William Peyton Hubbard, the son of formerly-enslaved people from Virginia, was born in Toronto in 1842. He attended the Toronto Model School and became a baker. He invented and patented a commercial oven called the "Hubbard Oven". Encouraged by George Brown, founder of The Globe newspaper, Hubbard ran for city council. On his second attempt, in 1894, he was elected in Ward 4, a predominantly white district. His victory made him the first person of African descent ever elected to a public office in Canada.