It’s hard to imagine Toronto’s Yonge Street as anything other than a flourishing entertainment and business area, with flashing neon and electronic lights and an endless parade of people. This major street has been the main street of Toronto since the late 18th century, witnessing the evolution of our city. Enduring through wars and the Great Depression, it holds many untold stories of settlement and resettlement, lost silver mines and even gold rush fortunes.

The street was surveyed in 1793 by Lt. Col. John Graves Simcoe, who established a small detachment of the Queen’s Rangers at Holland Landing. He named the street after Sir George Yonge, Secretary at War. The problem of clearing the road, a major undertaking, was solved by making each settler of the land agree to clear six acres of land within 12 months, including a section of Yonge Street. Simcoe also forced convicted drunks, as part of their sentence, to remove tree stumps. The road was finally passable by 1816.

Looking north on Yonge Street in North York, 1922. Photo by: Alexander Galbraith Courtesy: City of Toronto Archives, Series 228, File 22, Item 7

The face of the world’s longest street, almost 1,900 km long, has certainly changed many times over the last two centuries. In 1860, part of Yonge Street was known as "the ward". Immigrants crammed into this area and tried to make a living in the overpopulated streets. A tailor named Dunkleman came from the ward, and his small business developed into Tiptop Tailors. During the American Civil War Toronto’s economy started to grow, and stores such as Eaton’s and Simpson’s began to emerge. By 1939, the street had an awful reputation. Some unsavoury crowds were attracted by the taverns that lined the street.

Courtesy: City of Toronto Archives, TTC Archives

Building Toronto’s first subway on Yonge Street, looking north from Richmond, October 17, 1951. Brigden’s Survey of Yonge Street. On the right is Simpsons and Woolworth’s (the building with the rounded front) and on the left, down the street a bit, are the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres with the Confederation Life Building in the foreground.

Wellington and Yonge Streets, May 1912 Toronto Railway Company construction photos Courtesy: City of Toronto Archives, Series 8, File 6, Item 52

Remnants of the past can still be found on Yonge Street. Behind the Eaton Centre are Holy Trinity Church and the Scadding House, Yonge Street’s oldest building complex. When it was built the complex was surrounded by forest and farms. The Bank of Montreal Building, now the Hockey Hall of Fame, on the corner of Front and Yonge, was built in 1885. But most of that era is lost to us forever. In 1866, a railway station and the Yonge Street Wharf operated from Front and Yonge. The area bustled with travelers and fishermen. Today, the wharf is buried under the Yonge St. railway overpass and the Hummingbird Centre sits on the site of the railway station.

Yonge Street has grown and changed over the last two hundred years, but one thing is the same - Yonge Street is still at the centre of all the action.

References:

City of Toronto Website
www.city.toronto.on.ca

Opportunity Road
F.R. Berchem

The Yonge Street Story
F.R. Berchem

The Globe and Mail
"World’s Longest Street, Yonge Street at 200 Years"
April 27, 1996
pp. F1; Ron Brown