Prohibition came to Ontario on March 22, 1916 and during this time bootleggers flourished. Local lore has it that there was such an operation north of Wellesley Street East, near the fence with the cemetery in the area of the Owl House.
On one occasion, a local named Alf Statham tipped off the bootlegger that a suspicious car had pulled up nearby and the bootlegger cautiously unloaded his wares and drove off to disappoint the police officers waiting for him. A few days after this incident, an envelope containing roughly the same amount of cash that a fine would have incurred, was left in Alf’s mailbox.
Prohibition in Ontario ended on June 1, 1927.
Source: Cabbagetown Remembered, 1984 (an excellent book by Cabbagetowner George H. Rust-D’Eye).