According to the Toronto City Directories, the Hobbs Glass Company filled the house between at least 1940 and 1950. There are no directories for 1950 or 1951, so Hobbs may have stayed at the site after 1950.
It appears that the Toronto branch of the Hobbs Glass Co. specialized in stained glass, employing well-known stained glass artist William Meikle for a number of years. There are examples of stained glass by Meikle from the Duke street era at St Paul’s Cathedral in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
1881 Census reveals information about house occupants
The 1881 Census lists 7 people in the house:
William Damer, 52, English born, Presbyterian, English Origin, Boot and Shoe Manufacturer, married
Susan Damer, 57, Irish born, Presbyterian, Irish origin, married
Anne Damer, 22, Canadian born, Presbyterian, English origin
William Damer, 20, Canadian born, Presbyterian, English origin, Manager
Jennie Damer, 19, Canadian born, Presbyterian, English origin
Martha Damer, 17, Canadian born, Presbyterian, English origin
Susie Damer, 11, Canadian born, Presbyterian, English origin, going to school
Prominent residents of Duke Street petition for street to be macadamized
On 6 April 1846, prominent residents of Duke Street, including Thomas Harris, Thomas Ridout, and P. J. O’Neil, signed a petition asking that their street be macadamized.
Macadamization was a paving method that was state of the art in North America at the time. It involved placing multiple layers of crushed stone, beginning with a layer of the largest stones and ending with a layer of the smallest. Most of the city had yet to be paved – when Toronto was still the Town of York, it was known as ‘Muddy York’ due to the state of the roads.
Petition p. 1
Source:
Petition – Toronto City Archives, Fonds 200, Series 1081, Item 1404
On 8 June 1826, a gang of young men led by Samuel Peters Jarvis broke into and sacked William Lyon Mackenzie’s print shop on Palace Street, tossing type and printing equipment into the lake. Dubbed the ‘Types Riot,’ the incident was an attempt by members of the local elite to silence Mackenzie, who had been their harshest critic.
Mackenzie responded by pressing civil, as opposed to criminal charges, which kept government attorneys from the proceedings. Chief Justice William Campbell presided over Mackenzie v. Jarvis, et al., instructing the jury to be impartial while deliberating on the case. The jury ultimately ruled in favour of Mackenzie, awarding him £625, which saved his struggling newspaper business.
Mackenzie’s Print Shop
Sources:
Trial and Crime Information – Chris Raible – Muddy York Mud – (1992)
Image – Toronto Public Library (http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMDC-PICTURES-R-3107&R=DC-PICTURES-R-3107)
