Honouring Toronto’s First Black Councillor And Deputy Mayor
Subject
William Peyton Hubbard; Toronto; Commercial Oven
Description
William Peyton Hubbard, the son of American slaves who in 1837 fled Virginia via the Underground Railroad to take up farming in Canada, was Toronto’s first black elected city councillor, representing one of the city’s wealthiest and whitest wards and often presiding over council as acting mayor.
William Peyton Hubbard, the son of American slaves who in 1837 fled Virginia via the Underground Railroad to take up farming in Canada, was Toronto’s first black elected city councillor, representing one of the city’s wealthiest and whitest wards and often presiding over council as acting mayor.
Recently, as dignitaries including Mayor John Tory, Dub Poet Lillian Allen and Hubbard’s descendants gathered to name an elegant park in his honour, the strongest message was that Hubbard’s most enduring legacy was not that he broke the colour bar, but that he used his status to fight for public ownership of Toronto’s water and hydroelectricity services, and advocated for wronged citizens, whatever their ethnicity.
In 1842, Hubbard was born in a cabin close to Toronto, where a small Black community lived peaceably but not equally, with some public facilities such as hotels and restaurants refusing to admit them. W.P., as he was known, attended the non-segregated Toronto Normal School but became a professional baker and not a teacher.
Later, to accommodate the needs of his business, he invented and patented a portable, “practically fire-proof” and much smaller commercial oven to replace the massive brick ovens used in large establishments. The oven was a hit, and sold throughout Canada and the U.S.
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Publisher
huffpost.com
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