[URBAN NOTE] "Check Out How Toronto’s Heritage Plaques Get Made"

[rfmcdonald]

Torontoist's Erin Sylvester describes the fascinating process of how Toronto's heritage plaques get produced.

The plaque team at Heritage Toronto has two core members, Camille Bégin and Chris Bateman, who work with members of different communities around the city to develop, pitch, research, write, and install plaques.

They came to plaque-writing from different backgrounds: Bégin is an historian of urban North America and Bateman is a journalist (and a Torontoist contributor). But they both agree that historical plaques have helped them learn about their adopted city (neither is originally from Toronto) and to appreciate community involvement in history.

Heritage Toronto works on four different kinds of plaques: commemorative plaques (the big enamel ones), heritage property plaques (bronze plaques about a building on the heritage registry), legacy plaques (blue plaques made in partnership with the Toronto Legacy Society), and century home plaques (small plaques that go on houses that are at least 100 years old).

For a century home plaque, anyone with an old house can apply and Bateman or Bégin will look at old maps and tax records to see if it’s over 100.

Although the plaque team sometimes suggests topics for plaques, most of the ideas come from community groups or individuals who apply to Heritage Toronto. They usually come to the organization with some research already done and pay a fee. Then, Bégin and Bateman take the application to the Historical Plaques Committee, which decides which plaques will proceed (most of them get approved, according to Bégin and Bateman).