Map of the Week: Riverdale's First World War dead

Updated Nov. 10 - see note below.

Maps:

Small (1000x540)

Medium (1200x800)

Large (1600x900)

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This week's map is an exercise in recovering lost urban memory.

I have identified almost 200 individual homes in Riverdale and the neighbourhood immediately north of the Danforth where the worst fears of the householder -­ wife, parent or sibling of a Canadian soldier overseas during the First World War - were realized a boy came to their front step with a dreaded telegram, instead of the man whose return they hoped for. For some, the news was final; for others, a long hospital vigil ended when a young man lost a painful struggle with the damage from shrapnel or gas.

The map gives an idea of the extent of cultural trauma which led to the Remembrance Day rituals, by looking at how the war scarred one neighbourhood. A large-scale disaster can sometimes seem incomprehensible; it is often only by looking at particular cases that we start to grasp a sense of what happened.

The war harrowed Riverdale on a mercilessly intimate scale:

In a row of five houses near Fulton and Carlaw, three lost sons in a six-week period in 1918 near Arras.

One-block Fenwick Avenue lost four men, as did one-block Garnock Avenue and one-block Wardell St.

One long block of Eaton Ave., east of Pape, lost six.

It is possible to stand at the corner of Garnock and Hampton and see five houses, including two pairs of next-door neighbours, who lost a son or husband.

Two homes, one on Riverdale Ave. and one on Hogarth, lost two sons. In the Riverdale Ave. case, one of them lied about his age to enlist.

For every actual death, there were many more families which lived with their dread, silently or otherwise. What it was like to live in the neighbourhood by the fall of 1918 is hard to imagine at this point; our only really good tool would be fiction.

The map was prepared from the excellent database at the Canadian Great War Project site. The search process was very cumbersome, and it wasn't possible to search for soldiers from First Ave., south of Gerrard between Logan and Broadview, or Strathcona Ave., off Pape south of the Danforth. 

I have added several streets north of Riverdale’s traditional boundary at the Danforth.

Every marker links to up to three documents: the Commonwealth War Graves Commission page for the soldier, the Department of Veterans Affairs page, which often links to other resources such as press clippings, and images of the soldier's attestation papers, prepared when he enlisted. Not all markers have all three links. The address on attestation papers is not always the address of next of kin at death, which is what the map is based on.

If you live in Riverdale and the area a few blocks north of the Danforth (pictured at left), you may want to consider the following:

The older a house is, the more of the texture of everyday life has flowed through it - birth, death, joy, tragedy. Some people who live in old houses enjoy the traces of people who lived there before, like coal grates and worn floorboards, and others carefully erase them all.

It’s rooted in personal things: our attitude to home, history and culture play a part.

A home pinpointed on the map may be where you now live. Whether you want to know this is for you to decide.

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Update, November 10:

Thanks to commenter John McLean for pointing out two soldiers from Eastmount Ave., north of the Danforth, who belonged on the map – when I looked into it more closely, I ended up adding four from Eastmount and three from Muriel Ave., near Pape and Danforth.

I’d place Private Russell Devall (http://ow.ly/B7Ni) on the on the map if I had a street address – we know his parents lived on Muriel, but not exactly where. His attestation papers aren’t on line.

Map of the Week: Elmbank

I've been getting around to this since spacing.ca's excellent post on Elmbank, the rural community that once existed on the Pearson airport site. After its expropriation in the 1930s, visible signs of the village (south of the present-day control tower ) vanished, though archaeologists removed a 622-grave cemetery from the airport grounds in the fall of 2000. (link, link, link, link (.pdf).)

The archaeologists reported:

The observation of disease and traumatic injuries on skeletal remains provides insight into the overall health status and occupational hazards of the population. By recording the frequency of individuals manifesting certain disease markers, as well as fractures and dislocations, it is possible to reconstruct the everyday struggle endured by the nineteenth-century pioneers buried at Elmbank cemetery.

Specific conditions and diseases, such as osteoporosis, arthritis, tuberculosis, periostitis, and various forms of cancer were observed on a number of adult remains. Some adults, and especially the remains of children, exhibited non-specific signs of chronic disease and/or nutritional stress that cannot be attributed to one specific disease or episode of disease. These findings of chronic disease in adults and children are not unusual in populations that pre-date modern Western medicine with antibiotic treatment and knowledge of basic hygiene, sanitation, and balanced nutrition.

