Ralph Thornton
The Centre is named for Ralph Thornton, a devoted community leader and activist.
He was born in Toronto in 1905 and died in September 1974 at the age of 69.
For most of his working life, Ralph Thornton was an independent taxi driver. Outside of his occupation, he fought hard for working class residents around housing, income security, and city planning.
In the late 1960s, Thornton was instrumental in fighting for residents whose homes were being expropriated by the City of Toronto. His efforts led to changes in the Expropriation Act in 1968, which required the City give displaced residents enough money for their current home to purchase a comparable one.
Born in Toronto in 1905, James Ralph Thornton was described in the classic community organizing book The Power to Make it Happen as “one of the original moving spirits in the Riverdale community”. He was an independent taxi driver for much of his working life, a beloved local community leader, and a good neighbour whose front living room was an organizing centre and place of respite.
The late 1960s and 1970s were turbulent years in Riverdale as they were elsewhere. On both sides of the Don River the City was busy with its urban renewal schemes. People’s homes were expropriated to make way for new housing but the Expropriation Act of that period meant that people lost about a third of the value of their homes when they were forced to sell to the City. Ralph Thornton was a key community organizer against the City’s plans and helped people stay united in the fight.
Though unable to stop the city from demolishing homes they were able to force a big change to the Expropriation Act in 1968, requiring that owners be paid enough to buy a comparable home. This was such a big change that the city abandoned the idea of tearing down neighbourhoods because it was too expensive to pay people fair value for their homes. Don Mount Court, the Ontario Housing Corporation’s development adjacent to Ralph’s home on Hamilton Street, was the last urban renewal scheme of the City of Toronto.
“If we had more people like Ralph, the city would be a much nicer place, there would be more equality, fairness and consideration for others – we would have a society and city that we could be proud of”.
John Sewell, Former Mayor of Toronto
Ralph was at the fore of many other community efforts to shift power to the working class residents of Riverdale who were directly affected by policies on housing, income security (including welfare) and planning. Disgusted by the Riverdale Hospital’s policy of excluding the public from its cafeteria in the early 1970s, Ralph Thornton tackled the hospital head on. The hospital changed its policy and invited Ralph to become a member of their board of directors. Ex–Toronto mayor John Sewell said that this was how Ralph got things done – by being outspoken, pragmatic and on the side of justice and fairness.
Ralph’s community work might be described today as a combination of direct action and lobbying. In the 60s and 70s his way of working was both radical and instrumental in neighbourhood renewal in Riverdale. Community organizer Dale Perkins said Ralph “was a pillar of the early organizing
campaigns that peaked in 1972 when the Greater Riverdale Organization was formed… Ralph was
the community’s very finest patriarch and leader. Long may his spirit prevail”.
Though Ralph died in September 1974, others through the Greater Riverdale Organization continued to find ways of giving local residents a voice in how decisions were made and City resources used.
After the post office at 765 Queen Street closed in 1975 it took five years for it to become a community centre supported by the city but governed by a volunteer board of local residents. The centre was named after Ralph Thornton to honour his work and “spirit”, as well as those of the many other residents who fought for healthy, just and liveable neighbourhoods.
History of 765 Queen Street East
The building at 765 Queen Street East was designed by E.J. (Edward James) Lennox, architect to over 70 significant buildings in the city of Toronto, including Old City Hall and Casa Loma. The building was designed in the Richardson Romanesque style which emphasizes round-headed “Romanesque” arches and cylindrical pillars with conical caps embedded in the walling. This building also features a flatbed turret clock, which must be reset by hand every week, and a handsome marble staircase.
The cornerstone was officially laid on Friday, May 15, 1914.
For 62 years from 1913 to 1975, 765 Queen St. E. was the home of Postal Station ‘G’.
The building was designated an historical site by the Toronto Historical Board in 1973. After the post office closed in 1975, it took five years for it to become a community centre.
In 1979 Toronto City Council established the South Riverdale Neighbourhood Improvement Project which recommended that the building be acquired as a multi-purpose community facility to include the Queen-Saulter Library and the South Riverdale Child Parent Centre.
In 1980 Toronto City Council signed a 20 year lease with the federal government for the old post office and adopted a by-law establishing a community centre to be operated by a board of management elected by the community at an annual general meeting.
Official opening day of the Ralph Thornton Community Centre was held on Valentine’s Day in 1981.