The heartwarming tale of a legendary Christmas Eve in Toronto

There’s a legendary tale of a Christmas Eve hundreds of years ago in Toronto when one of the wealthiest citizens of the town at the time (a Scrooge of his day, you could say) was inspired to do a heartwarming act of good.

The Scrooge of our story is George William Allan, the son of one of the wealthiest families in Ontario at the time. He was also the mayor of Toronto in 1855.

The legend goes that one crisp evening in 1870, George William Allan went out to enjoy a wintry stroll along Front Street, from his home on the northeast corner of Front and Frederick streets, heading towards the St. Lawrence Market.

Instead of a winter wonderland, he was dismayed to encounter small children hiding in the doorways of the frigid city streets trying to stay warm. He was confronted by the stark contrast to his wealthy upbringing and life of privilege, and that very night decided to do something to combat the growing number of homeless children on the streets of Toronto.

That was the night he decided to donate his home on Frederick Street to become the Newsboys’ Home. The home gave young boys something to eat and somewhere to sleep at night, as well as newspapers to sell, which doesn’t seem like much but was groundbreaking at the time.

The idea of feeding and sheltering poor children was radically different from most views of the wealthy ruling class at the time during the 1800s.

The predominant viewpoint of the British Empire and wealthy people in growing cities like Toronto during this time was that lower classes, poor families and especially poor children were not to be looked after by the government or society, or educated in any way. Their perspective was that doing so would enable them to grow up and take over society by overthrowing the current ruling class of wealthier people.

However, George William Allan didn’t agree with these opinions and his Newsboys’ Home became successful at sheltering many children in need. 20 orphaned boys who had never had a steady source of food or a safe place to sleep were residing at the Newsboys’ Home within a year.

George William Allan died in 1901, but he’s still remembered as a former mayor, iconic Torontonian, and a kind and generous soul to this day. The horticultural landmark in Toronto Allan Gardens is even famously named after him.