A Swim Teacher Who Couldn't Swim?

I used to go to summer day camps run by the YMCA, which was in a yellow brick building at the corner of Bloor St. and Aberfoyle Cres. The camp was held down in the flats along Etobicoke Creek in what used to be called Central Park and is now Tom Riley Park.

There were no public outdoor pools in Etobicoke back in the 1940s, but we did get to go swimming at the High Park Mineral Baths, also known as “the Minnies” just north of High Park.

It was a long bike ride

To get to the Minnies for swimming lessons, we would cycle from Islington all the way along Bloor, which was quite a long ride (about 4.5km). I don’t think we took the street car because it didn’t go further west than Jane and Bloor anyway.

When we arrived, I remember there was a chain link fence along the sidewalk where we padlocked our bikes. I would say maybe 10 girls would go at a time. The boys were in another group at camp.

The interesting thing is the swimming teacher, whose name was Gladys Hamner, told us she couldn’t swim. I thought that was bizarre, but maybe it was just her way of not having to go in the water with us.

The Minnies are no longer

The High Park Mineral baths operated from 1913 until 1962. They were located near the western end of today’s High Park Subway station.