Over on the revived JB’s Warehouse & Curio Emporium site, I’ve compiled a series of posts about the Christmas season a century ago. It made more sense to publish the Toronto-centric post here.
Illustration by Lou Skuce, Toronto World, December 25, 1920.
The day before Christmas when all thru the house, we find the whole city had got on a souse. Not a souse caused by liquor but one caused by cheer, that makes Christmas Day the big time of the year.
Toronto World, December 25, 1920.
With the post-First World War economy still sluggish, providing the unemployed and families struggling with poverty was a major theme of the 1920 holiday season in Toronto. After examining the recommendations for help received by its Santa Claus Fund to provide children with clothing and toys, the Star decided that its charitable efforts needed to go further. As a result, 600 families were chosen to be recipients of a new Star Christmas Basket Fund. “The arrangements do not seem complete,” a December 21 front page story observed, “if the children in these 600 homes are to be made glad by the visit of Santa Claus, yet left hungry for want of a dinner on Christmas Day?” The average value of the baskets would be $7, equivalent to $85 a century later. “A Star Christmas Basket will be a barricade against fear, that demoralizing, devitalizing thing that slinks around the haunts of poverty waiting for victims to fall.”
Toronto Star, December 21, 1920.
The Star was among the numerous organizations prepared charity baskets for delivery. For example, here are the contents of a basket for a family of seven as suggested by the Neighbourhood Workers Association (which later evolved into Family Service Toronto), who linked the efforts of those providing assistance:
A roast or fowl
Potatoes (1 peck)
Carrots (1/4 peck)
Cabbage (1 head)
White beans (2 lbs)
Granulated sugar (4 lbs)
Yellow sugar (2 lbs)
Rice (1 lb)
Rolled Oats (3/4 stone)
Raspberry jam (1 lb)
Butter (1 lb)
Tea (1/2 lb)
Fruit loaf
Plum pudding (2 lbs)
Mixed nuts (1 lb)
Apples (1 peck)
Lard (1 lb)
The Star estimated that around 19,000 Torontonians were reliant on relief from the city to get through the holidays. Business leaders were not optimistic about any improvement in the employment situation through the winter of 1921 – a survey conducted by the Toronto Board of Trade indicated that new jobs in the city’s industrial plants might not be posted until February at the earliest. The brightest news was a call posted on December 23 for 40 men to work for the Ontario Hydro-Electric Commission in Niagara Falls. The public was reminded not to view the unemployed as lazy people who preferred being idle.
Canadian Grocer, December 24, 1920.
Despite the economic situation, shopping was brisk on Christmas Eve, with stores reporting sales they hadn’t seen for years. “There is too much fun getting down the last day to shop,” the World observed. “All stores displaying Christmas goods were packed to the doors with a happy, jostling throng, and the way the good coin of the realm was passed across counters in exchange for Yuletide wares made it impossible to conceive of a financial stringency.”
The Globe, December 18, 1920.
On the holiday edition of the Globe‘s women’s page, editor Florence Deacon Black reflected on the power of childhood and nostalgia during this season. “The best of Christmas,” she observed, “is that it reminds us of other Christmases. Curiously we peer into the past and a Christmas of our earliest childhood, and hold it up before our delighted memories.” She went on to tell a story of a holiday spent at a farm house.
Toronto Star, December 23, 1920.
Further down the page, it was noted that “in this selfish generation” people tended to put their worst beds in the guest room for visitors, rather than offering a comfy place to sleep. “What is wrong with many guest rooms,” the uncredited writer went on, “is that half the dust-catchers, ornaments, soft cushions, etc., in the house are put out of the way into this mostly unused room; the bed is neither clean nor comfortable, and the room unaired.” Suggestions for improving guest rooms included leaving closet space for visitors, along with at least one drawer for clothes, and offer comfort items such as pens and paper, a sewing basket, and collections of short stories and essays.
Toronto Star, December 22, 1920.
Perhaps poetry might also be offered to holiday guests. Another article suggested that homemakers should place poems on their kitchen walls and cabinets. “One may learn poetry while washing dishes, peeling vegetables, or ironing,” it was noted, “but it would scarcely be possible to read anything discursive except perhaps at some such odd time as waiting for a cake to finish baking.”
Recipes courtesy of women’s page columnist Katherine Kent, The Globe, December 23, 1920.
Celebrations in city hospitals received full writeups across the Toronto press. Beyond Santa handing out gifts, events ranged from residents of
the IODE Preventorium (a North Toronto facility for children whose parents had tuberculosis) performing a Little Red Riding Hood skit to a band performance at St. Mike’s. In municipal jails, the city gave prisoners pork pies, while the Salvation Army provided fruit.
The Globe, December 25, 1920.
Late on Christmas Eve, 14 firefighters were injured or overcome by smoke while battling a blaze at the Shuttleworth Building at Dundas and Victoria. The three-hour blaze started in the basement of the five-storey building, occupied by the E.B. Shuttleworth Chemical Company. Despite the roof caving in and an explosion on the third floor, the blaze did not spread to other buildings. Losses were estimated at $300,000. Other occupants of the building included two book publishers, Hodder and Stoughton and the Musson Book Company.
“It was a bitter Christmas Eve for the firemen,” the Globe observed. “Many who were enjoying the evening at home with their families came out. Cold, wet, and exhausted, overcome by fumes and smoke, seeing their comrades carried away unconscious and, for all they knew, perhaps dead; knowing the ever-present possibility of a destructive explosion, the firefighters never hesitated abd never stopped.”
And now, some Christmas editorials…
The Globe, December 24, 1920.
Toronto Star, December 24, 1920.
Toronto World, December 25, 1920.
Toronto Star, December 24, 1920.
Finally, a couple of stories about Christmas visits…
The Globe, December 25, 1920.
Toronto Star, December 27, 1920.
Sources: the December 23, 1920 and December 25, 1920 editions of the Globe; the December 21, 1920 and December 24, 1920 editions of the Toronto Star; and the December 25, 1920 edition of the Toronto World. Due to lack of access because of COVID, holiday season editions of the Mail and Empire and the Telegram were unavailable for review.
Jamie Bradburn's Tales of Toronto 