Toronto's Great Stork Derby: A 1930s Baby-Making Contest Funded by an Eccentric Lawyer's Fortune

Charles Vance Millar, a wealthy Toronto lawyer and financier, died in 1926 leaving a will that sparked the Great Stork Derby. His estate, valued at about 500,000 Canadian dollars, would be awarded to the Toronto mother who gave birth to the most children in the decade following his death. The contest ignited public controversy during the Great Depression, with newspapers like the Toronto Star and Toronto Evening Telegram sensationalizing the lives of contenders. Legal battles ensued over the will's validity and which children counted, including debates over stillborn or illegitimate births. By 1938, four families—Timleck, Smith, Nagle, and MacLean—each with nine registered children, split the prize, receiving around 100,000 Canadian dollars each. The derby reflected broader social tensions in 1930s Canada, including discrimination against immigrants, eugenics debates, and moral questions about large families. Historians note it became a media-created event, with families facing public scrutiny and privacy invasions. Millar, known for pranks, also left brewery shares to prohibitionist ministers and jockey club shares to anti-racing advocates in his will. The contest ended with out-of-court settlements for disqualified participants like Pauline Mae Clarke. Later, Toronto Mayor Thomas Foster launched similar stork derbies in the 1940s and 1950s.