THERE WAS a police manhunt in June 1933 after this bank at Mimico and Station Rds. was robbed by two gunmen. Toronto Star photo.
THE FORMER Royal Bank as it looks like today almost 88-years later.
The more some things change in Mimico, the more they remain the same.
It would be 88-years in June when the Royal Bank of Canada, at 86 Mimico Ave., at the corner of Mimico Ave. and Station Rd., was heisted by two gunmen in a 1933 noon-time caper.
Police and newspaper reports said the crooks managed to slip into the bank and one shoved a sawed-off shotgun in the face of teller L.D. Taylor, and forced the staff into a vault.
The other gunman was waving around a revolver as staff were threatened.
The thieves fled in a getaway car and escaped with $2,325, according to The Toronto Star. The bank workers were rescued by police.
The newspaper reported on June 16, 1933 that one of the thieves aimed a shotgun at employees corralled in a vault, while another with a handgun went to the manager’s office.
A getaway driver waited outside ready to roll, police said.
“It all took place so quickly that we didn’t know what was taking place,” one bank customer said. “It all took a few minutes.”
Another man told The Star ‘a gun was struck in my face and I was told to get into the vault fast.”
It is not known if police made any arrests in the case. They were searching for three men.
This sturdy and impressive building was built in 1924 as the Mimico branch of the Union Bank of Canada.
The community was in the news and there was much excitement on that June day when the headline in The Toronto Star heralded “Two Armed Thugs Rob Mimico of $2,325.”
“When word was received at Toronto Police headquarters all cruiser cars were notified and sent to the suburban district to block all main highways entering the city,” police dispatched.
The Union Bank of Canada first established itself in Mimico in 1910 on Cavell Ave. In 1923 the bank bought the lot on Mimico Ave. and built its first branch in 1924. The following year the Union Bank merged with the Royal Bank of Canada.
The bank appears to have closed the branch in 1936 after which the building remained vacant until 1939 when it was sold with the north end of the lot going to the Silverwood Dairy. It still stands today.