Happy Birthday to Bill Allen, the Allen Expressway’s Namesake

Earlier this week, the National Club at Bay and King in downtown Toronto unveiled their “Legacy Wall.” It honours many people, including my late grandfather.

His name was William R. Allen, Q.C. 

Sunni Schneider, my mother, and I attended the lunch to honour Bill and the many other important people being recognized, including our Honorary Founder, Nuge Schneider. 

Bill was the second Chair of Metropolitan Toronto. Some newspapers referred to that position as the “super-mayor”. In those days, Metro Toronto’s regional government included Toronto, North York, East York, Etobicoke, York, and Scarborough. In 1998, Metro Toronto was amalgamated into one giant megacity and the chair’s responsibilities were assumed by the new megacity mayor.

When I was younger, and against my will, I was a boy scout. First a beaver, then a cub, and finally a scout.

During one of our “cub meetings”, they gave us a Toronto map and hollered, “Every person from Toronto’s history is on this map. Find them and write down their names!” I thought to myself, “I bet my grandpa is on this map.”

Sure enough, there he was at the bottom of the page when I read the “William R. Allen Expressway”.

My mom and grandmother would often tell me about my late grandfather’s integrity, work ethic, and personal relationships with a great deal of interesting and historical people. 

In 1949, Bill had a big year. He finished law school, got called to the bar, and married my grandmother, Marjorie. Bill and Marj started their life at the east end of Toronto before moving to St. Clair and Yonge. My grandmother lived there until her passing in 2008.

After Bill ran for public office at age 29 and became an Alderman, he sought a seat to become a Controller in the mid-1950s. In those days, unlike today, the City of Toronto elected five officials city-wide: the Mayor plus four Controllers. After that election, Bill became the youngest Controller in Toronto’s history.

Following a call from “Big Daddy” Fred Gardiner, who had run Metro since 1953 and was quietly planning to retire soon, Bill set his sights on becoming his successor in 1962.

Some had reservations, only because he was Catholic. Today, no one knows (or cares) the mayor’s religion. But in the 1960s, it was significant.

Nevertheless, many of Bill’s non-Catholic friends actively supported his candidacy. 

Nathan Phillips, Fred Gardiner, and Don Summerville were all vocal advocates. Respectively, Nate became the namesake of city hall’s square at Bay and Queen, Fred became the namesake of the Gardiner Expressway, and Don was the 63rd Mayor of Toronto at the time, but died prematurely at the early age of forty-eight.

My grandfather was narrowly elected Metro Toronto’s second chair in January 1962. He voluntarily retired in 1969.

Bill was friends with lots of other people, including those with very different political views. In fact, Lester B. Pearson’s mother and younger brother, Vaughan, were neighbours of my grandparents, living two doors down the street, and were their invited guests each summer to the CNE; Premier John Robarts generously told my grandparents to phone him any time they would enjoy a visit up at his cottage; and, John Diefenbaker was happy to converse and take a photo with my mother, when he visited Old City Hall in the early 1960s. 

Bill’s popularity was earned through his work in office. He cited his proudest achievements to be creating homes for senior citizens; opening the Bloor-Danforth subway line; and most importantly, avoiding the amalgamation of Metropolitan Toronto into one giant megacity, which would have — and eventually did — grow costs out of control.

This week would have marked his 106th birthday. Wow!

I just wish we had more people like Bill Allen at any level of government today.