An estimator with Toronto-based wood distributor Woodchuck Flooring went to a job site and came back with more than he bargained for, or, at least, plenty of good bargains. He was given some old newspapers that the demolition contractor found in the wall. They contained classifieds ads selling hardwood floors for “16 cents per foot and up!” and “Pre-war prices!” The ads came from The Evening Telegram, a Toronto paper, on Oct. 19, 1923. While one advertiser in the paper thought being modern was the right way—“resurfaced by electric machine”—another turned up his nose at technology, “no machines used on my floors.” “It’s just a great little bit of history to see how things were priced in 1923 and how the word got out to potential clients,” says Holli Nassis, who works in the service department at Woodchuck Flooring.
