THE WAY WE WERE: Toronto thoroughfare's frustrating past and present

Mike Filey
Published Jan 12, 2019  •  1 minute read
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This recent view looks north on York St. towards Bremner Blvd. and the site of the ongoing lane closures for the expansion of PATH that according to the Guinness World Records serves the largest underground shopping complex in the world.
This recent view looks north on York St. towards Bremner Blvd. and the site of the ongoing lane closures for the expansion of PATH that according to the Guinness World Records serves the largest underground shopping complex in the world.

Over the many years I have presented this column to my Toronto Sun readers, the subject has always had some connection with our city’s past, be it the recent past or the distant past.

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In a slight departure from the norm today’s column has to do with something that is happening even as I speak…er write.

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It’s a story that drivers who use lower York St. to get into and out of downtown Toronto may find it an aggravating story because of the recently instituted lane closures on York between Bremner Blvd. (for the late Ray Bremner, City of Toronto Commissioner of Public Works) and Lake Shore Blvd. for PATH construction that will continue to tie up traffic for (at least) the next 14 months.

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  1. This photograph, taken c1952 by an unknown photographer, looks east on Front St. from a location just east of John St. The Barclay Hotel, which was at the northeast corner of Front and Simcoe Sts., is seen looming over the truck and the car following in the right background. Westbound on Front is the TTC's
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  2. The skyline in this undated view is dominated by just a few structures the most obvious being the clock tower of our present “Old” City Hall. In the centre of the photo are the docks at the foot of Yonge St., where one of the “twin” Toronto Island ferry boats (Mayflower or Primrose) is moored. North of the docks, at the northeast corner of Yonge and Front Sts. intersection, is the 1891 Board of Trade building with its steeply conical roof topped by a cupola. Further east and at the Front and Church Sts. corner we can just catch a glimpse of the spire of the Cathedral of St. James. It was added to the existing church 22 years after the fourth version of the church and second Cathedral opened in 1853. At one time, the spire was the tallest structure on the city skyline and where for many years a lantern was installed to assist lake boat skippers approaching Toronto to locate the city on an otherwise pitch black horizon. If I were to guess at the date this photo was taken, and with very few new structures as clues, I’d have to be vague and suggest the early 1900s.
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  3. In this sketch prepared by Westbank Corp. and ERA Architects two of the original T.W. Wilson Buildings, 756 and 758 Bathurst St. stand proudly at the entrance to the new Mirvish Village.
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I trust that other readers (drivers and non-drivers alike) will simply enjoy the photo history of this stretch of a very historic and increasingly important Toronto thoroughfare.

