Jersey artwork © Liam Birch

The Parkdale Canoe Club formed in August 1905 on Humber Bay slightly west of Sunnyside. The club first gathered for meetings in Mrs. Meyer’s dance hall until 1907 and built their first clubhouse on one of her former lots in 1908. The original club which burned down in 1912 (one source says February 1913) forced the club to accept an offer from the Commissioners to relocate further west to the foot of Triller Avenue with a foot bridge to King Street over the railway tracks. This clubhouse was started in fall of 1913 but before it could be finished, it suffered another fire in March, 1915. The club was again rebuilt on the same site. Parkdale CC played in the first Canadian football Grey Cup game in 1909, losing to the University of Toronto. Parkdale were officially admitted to the CCA in July of 1908 alongside the Lachine Boating Club. Parkdale suffered another fire in 1923, and continues today after reforming as the Boulevard Canoe Club in 1935. The 1912 program refers to the club as the Parkdale Boating Club. The 1923 championship is credited in some documents to Parkdale Canoe Club which contradicts all evidence that it was actually won by Rideau. Parkdale only earned three points...