East-West Main Roads
Lake Shore Boulevard West was the first road surveyed through Etobicoke in 1791. Its route followed that of an ancient aboriginal trail along the north shore of Lake Ontario from the Town of York to Burlington Bay. It was originally called Lakeshore Road. In 1917 it also became the first numbered provincial highway in Ontario, King’s Highway 2 (there is no Highway 1.) The road was renamed Lake Shore Boulevard East and West in 1959 when various roads across Toronto along the lake were reconstructed to form one continuous roadway from Woodbine Avenue in the east to Etobicoke Creek in the west.
Horner Avenue is named for the Horner family. In 1874, Daniel Fisher Horner bought an existing manor house called “Ashfield” on 300 acres of land east of Brown’s Line, between today’s Evans Avenue and Horner Avenue. Daniel was elected to Etobicoke Council in 1881-84 and 1886. His son Franklin served as a school trustee for twenty years and Franklin Horner Public School, now Franklin Horner Community Centre, was named for him.
Evans Avenue was named before 1892 for a local family who owned a farm on that road.
The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, known colloquially as "The Gardiner", was named for the first chair of Metropolitan Toronto’s council, formed in 1953. The Gardiner, built in sections between 1955 and 1964, extended from just east of the Don Valley Parkway to the Humber River. There the road joined the Queen Elizabeth Way (also called “The Q-E-W”), named for the wife of King George VI and completed in 1956 from the Humber River to Niagara Falls. In 1997, responsibility for the section of the QEW between the Humber River and Highway 427 was transferred to Toronto, and the name changed to the Gardiner Expressway.
The Queensway was originally called Queen Street as it was considered an extension of Queen west of Roncesvalles Avenue into Etobicoke. Queen Street had been named in honour of Queen Victoria in 1844. However, the road was discontinuous between today’s Parkside Drive and Ellis Avenue because of a large swampy area at Grenadier Pond’s south end. In 1941, Etobicoke Township changed the name of Queen Street within Etobicoke to The Queensway to eliminate confusion caused by there being two discontinuous sections of road with the same name. The Queensway was chosen as it retained part of the old name while echoing the street called The Kingsway at Bloor Street West. In 1954, the swamp was filled in south of Grenadier Pond and the road put through, but the section from the Humber River west to Roncesvalles Avenue remained Queen Street until ca. 1980 when it was renamed as The Queensway.
Dundas Street West and the town of Dundas were named by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe in honour of a friend who never even visited Canada: the Right Honourable Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville. With the potential for a war with the United States a very real threat, Dundas Street was opened as a defense road. Its route through Etobicoke was surveyed in 1795, and you may be surprised to learn that originally Dundas Street began at the King’s Mill on the Humber River, just north of today’s Bloor Street. The road ran directly west along today’s Old Mill Road and Bloor Street, and just west of Islington Avenue it dipped slightly south, and continued below the Lake Iroquois shoreline until it passed into Toronto Township (now Mississauga.) Where it dipped south, the road ran through swampland and was often impassable. In 1810, a decision was made to construct Dundas Street from the Town of York to William Cooper’s Grist Mill, which had opened in 1807 on the east side of the Humber River where Old Dundas Street is today. Cooper was a major food supplier for the army and his mill would become even more important should a war with the US materialize. This new route was opened from Lot (Queen) Street, up what is now Ossington Avenue, and then went in a northwest direction along the route Dundas takes today to the Humber River. It was not extended west into Etobicoke at that time. In June 1814, during the War of 1812, a new route for Dundas through Etobicoke was opened. It started on the west side of the Humber opposite Cooper’s Mill, and continued on a ridge above the Lake Iroquois shoreline in a southwesterly direction to Etobicoke Creek. This new route is the one we know today as Dundas Street West. The 1795 Dundas route further south eventually became Bloor Street.
Bloor Street West was named after Joseph Bloore, an innkeeper, brewer, and founder of the Village of Yorkville. Although Bloore had an "e" at the end of his name, Bloor Street was never spelled with the “e”. The name Bloor Street was in use in Etobicoke by 1892. However, there was no bridge over the Humber at Bloor. Instead people coming from the east had to detour to the north, cross the river on a small bridge adjacent to the Old Mill, and continue on Old Mill Road to reach Bloor Street. In 1923, construction began on a high level bridge over the Humber River on Bloor Street and it opened in 1926.
