Vintage photographs of winter in Toronto

Vintage photographs of what winter used to look like in Toronto make up only a small portion of the images collected in the many historical posts previously published on this site. Although there's plenty to choose from in the City's digitized archival holdings, unless one is specifically looking for winter scenes, he's likely to pass them over in favour of those images that present the city without the presence of snow.
The funny thing about this is that the experience of winter has always been a crucial aspect of life in Toronto. One might say it's part of the reality of living here. So why the relative scarcity of such images? It stikes me that something akin to the pathetic fallacy might be at work here in some way: snow = forgetting. In blanketing the city, snow obscures the very buildings and streets that (archival) photos aim to shed light upon.
There are pragmatic reasons as well. Carting around a view camera and wooden tripod in two feet of snow and sub-zero temperatures just isn't much fun. The majority of wintery photographs that survive from Toronto's past thus tend to be specifically dedicated to capturing winter itself, rather than subject matter that could just as well have been shot during the warmer months. What one finds below, then, is images of skating, tobogganing, iceboats, sleds and snowstorms — in other words, people trying to make the best of what was surely an uncomfortable season.
PHOTOS

12 horse team pulling snow sweeper Ca. 1890s

That's a lot of coal! Skyline 1904

Sleighing at Queen's Park 1906

Snowy University Avenue 1908

High Park late Ca. 1908-1910

Ice fishing, Centre Island 1909
Apparently a huge toboggan at Christie Pits 1909

Parking at the Old City Hall quadrangle 1910

Kew Beach 1911

Snowball fight, Rosedale Ravine 1912

A propellor sled! Toronto Bay 1912

Pier, Eastern Gap 1912
Ice-encased church post-fire on Carleton Street 1912

Ice boats 1912

Hockey at Christie Pits 1912

High Park 1913

High Park tobogganing 1914

High Park toboggan runs 1914
Wychwood barns 1915

Trinity College Gates 1916

Bloor Viaduct under construction 1917

Toronto Bay 1920

Ice boats in front of Harbour Commission Building 1920

Glen Road bus 1923

Snow plough 1924
Snowstorm on Richmond Street 1929

Snowy Casa Loma 1936

Snow blower at night 1943

The great snowstorm of 1944

The great snowstorm of 1944
Snowstorm at John & King 1961