East Toronto is a former municipality, located within the current boundaries of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It covered much of the present-day neighbourhood of the Upper Beaches, stretching up to Danforth Avenue in the north, part of it stretching to Lake Ontario in the south a portion of the present-day neighbourhood, The Beaches. The central street in East Toronto was Main Street, running between Danforth Avenue to Kingston Road. The commercial centre of the town was located at the intersection of Main Street and Lake View Avenue (present-day Gerrard Street). Following the annexation of East Toronto into Toronto, Main Street retained its name despite Toronto's conceptual Main Street being historically designated to be Yonge Street.
History
The area, after being colonized by British settlers, was occupied in about 1850, when it was a considerable distance from the city of Toronto. It was incorporated as a village in 1888 when about 800 people were living in the area. In the 1901 Census of Canada, East Toronto's population was recorded at 1,564. The area began to grow rapidly and in 1903 it was elevated from a village to a town. The southern part of the community by the lake became one of Toronto's most popular travel destinations and became home to hotels and amusement parks. The northern section, by contrast, was an industrial centre, home to the Grand Trunk Railway's main yards. These facilities stretched along most of Gerrard Street and employed several hundred workers.
When East Toronto was annexed to city of Toronto in 1908 it had a population of about 4,800 people. The CN freight yards closed down in that same year of 1908 and relocated to Belleville and Etobicoke, a move that forced the area into a transition from a railway-based small town into a commuter-based neighbourhood within a city. The trunk yards themselves were essentially abandoned for over 90 years until a housing development was built on most of the land they once occupied.
Today East Toronto commonly refers to the area east of the Don River. This includes neighbourhoods such as Upper Beaches, Riverdale, Leslieville, East Danforth, and the Beaches.
Street name changes
With the annexation by the city of Toronto in 1908, many East Toronto street names were changed, as the city of Toronto already had streets by those names. The following tables show the changes made, with the names of changed streets in bold text.
North/south streets
Street names Pre-annexation PresentOak AvenueWillow AvenueBeach AvenueBeech AvenueBalsam AvenueBalsam AvenueSpruce AvenueSpruce Hill RoadHoward AvenueMacLean Avenue (between Lake Front and Queen only)Catherine StreetPickering StreetHannaford StreetHannaford StreetCharles StreetMalvern AvenueJohn StreetWayland AvenueEdward StreetOsborne AvenueWalter StreetWalter StreetMary StreetKimberley AvenueMain StreetMain StreetEnderby RoadEnderby RoadNorwood RoadNorwood RoadLee AvenueLee AvenueWoodlee RoadWoodlee RoadElliot StreetBarrington AvenueDonald StreetWestlake Avenue (south of The Danforth only)Morton RoadMorton Road
The following north/south streets were outside the village limits of East Toronto, but were included in the annexation, and had their street names changed.
Street names Pre-annexation PresentBirch AvenueSilver Birch AvenueMaple AvenueScarborough Road(between Queen and Kingston only)Cockburn AvenueScarborough Road(between Swanwick and Gerrard only)Reid AvenueRhodes AvenueErie TerraceCraven RoadMorley AvenueWoodfield Road
East/west streets
Street names Pre-annexation PresentQueen StreetQueen Street EastCedar AvenueCedar AvenuePine AvenuePine AvenueKingston RoadKingston RoadLyall AvenueLyall AvenueBenlamond AvenueBenlamond AvenueSwanwick AvenueSwanwick Avenue (between Enderby and Pickering only)Lake View AvenueGerrard Street EastStephenson AvenueStephenson AvenueDanforth AvenueDanforth AvenueLansdowne AvenueColeman Avenue
The following east/west streets were outside the village limits of East Toronto, but were included in the annexation. Streets that had their names changed are in bold text.
Street names Pre-annexation PresentGlenfern AvenueGlenfern AvenueBalmy AvenueBalmy AvenueBarwick AvenueSwanwick Avenue(between Lawlor and Scarborough only)
References
External links
Filey, Mike "Why Our Main Street is Nowhere Near the Centre of the City." Toronto Sun, January 15, 2006 A History Tour of the Beach East Toronto - From little village, thriving town, to a part of Beaches heritage Early Maps of the Area