Before the Blue Jays played their first game in the snow, the Maple Leafs were Toronto's top professional baseball team. They won 11 International League titles and 13 Hall of Famers would play for the team. Learn more about them this week on Muddy York.

You can follow Muddy York on Twitter: ⁠⁠Toronto_History⁠⁠ and Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/muddyyorkhistory/⁠

Music from this Episode:

Dover - The Westerflies

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

This episode is about the great mansion on Davenport Hill and the man who built it. Casa Loma is one of the most distinctive buildings in Toronto, but there's more to this story. It helped to launch swing music and it once housed a top-secret lab. Learn more about it on this week's episode of Muddy York.

You can follow Muddy York on Twitter: ⁠⁠Toronto_History⁠⁠ and Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/muddyyorkhistory/⁠

Music from this Episode:

Dover - The Westerflies

Doug Maxwell Productions  - Rag Time Time 

Doug Maxwell Productions - Honky Tonkin'

Zacharia Hickman  - Argonne

Thornton and Lucie Blackburn were born as slaves in Kentucky. They would escape, make their way to Canada, establish the legal precedent that led to the Underground Railroad and create the very first cab in the history of Toronto. Learn about their story this week on Muddy York.

I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad by Karolyn Smardz Frost is a good read if you're interested in learning more about the Blackburns.

In honour of the mayoral election, Muddy York's very first episode will be about the very first election ever held in Toronto way back in the year 1800. Four men would stand for the honour of representing the people of York. This story has riots, bribery and duels to the death. Who says that politics is boring?

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Muddy York is the first podcast dedicated to the history of Toronto. Staring on June 20th, we will be posting new episodes on the first and third Tuesday of every month. In the meantime, here is a short introduction to your charming hosts and a short story about how Toronto got its Muddy York nickname.