Runaway U.S. slave Joshua Glover may soon have a permanent home in Etobicoke.

A competition for a permanent public art memorial for Glover, a runaway slave who settled in Etobicoke 166-years-ago, has been put on hold due to COVID-19.

The City of Toronto this year approved more than $50,000 for a memorial to be located at a new Joshua Glover Park, at 4208 Dundas St. W., close to where he lived.

Proposals for the memorial are being sought from members of the community to come up with a design, which like Glover, can stand the test of time.

The proposals sought by City’s Arts and Culture Services, working with the Etobicoke Historical Society (EHS), had a deadline of April 30, which has been put on hold due to the pandemic.

Area Councillor Stephen Holyday has visited the site and expects work on the memorial will continue after the City gives a green light.

Glover, who escaped from his owner in St. Louis, Mo., in 1852, arrived in Canada in 1854 via the Underground Railroad after travelling 400-miles by night, dodging slave and bounty hunters.

Before making it across the border, he was released from a jail in Milwaukee by up to 5,000 irate citizens after his owner tracked him down in Racine, Wisconsin, according to reports.

Anti-slavery citizens in both Racine and Milwaukee assembled outside the courthouse and battered down the jail house door and rescued Glover, an event that highlighted the concern of many people about the injustice of slavery at that time.
Glover was guided along the Underground Railroad, a series of safe houses around Wisconsin, until he was able to board a ship to Canada.
He landed in either Owen Sound or Collingwood, and made his way to Etobicoke where he found work with Thomas Montgomery, owner of Montgomery’s Inn. Glover became one of 39 Blacks living in Etobicoke, which at the time had a population of 2,900.

He survived two wives, who were both Irish, and spent his last days at the York County Home for the Aged in Newmarket, where he died in 1888 at the age of 74.

City officials say a successful proposal will be selected by a panel and the artist will work closely with partners to develop the art, confirm siting, and install and complete the project.

For further info contact the Public Art Officer at 416-392-4173 or email publicartcompetitions@toronto.ca.

With files by Joel Winters