rfmcdonald | [PHOTO] Croft Street Mural

On April 19th, 1904, the Great Toronto Fire devastated downtown Toronto, the intense fire attracting firefighters from as far away as Buffalo and inflicting great suffering on Torontonians in the midst of the -4 degrees Celsius cold and the snow. (See Suite 101, the Archives of Ontario, and Heritage Toronto for more. Miraculously, only one man died, volunteer demolition man John Croft, who--as Torontoist noted--had the very bad luck to die after the fire.

Over the next few weeks, safecrackers were hired to rescue important documents from the ruins, followed by demolition teams equipped with dynamite. Among the men hired for the demolition was Parliament Street resident John Croft, a recent immigrant from England who had occasionally assisted dynamiters in coal mines in his native land. He was assigned to the W.J. Gage Building at 54-58 Front Street West. His team was not given a storage battery to set off the dynamite and had to resort to lighting long fuses then running for cover (an image associated with modern cartoon gags—a possible inspiration for the mural design?). This worked for the first two explosions that were set on May 4th. The third try proved unlucky for Croft.

The following morning, The Globe reported on the incident and Croft's condition:

Croft, with two assistants, William Goudge and A. Ramsden, had set off 30 blasts yesterday morning and at 1 o'clock placed three charges under of portion of the W.J. Gage & Co. wall. Two were exploded safely, but the third fuse, set for a minute and a half, was slow. After waiting for some time, Croft went up the wall to investigate, and as he did the blast went off. The flesh on his right arm was torn to shreds, and he sustained a severe scalp wound and a broken rib. The sight of the left eye was destroyed.

Later that morning Croft died from the shock, leaving behind a wife and three children. He was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Four years later, the former Ulster Avenue was renamed in his honour. The mural was created a century later, followed by a plaque from Heritage Toronto.

Now a popular laneway in eastern Little Italy, Croft Street's mural is visible just to the north of College Street.