Marie Curtis

Marie Curtis (1912–2006) was the Reeve of Long Branch from 1953 to her retirement in 1962.[1] She was the first, and only, woman to become reeve of Long Branch. She and Reeve Dorothy Hague of the Village of Swansea, were the first women to become reeves or mayors in the Toronto area, both taking office for the first time on January 1, 1953.[2]

Born Ann Marie McCarthy in Midland, Ontario in 1912, she was raised in St. Louis, Missouri by her aunt but later moved back to Canada and worked in a hat factory in Toronto.[1] She married Bryce Curtis in 1933 and the couple settled in the village of Long Branch, then outside of Toronto,[1] in 1935.[3]

Curtis became president of the Home and School Association and successfully lobbied for kindergarten classes to be brought to the community.[1] In 1952, on learning that the deputy reeve of Long Branch was about to be acclaimed, she decided to run against him and won. She went on to be elected reeve the following year,[1] defeating incumbent reeve Thomas Carter by 150 votes in an upset victory.[4]

As a member of the first Metropolitan Toronto Council in 1954, Curtis is best remembered for her deep involvement in the creation of a regional parkland system. As reeve, she oversaw improvements to infrastructure such as the installation of storm sewers on every street, the paving of roads, and the planting of crabapple trees alongside them.[1][3]

She was the first woman to sit on Metro Council's executive committee but lost her place on the body after leading a fight up to the Supreme Court of Canada against a tax to pay for the construction of the Bloor-Danforth subway. She oversaw the relocation of flood victims after Hurricane Hazel hit Long Branch in 1954 and the conversion of a flood plain on which the devestated homes stood into a parkland.[1]

She retired as reeve in 1962 in order to move with her husband to a retirement home in Flesherton, Ontario.[3] However, after leaving Long Branch she served for six years as secretary of the Association of Mayors and Reeves in Ontario.[3]

The 35-acre park she created at the mouth of Etobicoke Creek was renamed Marie Curtis Park in her honour.[1] She died in 2006 at the age of 94 of an apparent stroke.[3]

Long Branch was a municipality that was amalgamated into Etobicoke in 1967, and later Toronto.

Curtis is an inductee into the Etobicoke Hall of Fame.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "MARIE CURTIS 1912 – 2006", City of Toronto biography, https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/93f2-marie-curtis-bio.pdf
  2. ↑ https://torontoist.com/2014/07/historicist-the-battle-of-the-belles/
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Rusk, James (March 15, 2006). "Village's spirited defender dies". Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Suburban Elections: York Township", The Globe and Mail (1936-Current); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]08 Dec 1952: 4
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