Facebook ♦ Twitter ♦ Pinterest ♦ Instagram
Taken in North York, ON.

Tags:   Moon Lune Luna Branch Tree October AshleyDuffus ALD Ash2276 North York ON Ontario Canada Toronto Halloween Fall Autumn ExCapture PlatinumHeartAward Heartawards October252007 Full Scoopt flickrhearts 5for2 PowerShot S5 IS PowerShot S5 IS FullMoon Harvest HappyHalloween Toronto Photographer 25+Faves Nightshot Nighttime night dark FrHwoFavs AD Ashley CanadianPhotogpraher CanadianPhotographer ArmourHeights over5000views 月亮 Ash2275 image Maan Hold A Lua ALua La Dermond tonights tonight halloweenToronto ©ALD Ashley'sPhotography mywinners Ashleysphotography.com ashleysphotos.com Ashley L Duffus www.ashleysphotos.com Super 위성 לעוואָנע चांद gealach القمر Mond A Great Capture

© All Rights Reserved

Tags:   subway Wellesley Station train downtown steps stairs A Great Capture www.agreatcapture.com AD+JM Ash2276 Ashley L Duffus ALD AGC Mobile_Jay James Mitchell Toronto ON Ontario Canada Canadian Photographer North America TorontoExplore Fall Autumn automne herbst autunno otoño 2022 green

© All Rights Reserved

Tags:   red squirrel Ashbridges Bay beach beachs beaches toronto On Ontario Canada eating grass fall autumn October 2014 ALD ASH2276 Ashley L. Duffus www.ashleysphotos.com creature little cute critter baby young Woodbine Beach A Great Capture

© All Rights Reserved

26 Delisle Ave

Tags:   red doors Deer Park United Church. Calvin Presbyterian Church snow A Great Capture www.agreatcapture.com AD+JM Ash2276 Ashley L Duffus ALD AGC Mobile_Jay James Mitchell Toronto ON Ontario Canada Canadian Photographer North America TorontoExplore Fall Autumn automne herbst autunno otoño 2022 26 Delisle Avenue midtown architecture steps stairs railing building

© All Rights Reserved

Facebook ♦ Twitter ♦ Pinterest ♦ Instagram ♦ 500px ♦ Website

Alexander Wood (merchant)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search

Statue of Alexander Wood at the corner of Church and Alexander streets in Toronto

Plaque on the monument

Another view of the statue
Alexander Wood (January 1772 – September 11, 1844) was a Scottish merchant and magistrate in Upper Canada who was the centre of a sex scandal in 1810.[1]


Early life and career
Wood was born at Fetteresso near Stonehaven, Scotland, and he moved to Upper Canada in 1793,[1] settling in the town of York (now Toronto) four years later. His original home was located on King Street, between Bay and York Streets, in the heart of what is now Toronto's Financial District.[2] Going into business with William Allan, he established himself as one of the city's leading merchants, was gazetted lieutenant in the York militia in 1798, and was appointed a city magistrate in 1800.[1] In 1801, Wood opened his own store providing quality goods imported from London and Glasgow.[1] The first sidewalk of Toronto was laid on the northwest corner of his King and Frederick shop.[3]

Return to York
Wood returned to York by 1812, resuming his prior appointment as a magistrate. He fought in the War of 1812 and was on the boards of several organizations. His life in York continued without incident until 1823, when Rev. John Strachan, a longtime friend of Wood's, recommended him for a position on the 1812 War Claims Commission.[1] Judge Powell was the appointing authority and refused Wood on moral grounds due to the 1810 scandal.[1] Wood sued Powell for defamation and won, but Powell refused to pay and subsequently published a pamphlet attacking Wood even further.[1]

Wood remained in York, continuing his service in civic duties for the next seventeen years. In 1827 he purchased 50 acres (0.2 km²) of land at Yonge and Carlton Streets, which was referred to as "Molly Wood's Bush" throughout the 19th century.[6]

Death
Alexander Wood finally returned to Scotland in 1842 and he died there two years later at the age of 72.[1] The British Colonist paid tribute to Wood as one of Toronto's most distinguished founding citizens.[1]

Wood had never married — and neither had any of his brothers and sisters, all of whom were themselves already deceased by the time of Wood's death — and he consequently had no legal heirs.[1] Owing to differences between Scottish and Canadian estate law, it took seven years after his death for the Court of Session and the British House of Lords to decide that his estate would be divided up under Scottish, rather than Canadian, law.[1] His estate thus passed to a first cousin once removed in 1851.[1]

Legacy
The area once known as Molly Wood's Bush is now part of Toronto's Church and Wellesley gay village, and contains an Alexander Street, a Wood Street and an Alexander Place.[4][3]

In 1994, playwrights John Wimbs and Christopher Richards launched a play entitled Molly Wood, based on Wood's life. This production garnered Dora Awards for Best New Play and Best Production in 1995.

In 2005, the Church and Wellesley business association erected a statue of Wood in the neighbourhood, honouring him as a forefather of Toronto's modern gay community.[4] The statue by sculptor Del Newbigging was unveiled on May 28, 2005.[4] The $200,000 cost was shared by the business association and the City of Toronto.[4] The statue incorporates a rose on the lapel of Wood's coat, in a secondary nod to Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the prime minister at the time homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada.[4]

Also in 2005, the business association launched a beer named for Wood. Alexander Wood Lager was brewed by Lakes of Muskoka Cottage Brewery and was marketed exclusively to bars in the Church and Wellesley area.[7]

On June 8, 2021, the Church-Wellesley Village BIA called for the removal of the statue because of the involvment of Alexander Wood in the Society for Converting and Civilizing the Indians and Propagating the Gospel Among Destitute Settlers in Upper Canada which contributed to the organization of the residential school system in Canada.

The Alexander Wood Letterbooks, which are in the collection of the Baldwin Room at the Toronto Public Library, are widely used as a resource for researching trade in early Upper Canada. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Wood_(merchant)

Tags:   Covid19 Alexander Wood statue removal plaque Historic Toronto TOrontoExplore A Great Capture AGC www.agreatcapture.com AD+JM Ash2276 Ashley L Duffus ALD Mobile_Jay James Mitchell ON Ontario Canada Canadian Photographer North America Spring springtime printemps 2021 early spring

© All Rights Reserved