Burnhamthorpe Road was originally called the Second Concession (North Division.) In 1846, it became the Etobicoke and Mono Sixth Line Plank Road, a toll road that began at Dundas Street where Burnhamthorpe Crescent is today, and ran west on Burnhamthorpe Road, then north on Mercer Road (now Elmcrest Road) and west on Base Line East (now Eglinton Avenue West.) The route then turned northwest on Sixth Line (now Airport Road) and ended in Mono Township in Dufferin County. This plank road was built to provide farmers to the north and west easier access to mills, markets and services in Etobicoke and Toronto. It is not known when this plank road company ceased operations, but in general the province had assumed responsibility for all plank roads by 1890. The name Burnhamthorpe Road came from a village of that name at the intersection of Burnhamthorpe and Dixie Roads in Mississauga. The village had been named Sand Hill originally, but was renamed by settler John Abelson after Burnham Thorpe, England, the birthplace of both Abelson and Lord Horatio Nelson. In the UK, “burn” means brook; “ham” means homestead; and “thorpe” means village. In 1913, Etobicoke’s Council voted to cover Burnhamthorpe Road with coarsely crushed stone, resulting in what locals called “the best road around.” As a result, you may occasionally see an old reference to Burnhamthorpe Stone Road.
Rathburn Road was named in 1954. The street had originally been called Rosethorn Road starting in the late 1940s when the Thorncrest Village subdivision was being developed on its north side. The name was changed after Metro Toronto was formed in 1953, likely because the street name was a duplicate of one in Toronto. It is not known how the name Rathburn was chosen. In the UK, “rath” means either reedy or castle, and “burn” means brook.
Eglinton Avenue West gets its name from a village that developed at its intersection with Yonge Street. Several Scottish veterans of the War of 1812 settled in that area, likely naming it after the Earl of Eglinton, Hugh Montgomerie. Within Etobicoke, this road was called Richview Side Road until 1967 when a bridge was built over the Humber River, connecting Richview with Eglinton Avenue West. The Richview name came from a village called Richview which straddled Etobicoke, Toronto and Toronto Gore townships. A post office named Richview was opened in 1852 in Toronto Township (Mississauga.) It was relocated twice until, by 1906, it was located at the Eglinton and Highway 27 intersection in Etobicoke. Unfortunately, no one knows the source of the name Richview. Eglinton Avenue is the only road in Toronto today to cross all six former municipalities.
Lawrence Avenue West is named for the Lawrence family, who emigrated from England in 1829. Peter Lawrence bought a farm on the east side of Yonge Street. Jacob Lawrence established a mill at Bayview Avenue in 1845. Their property was sold in 1907 to Wilfred Dinnick, who developed a garden suburb that he named Lawrence Park in honour of the family. Within Etobicoke, Lawrence Avenue West runs from the Humber River to Royal York Road. West of there, the road continues as The Westway, built post World War II to serve the suburbs that line its route. The Westway ends at Martin Grove Road, and the street continues west a short distance as Redgrave Drive.
Dixon Road was named after the Dixon family and was originally known as Dixon Side Road. James Dixon emigrated from England to Canada, settling in Etobicoke in 1826. Soon James and sons George, Thomas, William, John and Richard owned land in four different concessions north and south of today’s Dixon Road. In addition, daughters Betsy, Jane and Rebecca married and settled in the area. Dixon Road begins at Highway 427 and runs east, turning south near the Humber River to become Scarlett Road. The stretch between Highway 427 and Martin Grove Road is often called the "Airport Strip" because of its many hotels serving the airport.
Highway 401, usually referred to as “The Four-oh-one”, was built as a Toronto by-pass and opened across the city in sections built between December 1947 and August 1956.
Rexdale Boulevard was named in 1954 for the Rexdale subdivision immediately east of the road’s eastern terminus. The subdivision had been named in 1951 for its developer, Rex Heslop. How did this road end up going towards the northwest at such a sharp angle? It was originally planned in 1833 to be an east-west road, mid-way between Dixon Road and Steeles Avenue, but the large valley of the West Humber River was too significant a barrier and its builders were forced to move the road’s intersection with Islington Avenue further south to its current location. They put its intersection with Peel County at the originally-planned location further north. The road was built by John McVean and Elisha Lawrence, who named it McVean’s Road after John’s father, Alexander, who lived in Toronto Gore Township. At different times the road has been called New Road, Toronto Gore Road, Malton Road, and Brampton Road.
Albion Road likely followed the route of an ancient aboriginal trail across Northern Etobicoke. In 1846, the Albion Plank Road Company was established to build an extension from the existing Weston Plank Road through Thistletown, Smithfield and Claireville in Etobicoke and through Ebenezer and Coleraine in Toronto Gore, to a terminus at Bolton in Albion Township. Albion is an ancient name for the island of Great Britain and is still used poetically today. Now Albion Road starts at the intersection of Weston Road and Walsh Avenue, and heads north and west to its terminus at Steeles Avenue.
Finch Avenue West is named for John Finch who built a two-storey frame inn called “Finch’s Hotel” in the 1830s on the northeast corner of Finch and Yonge. In the 1960s, Finch ended just west of Weston Road. It was extended across Etobicoke in sections built during the 1960s to 1990s time period.