Numerous instances of fractured bones, arthritis, and spinal column disorders, as well as the robust appearance of the skeletal muscle attachments in many males and females, all indicate a life of hard work for both sexes. This finding mirrors observations of other historic Ontario populations.

Just under half of the analyzable crania showed evidence of a pathology of the eye socket indicating malnutrition. The presence of this pathology decreased with the age of the individuals and it was seen more frequently among females than among males. No severe cases of this pathology were seen among the wealthy.

The overlay is an 1878 sheet which covers roughly the north half of modern Mississauga. It came from this project.

The file will open in Google Earth, Google Maps’ three-dimensional cousin, which can be downloaded here. The map overlay is contained in this .kmz file, which you can right-click to download.

Map of the Week: How we commute, redux

PETER POWER/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Our online mapping capabilities have improved in many ways over the last year and a half, and I sometimes look at maps created early in the project and think about redoing them in a more sophisticated way.

One example is the map series I created last August showing commuting patterns in different parts of the GTA, using electoral boundaries to show 48 areas. Three maps showed motorists, transit users and cyclists-and-pedestrians. The maps have been popular every time they've been linked to.

With more advanced tools, I can now create a much better version of these maps broken down into 194 areas, with pedestrian commuters and cyclists on distinct maps. The data comes from the 2006 census.

StatsCan's other categories - commuters who are motor vehicle passengers, motorcycle riders, commuters by taxi or 'other' - do not have their own maps.

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Map: Drivers

We see distinct tiers, with the highest driving rates on the rural outskirts of the 905, lower (but still high) in the built-up suburbs around Toronto, lower in the 416 and much lower in the downtown core.

Income does have some relationship to the map - a cluster of five neighbourhoods roughly centred on the Rosedale Golf Club have driving rates over 60%, high by Toronto standards, despite being bisected by the Yonge St. subway. M3B, which contains part of the Bridle Path, has the highest driving rate and the second-lowest transit use rate in the 416.

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Map: Transit users

The transit map is roughly the inverse of the driving map, with the exception of the downtown core. The subway lines are shown for reference. Almost all the high-transit-use postal codes are on a subway line, with two out of three of the exceptions (South Riverdale and Parkdale) served by major streetcar lines.

High transit use stops abruptly at the boundaries of the 416. The 905's highest postal codes for transit use, L5A and L4X, are in Mississauga within reach of Kipling station. 

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Map: Cyclists

Cycling rates are high in the bottom of the inverted T of the old City of Toronto, more or less, minus downtown itself. In the east end, the escarpment south of the Danforth seems to have defeated some potential commuter cyclists. Leslieville/western Beaches seems to have less than half the proportion of cyclists as Roncesvalles, which is about the same distance from downtown - why? Let us know in the comments.

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Map: Pedestrians

The pedestrian map is almost exactly the missing centre of the cyclist map. In M5G, bounded by Queen/University/College/Yonge, a majority walk to work.

Toronto flu clinics

Toronto's public health department today (October 21) announced 10 locations where the H1N1 vaccination will be available. Operating times can be found here. Here is a map:
View Toronto flu clinics in a larger map

Maps elsewhere

Torontoist's David Topping discovers Google's first try at superimposing 3D building outlines on Toronto's downtown, and the very strange results. Here's the CN Tower:

Map of the Week: Drug charges

CANADIAN PRESS

Map: Average annual drug charges per 1,000 residents, 2004-2008

This week continues our occasional series of neighbourhood crime maps with a look at drug charges.

The most obvious thing about the map is the higher rates of drug charges more or less downtown, roughly in an area bounded by Queen/King, Bathurst, Bloor and Parliament, more or less. The missing piece of information is how many of these charges were laid against residents of any given neighbourhood, and how many against people from outside.

Looking more broadly at the city, we see the familiar check-mark shape extending diagonally down though the west end, through the downtown and up again through Scarborough. This appears on many other maps, including this one and this one.

The rate is averaged over five years because of significant year-to year fluctuation in many areas.

The map shows five years of data for all 140 neighbourhoods, as seen below:

1,000,770

Map of the Week had its millionth page view overnight, making it the fourth Star blog to go into seven figures.

Map of the Week: Death

SIMON HAYTER/TORONTO STAR

Map: Average age at death, 2006

After our four-week series on birth, we turn to death.

This week's map looks at the differences in average age at death in 192 areas across the GTA.

