William Peyton Hubbard (January 27, 1842 – April 30, 1935), a Torontoalderman from 1894 to 1914, was a popular and influential politician, nicknamed Cicero for his oratory;[1][2] he was one of the first politicians of African descent elected to office in Canada.
Early life
Hubbard was born in a cabin in what were then the outskirts of Toronto, in a rural area called "the Bush" near the intersection of what are now Bloor Street and Bathurst Street.[3] His parents were refugee American slaves who had escaped their plantation in Virginia and reached Canada in 1840 via the Underground Railroad.[3] Raised a devout Anglican, Hubbard was the eldest of eight children and trained as a baker at the Toronto Normal School.[4] He invented and patented a successful commercial baker's oven, the Hubbard Portable Street Oven, which was marketed and sold by his younger brothers James Henry Hubbard and Charles Hubbard across North America.[3][4][5] James later left for Britain where he became an organiser of large events, and supplied taxidermy specimens of Canadian wildlife for the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition in South Kensington, London.[6]Frederick Horniman bought many of the mounts, including the overstuffed walrus now the unofficial mascot of Horniman Museum in London.[7] James eventually set up a business in Devil's Dyke in Brighton.[8]
By his thirties, William Payton Hubbard had married Julia Luckett. After having worked 16 years as a baker, he joined his uncle's horse-drawn livery taxi service.[3] According to what may be an apocryphal story, one winter night, he rescued another cab and its occupant, newspaper publisher George Brown, from drowning in the Don River. A grateful Brown hired Hubbard as his driver. Hubbard himself, however, said that he was not present at the accident but that the incident upset Brown so much that Hubbard agreed to become Brown's driver as a favour to his brother, who operated the livery service that Brown used.[9] Regardless of which version is correct, Brown and Hubbard became friends and the publisher later encouraged Hubbard to seek public office.[9][1] His lifelong friend was Anderson Ruffin Abbott, Canada's first black physician.
City politics
Hubbard first sought public office in 1893 at the age of 51, running in Toronto's Ward 4, where he lost by 7 votes. Encouraged, he ran again in Ward 4 in 1894 and was elected to represent the quiet, tree-lined ward of grand homes; it was one of the wealthiest and whitest wards in the city (encompassing an area between University Avenue and Bathurst Street). He was elected to city council and the Toronto Board of Control a total of 5 times in his career.[3]
A reformer armed with a sharp wit and a powerful oratory skills, which earned him the nickname "Old Cicero",[4] Hubbard was known for his strong sense of public duty. He made his name fighting for public ownership of Toronto's water and hydroelectric supplies.
Hubbard was appointed to the Toronto Board of Control, the city's powerful executive body, in 1898 and agitated to have the body directly elected by the people.[1] After this reform was done, he won election to the body in its first citywide election in 1904. He thus became the first person of colour to win a citywide election in Toronto's history, and he was the only person of a visible minority to be elected to Toronto city hall until at least 2011.[3] Hubbard topped the polls in the election to the Board in 1906; as vice-chairman of the board, he served as acting mayor on occasions when the mayor was absent. He was re-elected in 1907.
Despite being a city official, Hubbard needed to obtain a letter from Mayor Emerson Coatsworth vouching for his character when travelling to Washington, D.C. for a business meeting in 1906.[2]
Hubbard gained passage of almost 100 initiatives in his years on council. He advocated improved waterworks and opposed its privatization, sought roads, and the authority to enact local improvement bylaws.[3] He also fought for the creation of High Park.[2]
He also opposed various forms of discrimination. In 1896, he defended the small Chinese community against unfair taxes meant to discourage Chinese-operated hand laundries.[10] He also presented a petition to City Council calling for an end to "attacks on the Jewish religion" by anti-Semitic street preachers.[11]
Hubbard joined with Sir Adam Beck to advocate a publicly owned hydroelectricity utility system in the province and led efforts to create the publicly owned Toronto Hydro-Electric System.[3] He was opposed in this campaign by some businessmen who wanted a private system, leading to his defeat in 1908, his first loss at the polls in 24 years.[3] He was defeated again in the 1909 and 1910 municipal elections.
He was appointed justice of the peace for York County in May 1908. Hubbard returned to city council in the 1913 election, this time representing Ward 1 which included the Riverdale neighbourhood. He retired at the end of his one-year term due to his wife's ill health.[3]
Hubbard retired to the Riverdale area of the city, building a home on Broadview Avenue near Danforth Avenue. He lived there until his death from a stroke at the age of 93. Coincidentally the alderman, dubbed the Grand Old Man by Toronto press in his political days, and serving well into his 90s, was quite literally the oldest man in the city for a short period before his death. Flags at Toronto City Hall, St. Lawrence Market, and other public buildings in the city flew at half-mast to mark his death.[12] He is buried in the Toronto Necropolis.[4]
The William Peyton Hubbard Memorial Award is a scholarship established in 2000 and funded by Hydro One which is awarded annually to two black students studying power industry-related disciplines at a recognized Ontario post-secondary institution. The award includes an offer of a work term or summer employment at Hydro One.[13][14]
A historical plaque commemorating Hubbard is located in front of his former home at 660 Broadview Avenue; it is now named Hubbard House and houses several classrooms for the Montcrest School.[15]
Hubbard Park, located at 562 Gerrard Street, at Broadview Avenue was opened in 2016 in a ceremony in front of an audience that included 16 of Hubbard's descendants.[2] The park, located not far from Hubbard's long-time home on Broadview Avenue, was created after the closure of the Don Jail when the land in front of the restored building was landscaped as part of the expansion of Bridgepoint Health.[16][17][18]
Cultural depictions
Hubbard was portrayed as a member of the Board of Control in episode 13 of season 9 ("Colour Blinded")[19] (February 8, 2016) of the CBC period drama Murdoch Mysteries by the actor Rothaford Gray.[20] In the episode, he comes to the defence of an innocent black man, who has been racially profiled by the Toronto police. He appeared again in episode 16 of season 9 ("Bloody Hell")[21] (March 7, 2016), now as an Alderman.
Hubbard was portrayed in episode 8 of season 3 ("Ward of the Roses")[22] (May 23, 2020) of the Canadian mystery series Frankie Drake Mysteries by the actor Neville Edwards.[23]
Biography
A biography, Against All Odds, was published in 1986 and written by his great-grandson Stephen L. Hubbard.[1]
Electoral history
Toronto Board of Control (top 4 candidates elected)
The Toronto Board of Control was directly elected beginning in 1904. Previously, the body had been appointed by Toronto City Council from amongst its members. Hubbard had been appointed in 1898 and 1901.
^Hubbard, Stephen (1987). Against all odds: the story of William Peyton Hubbard, black leader and municipal reformer. Toronto: Dundurn Press. ISBN978-1-55002-015-1.
^ abHOLDS THE SEAT: Re-count in Fourth Ward in Favor of Aid. Wm. Burns Mayor Inquires Into Complaints Against officials-- New Sureties Offered, The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]15 Jan 1900: 5.