Steeles Avenue West is a major arterial road forming the northern boundary of the City of Toronto with York Region. It is the only road (aside from Highway 401) to pass, uninterrupted, across the entire city. It is named for Thomas Steele and his son John who operated Steele's Hotel, on the northeast corner of Yonge and Steeles, beginning in 1856.
Researched and Written by Denise Harris
Horner Avenue is named for the Horner family. In 1874, Daniel Fisher Horner bought an existing manor house called “Ashfield” on 300 acres of land east of Brown’s Line, between today’s Evans Avenue and Horner Avenue. Daniel was elected to Etobicoke Council in 1881-84 and 1886. His son Franklin served as a school trustee for twenty years and Franklin Horner Public School, now Franklin Horner Community Centre, was named for him.
Evans Avenue was named before 1892 for a local family who owned a farm on that road.
The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, known colloquially as "The Gardiner", was named for the first chair of Metropolitan Toronto’s council, formed in 1953. The Gardiner, built in sections between 1955 and 1964, extended from just east of the Don Valley Parkway to the Humber River. There the road joined the Queen Elizabeth Way (also called “The Q-E-W”), named for the wife of King George VI and completed in 1956 from the Humber River to Niagara Falls. In 1997, responsibility for the section of the QEW between the Humber River and Highway 427 was transferred to Toronto, and the name changed to the Gardiner Expressway.
The Queensway was originally called Queen Street as it was considered an extension of Queen west of Roncesvalles Avenue into Etobicoke. Queen Street had been named in honour of Queen Victoria in 1844. However, the road was discontinuous between today’s Parkside Drive and Ellis Avenue because of a large swampy area at Grenadier Pond’s south end. In 1941, Etobicoke Township changed the name of Queen Street within Etobicoke to The Queensway to eliminate confusion caused by there being two discontinuous sections of road with the same name. The Queensway was chosen as it retained part of the old name while echoing the street called The Kingsway at Bloor Street West. In 1954, the swamp was filled in south of Grenadier Pond and the road put through, but the section from the Humber River west to Roncesvalles Avenue remained Queen Street until ca. 1980 when it was renamed as The Queensway.
Dundas Street West and the town of Dundas were named by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe in honour of a friend who never even visited Canada: the Right Honourable Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville. With the potential for a war with the United States a very real threat, Dundas Street was opened as a defense road. Its route through Etobicoke was surveyed in 1795, and you may be surprised to learn that originally Dundas Street began at the King’s Mill on the Humber River, just north of today’s Bloor Street. The road ran directly west along today’s Old Mill Road and Bloor Street, and just west of Islington Avenue it dipped slightly south, and continued below the Lake Iroquois shoreline until it passed into Toronto Township (now Mississauga.) Where it dipped south, the road ran through swampland and was often impassable. In 1810, a decision was made to construct Dundas Street from the Town of York to William Cooper’s Grist Mill, which had opened in 1807 on the east side of the Humber River where Old Dundas Street is today. Cooper was a major food supplier for the army and his mill would become even more important should a war with the US materialize. This new route was opened from Lot (Queen) Street, up what is now Ossington Avenue, and then went in a northwest direction along the route Dundas takes today to the Humber River. It was not extended west into Etobicoke at that time. In June 1814, during the War of 1812, a new route for Dundas through Etobicoke was opened. It started on the west side of the Humber opposite Cooper’s Mill, and continued on a ridge above the Lake Iroquois shoreline in a southwesterly direction to Etobicoke Creek. This new route is the one we know today as Dundas Street West. The 1795 Dundas route further south eventually became Bloor Street.
Bloor Street West was named after Joseph Bloore, an innkeeper, brewer, and founder of the Village of Yorkville. Although Bloore had an "e" at the end of his name, Bloor Street was never spelled with the “e”. The name Bloor Street was in use in Etobicoke by 1892. However, there was no bridge over the Humber at Bloor. Instead people coming from the east had to detour to the north, cross the river on a small bridge adjacent to the Old Mill, and continue on Old Mill Road to reach Bloor Street. In 1923, construction began on a high level bridge over the Humber River on Bloor Street and it opened in 1926.
Burnhamthorpe Road was originally called the Second Concession (North Division.) In 1846, it became the Etobicoke and Mono Sixth Line Plank Road, a toll road that began at Dundas Street where Burnhamthorpe Crescent is today, and ran west on Burnhamthorpe Road, then north on Mercer Road (now Elmcrest Road) and west on Base Line East (now Eglinton Avenue West.) The route then turned northwest on Sixth Line (now Airport Road) and ended in Mono Township in Dufferin County. This plank road was built to provide farmers to the north and west easier access to mills, markets and services in Etobicoke and Toronto. It is not known when this plank road company ceased operations, but in general the province had assumed responsibility for all plank roads by 1890. The name Burnhamthorpe Road came from a village of that name at the intersection of Burnhamthorpe and Dixie Roads in Mississauga. The village had been named Sand Hill originally, but was renamed by settler John Abelson after Burnham Thorpe, England, the birthplace of both Abelson and Lord Horatio Nelson. In the UK, “burn” means brook; “ham” means homestead; and “thorpe” means village. In 1913, Etobicoke’s Council voted to cover Burnhamthorpe Road with coarsely crushed stone, resulting in what locals called “the best road around.” As a result, you may occasionally see an old reference to Burnhamthorpe Stone Road.
