from the 1820s to the 1920s, these houses were far from modest. Many had been driven off their ancestral farms or had left the crowded conditions of tenements in their home cities abroad. Once in Toronto, many lived in unsanitary conditions in makeshift shantytowns or cramped shared houses in downtown neighbourhoods such as The Ward. To then move to a self-contained cottage or rowhouse was the result of an unimaginably strong hope for the future and a commitment to family life.”
Free!
OUT FROM THE SHADOWS: WOMEN AND THEIR WORK IN 19th CENTURY TORONTO
June 7 — 6:30pm — Don Mills Library
“Author Elizabeth Gillian Muir discusses her newest book, An Unrecognized Contribution: Women and their work in 19th century Toronto, which details the work that women did in the city --which could have been any large city-- work that has been hidden and not recognized in early histories. While women did own factories, taverns, pubs, stores, market gardens, butcher shops, brickyards and other commercial ventures, this fact has been hidden for decades. The presentation will be highlighted with photos and time for a Q & A.”
Free with registration!
THE MISSISSAUGA AND THE LEGACY OF THE TORONTO PURCHASE
June 15 — 7:30pm — Online — Etobicoke Historical Society
“Why are the Mississauga of the Credit First Nation not in Mississauga? Historian and consultant Karen Travers will discuss diplomatic and economic relationships between the Mississauga, and British officials and settlers that led to the negotiation of Treaty 13 in 1805, as well the impact of settlement, policy and law that forced them to relocate to Hagersville, Ontario in the mid-19th century.
“Karen is an EHS board member and Communications manager for our media releases. As a historian and consultant with research experience on issues related to Indigenous land and resource rights, she has published articles and reports on Indigenous policy and Ontario history. In addition to academic teaching and presenting, she has worked as a research/program manager and analyst for non-profit organizations devoted to furthering Indigenous business development and engagement.”
Free for members; memberships available here.
ON THE EDGE OF A CITY: TORONTO IN 1833 WALKING TOUR
June 16 — 10:30am — Meet at St. James Cathedral — Toronto’s First Post Office
“Imagine a Toronto where the tallest building is only three stories high, where Lake Ontario reaches Front Street, where the wagon wheels grind through the muddy roads, the air smells of smoke and animal, and the surrounding lands is farms, fields, and forests. This was what the neighbourhood looked like in the early 1800s.
“In this walking tour, explore the surviving built environment of the original 10 blocks of Toronto and discover how the Town of York, which started with a population of a couple hundred residents, became the City of Toronto in 1834, with a population of just under 10,000.”
$17.31 for non-members; $11.98 for members
POST NO BILLS: TORONTO STREET POSTERS FROM THE 1950s TO 1990s
Until June 25 — TD Gallery at the Toronto Reference Library
“Get an up-close look at visually-striking street posters from TPL's archives. For the first time ever, we're showcasing our decades-spanning set of Toronto street posters in person. These rarities reflect trends in graphic design as well as in our city's shifting politics, businesses and cultures. The exhibit takes you back to when activists and business owners had to hit the streets of Toronto with stacks of posters to get the word out. There was no internet or social media. It was an era when utility poles, newspaper boxes and construction sites were the billboards of the people.”
Free!
TERROR IN THE TOWN OF YORK: WAR OF 1812 WALKING TOUR
July 7 — 10:30am — Meet at St. James Cathedral — Toronto’s First Post Office
“Imagine a Toronto where the tallest building is only three stories high, where Lake Ontario reaches Front Street, where the wagon wheels grind through the muddy roads, the air smells of smoke and animal, and the surrounding lands is farms, fields, and forests. This was what the neighbourhood looked like in the early 1800s. In this walking tour, join us as we explore the beginnings of the area that would become the Town of York, the events leading up to the War of 1812, the Battle of York, and its aftermath while we walk the original 10 blocks of the early city.”
$17.31 for non-members; $11.98 for members
MR. DRESSUP TO DEGRASSI: 42 YEARS OF LEGENDARY TORONTO KIDS TV
Until August 19 — Wed to Sat, 12pm to 6pm — 401 Richmond — Myseum
“The TV shows of your childhood hit closer to home than you might think. From 1952 to 1994, Toronto was a global player in a golden era of children’s television programming. For over four decades, our city brought together innovative thought leaders, passionate creators and unexpected collaborations – forming a corner of the television industry unlike any other in the world. Toronto etched itself into our collective consciousness with shows like Mr. Dressup, Today’s Special, The Friendly Giant, Polka Dot Door, Degrassi, and more. Journey through Toronto’s heyday of children’s TV shows in this playful exhibition.”
Free!