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What sports stadiums used to look like in Toronto
Despite the technological advancement of Toronto's biggest pro sports facilities — the Rogers Centre and the Air Canada Centre — there remains something to be said for what it was like to watch a game at the ballparks and arenas of the previous era. I hate to get wistful just for the sake of it, but modern stadiums tend to lack the unique character of their predecessors.
Case in point: there will never be as good a place to watch a hockey game as from the seats in the red balcony section at Maple Leaf Gardens, which seemed to place the viewer almost on top of the goaltender. Interestingly, those seats didn't exist when the building was first completed in 1931 but were added during one of the many renovations undertaken in the 1950s and 60s to increase seating capacity.
Nowadays, professional hockey arenas are all designed around the bowl concept, which leads to a certain homogeneity across the league. The same can't be said for baseball stadiums, which tend to be more varied, but be that as it may, the Rogers Centre isn't exactly the most intimate place to watch a game. I'll thus indulge in a little bit of longing for the "good old days," even though I wasn't around to take in a game at Maple Leaf Stadium, which looks like it was a prototypical urban ballpark.
Here's a look back at Toronto's stadiums and arenas of yore.
Toronto's first baseball stadium, 1893
Lacrosse in 1910
Bloor Street and Bedford,1906
Varsity, 1920
The TTC hockey team, 1927
Christie Pits or Riverdale Park
Pro hockey outdoors, 1912
Boxing match, 1915
Liberal Party meeting, 1913 (via the Wikimedia Commons)
Arena interior, 1920s
Under construction 1921
Interior, 1922
Interior, 1922
Interior, 1922
Exterior, 1929
Game action, 1937
From Fort York
From the bleachers (date unspecified)
Crowds (date unspecified)
Just prior to demolition
A gem on Carlton in 1934
Ice Show, late 1930s
The Circus, 1940s
Basketball, (ca. 1950s)
Hockey game, Johnny Bower in goal
Renovations, 1955
New escalators! 1955
Daryl Sittler, 1970s
Harry Jerome, 1950
Miss Toronto contest, 1951
Queen Elizabeth II, 1959
Exterior, 1959
1980s (postcard)
Seating Plan
Plans, 1980s
The SkyDome in all its early glory (postcard)
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Photos from the Toronto Archives unless otherwise noted.
Discussion
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What's the source of the first picture with Sunlight Park identified?
sorry, let me put the 'damaged Toronto sports fan' aside for a minute -- great piece Derek.
You guys should do one on the many old urban racetracks that have long since been demolished.
Those pictures of Maple Leaf stadium make it similar to Fenway Park in Boston. It's old, sure, but the feeling you get going to an older stadium to watch a game is an awesome one. Would have loved to have been able to watch a game there.
Mutual Street arena, later reincarnated as
the Terrace. I believe it was where the
Maple Leafs played before the opening of
Maple Leaf Gardens.
And they were named after rich people and corporations even in the old dayzzz, ie: Wrigley.
Wasn't that why Skydome was built in the first place?
Maybe, but it rains in San Fran and no one seems to care. Chicago and Green Bay play half the football season in snow and no one seems to care.
I'm fine with Skydone, first level seats are a little cramped but whatever. Retrackable domes were state of the art and hot stuff when it was built, now everyone dumps on it. I guess I do too. Maybe a cool refit! like the ROM (hahah)
Used to be located just south of the former Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Woman (now the location of Lamptort Stadium). From what I've been able to dig up, Diamond Park was located on the south-east corner of Fraser Ave & Liberty (which is now a building formerly built by E.W. Gillet Co.).
Anybody relate to this out there? I miss those days,
Thanks for reading this
Jim
also biked past st. barts today and realized the old regents park ball yard was gone and the swimming pool empty and fenced
seems the FUTURE GRINDS AWAY THE PAST
I was born in 46 and grew up in that area. (north regent)
Fond memories.
Many memories, and life lessons.
Jim Ellis
http://mopupduty.com/toronto-maple-leaf-baseball-memoirs/
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