Rathburn Road was named in 1954. The street had originally been called Rosethorn Road starting in the late 1940s when the Thorncrest Village subdivision was being developed on its north side. The name was changed after Metro Toronto was formed in 1953, likely because the street name was a duplicate of one in Toronto. It is not known how the name Rathburn was chosen. In the UK, “rath” means either reedy or castle, and “burn” means brook.
Eglinton Avenue West gets its name from a village that developed at its intersection with Yonge Street. Several Scottish veterans of the War of 1812 settled in that area, likely naming it after the Earl of Eglinton, Hugh Montgomerie. Within Etobicoke, this road was called Richview Side Road until 1967 when a bridge was built over the Humber River, connecting Richview with Eglinton Avenue West. The Richview name came from a village called Richview which straddled Etobicoke, Toronto and Toronto Gore townships. A post office named Richview was opened in 1852 in Toronto Township (Mississauga.) It was relocated twice until, by 1906, it was located at the Eglinton and Highway 27 intersection in Etobicoke. Unfortunately, no one knows the source of the name Richview. Eglinton Avenue is the only road in Toronto today to cross all six former municipalities.
Lawrence Avenue West is named for the Lawrence family, who emigrated from England in 1829. Peter Lawrence bought a farm on the east side of Yonge Street. Jacob Lawrence established a mill at Bayview Avenue in 1845. Their property was sold in 1907 to Wilfred Dinnick, who developed a garden suburb that he named Lawrence Park in honour of the family. Within Etobicoke, Lawrence Avenue West runs from the Humber River to Royal York Road. West of there, the road continues as The Westway, built post World War II to serve the suburbs that line its route. The Westway ends at Martin Grove Road, and the street continues west a short distance as Redgrave Drive.
Dixon Road was named after the Dixon family and was originally known as Dixon Side Road. James Dixon emigrated from England to Canada, settling in Etobicoke in 1826. Soon James and sons George, Thomas, William, John and Richard owned land in four different concessions north and south of today’s Dixon Road. In addition, daughters Betsy, Jane and Rebecca married and settled in the area. Dixon Road begins at Highway 427 and runs east, turning south near the Humber River to become Scarlett Road. The stretch between Highway 427 and Martin Grove Road is often called the "Airport Strip" because of its many hotels serving the airport.
Highway 401, usually referred to as “The Four-oh-one”, was built as a Toronto by-pass and opened across the city in sections built between December 1947 and August 1956.
Rexdale Boulevard was named in 1954 for the Rexdale subdivision immediately east of the road’s eastern terminus. The subdivision had been named in 1951 for its developer, Rex Heslop. How did this road end up going towards the northwest at such a sharp angle? It was originally planned in 1833 to be an east-west road, mid-way between Dixon Road and Steeles Avenue, but the large valley of the West Humber River was too significant a barrier and its builders were forced to move the road’s intersection with Islington Avenue further south to its current location. They put its intersection with Peel County at the originally-planned location further north. The road was built by John McVean and Elisha Lawrence, who named it McVean’s Road after John’s father, Alexander, who lived in Toronto Gore Township. At different times the road has been called New Road, Toronto Gore Road, Malton Road, and Brampton Road.
Albion Road likely followed the route of an ancient aboriginal trail across Northern Etobicoke. In 1846, the Albion Plank Road Company was established to build an extension from the existing Weston Plank Road through Thistletown, Smithfield and Claireville in Etobicoke and through Ebenezer and Coleraine in Toronto Gore, to a terminus at Bolton in Albion Township. Albion is an ancient name for the island of Great Britain and is still used poetically today. Now Albion Road starts at the intersection of Weston Road and Walsh Avenue, and heads north and west to its terminus at Steeles Avenue.
Finch Avenue West is named for John Finch who built a two-storey frame inn called “Finch’s Hotel” in the 1830s on the northeast corner of Finch and Yonge. In the 1960s, Finch ended just west of Weston Road. It was extended across Etobicoke in sections built during the 1960s to 1990s time period.
Steeles Avenue West is a major arterial road forming the northern boundary of the City of Toronto with York Region. It is the only road (aside from Highway 401) to pass, uninterrupted, across the entire city. It is named for Thomas Steele and his son John who operated Steele's Hotel, on the northeast corner of Yonge and Steeles, beginning in 1856.
Researched and Written by Denise Harris