The first time a thoroughfare identified on a map as York St. would show up was on the 1797 map of the Town of York prepared by David W. Smith then serving as the Acting Deputy Surveyor General of Upper Canada (after 1867 Ontario). As it does today this pioneer thoroughfare began at Queen St. (back then a dusty trail known as Lot St., so named for the property lots that ran out into the countryside to the north). From Queen (Lot) York St. ran down to the water’s edge where, about 1840, a wharf was erected by Richard Tinning. In addition to running a busy shipping business Tinning also operated a large lumber yard nearby. In 1853 delivery wagon access to from Toronto Bay became increasingly difficult as a result of the arrival of the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway (later the Northern then eventually part of the newly created Canadian National). Over the following years additional tracks were added and before long freight and passenger traffic generated by the new heavier and longer steam trains became an ever more serious problem. Something had to be done. Fatalities were becoming the norm as impatient pedestrians attempted to get to and from the waterfront by taking a chance getting to the other side of the tracks while trains continued to shunt through the York St. (and Bay and Yonge) crossings. This 1896 photo from the Toronto Public Library collection looks north from the Bay, across the tracks and up York St. The Cyclorama art gallery and the Walker House Hotel located on the south side of Front St. west of York are visible.
The first time a thoroughfare identified on a map as York St. would show up was on the 1797 map of the Town of York prepared by David W. Smith then serving as the Acting Deputy Surveyor General of Upper Canada (after 1867 Ontario). As it does today this pioneer thoroughfare began at Queen St. (back then a dusty trail known as Lot St., so named for the property lots that ran out into the countryside to the north). From Queen (Lot) York St. ran down to the water’s edge where, about 1840, a wharf was erected by Richard Tinning. In addition to running a busy shipping business Tinning also operated a large lumber yard nearby. In 1853 delivery wagon access to from Toronto Bay became increasingly difficult as a result of the arrival of the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway (later the Northern then eventually part of the newly created Canadian National). Over the following years additional tracks were added and before long freight and passenger traffic generated by the new heavier and longer steam trains became an ever more serious problem. Something had to be done. Fatalities were becoming the norm as impatient pedestrians attempted to get to and from the waterfront by taking a chance getting to the other side of the tracks while trains continued to shunt through the York St. (and Bay and Yonge) crossings. This 1896 photo from the Toronto Public Library collection looks north from the Bay, across the tracks and up York St. The Cyclorama art gallery and the Walker House Hotel located on the south side of Front St. west of York are visible.
In an effort to permit safe pedestrian, streetcar and vehicle access to and from the waterfront, and in particular to the lake boat and Toronto Island ferry docks, lengthy discussions between the city and the railways (none of whom wanted to pay the full cost of the bridge) eventually resulted in the construction of this structure over the busy railway tracks across Toronto’s waterfront. However, everyone knew that this structure, on which streetcar tracks were laid in April of 1897, was only a temporary solution and it quickly became referred to as “the York St. temporary Bridge.” Soon after it opened it was found to be poorly designed and deemed unsafe in its ability to carry streetcars with the result that the streetcars never did operate over this bridge to the ferry docks. Then after a mere 29 years it was demolished and replaced by the elevated railway viaduct on which today’s GO Trains, Via Rail and freight trains run and pedestrian and vehicular traffic pass under. In this 1922 view both the 1870s Union Station and its 1895 extension on Front St. as well as the Cyclorama art gallery are visible.
In an effort to permit safe pedestrian, streetcar and vehicle access to and from the waterfront, and in particular to the lake boat and Toronto Island ferry docks, lengthy discussions between the city and the railways (none of whom wanted to pay the full cost of the bridge) eventually resulted in the construction of this structure over the busy railway tracks across Toronto’s waterfront. However, everyone knew that this structure, on which streetcar tracks were laid in April of 1897, was only a temporary solution and it quickly became referred to as “the York St. temporary Bridge.” Soon after it opened it was found to be poorly designed and deemed unsafe in its ability to carry streetcars with the result that the streetcars never did operate over this bridge to the ferry docks. Then after a mere 29 years it was demolished and replaced by the elevated railway viaduct on which today’s GO Trains, Via Rail and freight trains run and pedestrian and vehicular traffic pass under. In this 1922 view both the 1870s Union Station and its 1895 extension on Front St. as well as the Cyclorama art gallery are visible.
With the removal of the York St. bridge over the rail corridor, work continued on the construction of the cross waterfront elevated railway viaduct that city officials had sought for years. Without it, not only would access to and from the city’s waterfront continue to be a problem, but the new (present) Union Station could not operate as designed since passenger platforms and track levels were at different levels. In this photo, one of the TTC’s Peter Witt streetcars on the BAY – DOCKS route departs the FERRY loop at the corner of York and Queen’s Quay (opened in 1930) ready for its trip north to the loop at St. Clair and Caledonia (opened in 1921). Dominating the city skyline is the new Royal York Hotel that was officially opened on June 11, 1929. To the right of the view is the new and still unfinished Union Station while up York St. we can see the almost complete “subway” (as they called these structure back then) that would allow pedestrian and vehicle traffic passage under the new railway viaduct. And it still does.
With the removal of the York St. bridge over the rail corridor, work continued on the construction of the cross waterfront elevated railway viaduct that city officials had sought for years. Without it, not only would access to and from the city’s waterfront continue to be a problem, but the new (present) Union Station could not operate as designed since passenger platforms and track levels were at different levels. In this photo, one of the TTC’s Peter Witt streetcars on the BAY – DOCKS route departs the FERRY loop at the corner of York and Queen’s Quay (opened in 1930) ready for its trip north to the loop at St. Clair and Caledonia (opened in 1921). Dominating the city skyline is the new Royal York Hotel that was officially opened on June 11, 1929. To the right of the view is the new and still unfinished Union Station while up York St. we can see the almost complete “subway” (as they called these structure back then) that would allow pedestrian and vehicle traffic passage under the new railway viaduct. And it still does.

mfiley@postmedia.com

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