[URBAN NOTE] "The mysterious case of the grave of Stella Vanzant"

[rfmcdonald]

Spacing Toronto's Chris Bateman reports on the sad story of a young girl whose grave went missing in what is now the heart of the Financial District of Toronto.

When little Stella Vanzant died of causes unknown some time in the early 1800s, her bereaved father interred the girl’s young body in a six by four-foot grave in a quiet corner of the family property near King and Bay streets.

The future site of the Toronto financial district was still partially covered in groves of native trees. A few scattered wood cabins were placed at intervals along muddy tracks, and so John Vanzant might reasonably have assumed his daughter would rest in peace in perpetuity.

Unfortunately, things started to go wrong for the American-born business owner very quickly, and his actions that day sparked a mystery that remains unsolved to this day.