Date: 1903

Origin: Keith Walden, “Becoming Modern in Toronto: The Industrial Exhibition and the Shaping of Late Victorian Culture” (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997) pp.314-315.

As historian Keith Walden has pointed out, the most serious deficiency in city services was accommodation. The luckiest visitors could rely on friends and relatives, though strains in private homes at exhibition time were a constant source of comment. Light-hearted ditties on the tribulations of hosting, such as “Why Ma is Going Batty” and “The Advantages of Country Cousins” filled the press. C.W. Jeffreys cartoon in the Star in 1903 indicated that overcrowding in hotels during fair time was also very common! Click here to view a list of Toronto Hotels in the CNE Programme from that period.