It was a bulldozers-versus-crowd standoff in downtown Toronto, with heavy machinery ready to demolish a row of Victorian houses at Sherbourne and Dundas to make way for a highrise — but dozens of protesters stood in the way.
The tower plan in Moss Park had ignited frustration. Some were upset by its height, while others saw it as growth that threatened to displace low-income tenants renting apartments or rooms in the old houses. Leading the charge of about 80 protesters that day in 1973 was famed urbanist Jane Jacobs, who spurred the crowd to bring the safety fence down.
“They can’t do this if the hoardings are down,” Jacobs cried out before the crowd brought the barrier to the ground, according to archival materials. “Here, give me a hand.”
