History
The area currently occupied by the square was part of the Ward and was a major immigrant reception area during the first half of the twentieth century characterized by poverty during the late 1800s and early 1900s, with Black families settling on the site followed by the large wave of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe during this period. From 1910s leading up to World War II, the immigrant neighbourhood was gradually settled and developed by the Chinese immigrants into Toronto's first Chinatown.
Following the war in 1946, this city prepare to construct a civil square in the then Chinatown, through a by-law which prohibited further development except for public purposes or parking lots. With voter approval in 1947, the city began acquisition of sites inside Chinatown from 1948 to 1958, with the controversial expropriation and demolition of various shops and restaurants in 1955 for the development of the square. With the procurement of the land completed and the design of the then new City Hall finalized in 1958, construction of the civic square and City Hall commenced in 1961 and was completed in 1965.
Since the 1980s, the square has been used as the set for a number of films, such as The Kidnapping of the President, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and The Sentinel.
After the death of federal New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton, citizens flocked to the square and covered the walls, pillars and statues with messages written in chalk for Layton and his family.
Read more about this topic: Nathan Phillips Square
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“There is a history in all men’s lives,
Figuring the natures of the times deceased,
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With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)