Within the City of Toronto, we see a rough relationship between income and lifespan. High average ages at death cluster along the high-income Yonge St. corridor with pockets in Hillcrest Village and the Kingsway, while low average ages cluster in traditionally poor neighbourhoods in parts of the west end and east downtown. In Halton and Peel, we see generally longer average lifespans along the lake shore.

Here are the top 10 neighbourhoods for average lifespan:

M6A	Lawrence Manor/Lawrence Heights	83.4
L6B	Eastern Markham	82.75
M5N	SE of Lawrence/Bathurst	81.97
M4N	Lawrence Park	81.16
L5K	Mississauga, Dundas and Winston Churchill	80.77
M8X	The Kingsway	80.76
M5P	Annex	80.62
M2L	E York Mills	80.33
M5R	Annex	80.27
M4T	Moore Park	80.15

and the 10 lowest:

L4P	Georgina Township/Keswick	67.97
L3X	SW Newmarket	67.52
L4E	Temperanceville (Vaughan/King)	67.01
M1B	Malvern	66.44
L5N	Mississauga: Winston Churchill/Derry Rd area	66.43
L1K	Northeastern Oshawa	66.34
L6R	W Brampton: Wanless/Mississauga Rd area	65.94
L4T	Malton	65.33
L7A	W Brampton: Wanless/Mississauga Rd area	63.6
M5A	Regent Park/St Lawrence/Corktown	63.32

Postal codes with fewer than 50 deaths excluded

The second table includes a number of deep suburban and rural neighbourhoods and only one really urban one, which leads me to wonder if there's a link to sedentary lifestyles. It reminds me of the Toronto diabetes study from a number of years ago which found higher rates in low-density neighbourhoods in Toronto. (article link)

Map(s) of the Week: Childbirth, week 4

TARA WALTON/TORONTO STAR

This week winds up our series on childbirth in the GTA with a look at homebirth and midwifery.

The information comes from data I bought from the Office of the Registrar-General, which was taken from the Statement of Live Birth form (.pdf) which is filled out when a child is born in Ontario. 

All the maps are based on the first three characters of the postal code of the mother, and show data from 2007, the most recent year available. Postal codes with fewer than 30 births have been dropped from the map this week.

Birth: Percentage of homebirths, 2007

Birth: Percentage of babies delivered by midwives, 2007

No distinction is made on the form between planned and unplanned homebirths.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the maps look roughly similar, with strong clusters in the old east and west ends of the central city, the west-end cluster being bigger. The midwifery map has a cluster in northern York Region roughly along the 400, and another in Burlington.

Here are the top 10 neighbourhoods for midwife-delivered babies:

M6R	Toronto: High Park/Roncesvalles	13.88%
M6G	Toronto: Little Italy: Seaton Village	12.87%
L9N	East Gwillimbury: Holland Landing	11.39%
M6S	Toronto: Bloor West Village/Swansea	10.17%
M4M	Toronto: South Riverdale	10.13%
M6P	Toronto: Bloor West Village/High Park	9.65%
M6H	Toronto: Trinity/Niagara	9.16%
M4L	Toronto: Leslieville/western Beaches	8.89%
M4J	Toronto: Trinity/Niagara	8.84%
M5C	Toronto: Jarvis/Queen/Yonge/King	8.82%

and the top 10 for homebirths:

M6R	Toronto: High Park/Roncesvalles	6.12%
L1W	Pickering: lakeshore area	6.00%
M5C	Toronto: Jarvis/Queen/Yonge/King	5.88%
M5B	Toronto: Ryerson area	5.19%
M6H	Toronto: Ossington/St. Clair/tracks/Dufferin	5.09%
M4M	Toronto: South Riverdale	5.06%
M4L	Toronto: North Toronto (N of Eglinton/Mount Pleasant)	4.65%
M6G	Toronto: Little Italy: Seaton Village	4.62%
M4P	Toronto: North Toronto (N of Eglinton/Mount Pleasant)	4.49%
M6P	Toronto: Bloor West Village/High Park	4.31%

For simplicity’s sake, the data order I placed with the Registrar-General covered the L- and M-series postal codes, which roughly works out to all of south-central Ontario, including Hamilton, Niagara and the area stretching north to Georgian Bay. The maps haven’t shown areas outside the GTA*, but I’ve been keeping an eye on that data.

Last week (Map: No other parent listed, 2007), I probably should have pointed out that two Hamilton neighbourhoods (L8L, more or less the North End, and adjoining L8M, a box bounded by Main St. E./the escarpment/Upper Wentworth/Ottawa Street) also have very high rates of single motherhood, and would have made a top 10 list if we were depicting all of south-central Ontario.

