Flashback Friday - Casa Loma

Back in 1955, my mother decided she was tired of making the long drive to Noelville, Canada, and passing up all the interesting sights along the way. I think that Dad may have bought her a car by then because he would have had to have transportation unless he and his fishing buddy drove together.

She invited his buddy's wife along and their two kids who were close to my brother's and my age. We headed north, crossed the Peace Bridge and stopped in Toronto to do some sightseeing. I'm said to say I don't remember a whole lot about the trip. Some yelling when we kids got too rambunctious--after all there weren't any electronics to keep us busy.

What does stand out is our visit to Toronto's Casa Loma. Maybe it was my eight year old imagination running wild as we toured the "castle" but it made a great impression on me. So much so that when Bob and I had the opportunity to visit Toronto a few years back, I asked that we stop there. It was very different seeing it through the eyes of an adult than a young impressionable girl but the visit renewed the memories and was very satisfying.

Casa Loma was built by multi-millionaire businessman, Sir Henry Mill Pellat over a period of time from 1911-1914 for a cost of $3.5 million. When things went badly with his business base, he was forced to auction off his prized possession and contents. After some attempts to complete and expand the castle, it eventually came to be the property of the city of Toronto in payment of back taxes. The Kiwanis Club of Toronto began offering tours of the castle in 1937 and that continued until 2011 when a new Casa Loma Corporation was formed. The Liberty Entertainment Group in 2014 entered into a long lease with the city and is now using it for special events as well as maintaining it as an attraction to see when visiting Toronto.