This week, the data shows that the Hamilton area has a much higher rate of midwife deliveries than anywhere else in south-central Ontario. Here is the top 10 list for midwife deliveries, if we look at this whole area (.pdf):

L9G	Suburban (non-rural) Ancaster	18.52%
L9H	Dundas	15.81%
L8S	Hamilton: McMaster/Westdale area	15.70%
L8P	Hamilton: 403/escarpment/King/James	15.68%
L8R	Hamilton: Roughly 403/King/James/harbour	14.06%
M6R	Toronto: High Park/Roncesvalles	13.88%
L2S	East Gwillimbury: Holland Landing	12.90%
M6G	Toronto: Little Italy: Seaton Village	12.87%
L9N	East Gwillimbury: Holland Landing	11.39%
L0S	Niagara Region: Eastern rural areas	11.37%

**

Here is the equivalent home birth table:

M6R	Toronto: High Park/Roncesvalles	6.12%
L1W	Pickering: lakeshore area	6.00%
M5B	Toronto: Ryerson area	5.19%
M6H	Toronto: Ossington/St. Clair/tracks/Dufferin	5.09%
M4M	Toronto: South Riverdale	5.06%
L0A	Northumberland County: western area	4.76%
L3C	Toronto: Little Italy: Seaton Village	4.71%
M4L	Toronto: Leslieville/western Beaches	4.65%
M6G	Toronto: Little Italy: Seaton Village	4.62%
M4P	Toronto: North Toronto (N of Eglinton/Mount Pleasant)	4.49%

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I'm conscious with all these map projects that there are readers who know far more about any given subject than I do - I'm just a guy with some data and some tools. Here are some questions for readers:

1) Looking at this data, there seems to be a greater proportion of hospital deliveries by midwives outside the central city (in Hamilton and York Region, for example), and a greater proportion of home births downtown. Is there a reason? Both of our children were born at home in Riverdale, and I found it reassuring that if anything went wrong there were major hospitals within easy reach. Does it have to do with closeness to hospitals, or cultural differences between midwife practices?

2) In Toronto, the map of midwife deliveries roughly tracks the location of midwife practices. (map: zoom in to see Toronto in detail). Is this supply, demand, or something of both?

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* There are several reasons. One is that the boundaries on the maps have to be built by hand in a labour-intensive process, and adding postal areas outside the GTA would have involved creating another 67 polygons, or two-dimensional shapes. Another is that the maps are slow to load as it is (especially in IE) and I’m reluctant to slow them down further. Another is that several areas (Dufferin County and Niagara) have rural postal codes which completely enclose urban postal codes, and the XML system we’re using doesn’t allow for doughnut polygons (I’m aware that conventional geoKML does and and also GoogleMaps v3, as of this week).

** Two low-population postal codes excluded

Map(s) of the Week: Childbirth, week 3

SHUTTERSTOCK

Map: No other parent listed, 2007

This week continues our series on childbirth in the GTA.

The information comes from data I bought from the Office of the Registrar-General, which was taken from the Statement of Live Birth form (.pdf) which is filled out when a child is born in Ontario. 

All the maps are based on the first three characters of the postal code of the mother, and show data from 2007, the most recent year available.

This week's map looks at single mothers, by showing the percentage of 2007 births where a father/other parent wasn't listed on the Statement of Live Birth.

The most striking thing about this map is the solid block roughly along Black Creek Drive and the 400, where six postal areas side by side all have rates over 10%.

High rates are also found in the east downtown and South Riverdale, the Chinatown/Kensington Market area, and the West Hill/Guildwood area of Scarborough. Rates are lower in the Yonge St. corridor and the 905 generally except (relatively) for downtown Oshawa, northwest Caledon and the Steeles/Kennedy Road area of Brampton.

Here are the 10 highest:

M3N	Jane-Finch	16.20%
M5T	Kensington Market/Chinatown	15.66%
M3L	W Downsview	14.66%
M1E	West Hill/Guildwood	10.89%
M5A	Regent Park/St Lawrence/Corktown	10.72%
M3M	Central Downsview	10.59%
M9M	Weston	10.49%
M4M	South Riverdale	10.44%
M6L	401/Jane/Lawrence/CNR	10.32%
M6M	Keelesdale/Mount Dennis	10.09%