Ron Brown 
Toronto’s Lost Villages 

Explore the vestiges of the hamlets and villages that have been swallowed up by Toronto’s relentless growth.



Over the course of more than two centuries, Toronto has ballooned from a muddy collection of huts on a swampy waterfront to Canada’s largest and most diverse city. Amid (and sometimes underneath) this urban agglomeration are the remains of many small communities that once dotted the region now known as Toronto and the GTA. Before European settlers arrived, Indigenous Peoples established villages on the shore of Lake Ontario. With the arrival of the English, a host of farm hamlets, tollgate stopovers, mill towns, and, later, railway and cottage communities sprang up. Vestiges of some are still preserved, while others have disappeared forever. Some are remembered, though many have been forgotten. In
Toronto’s Lost Villages, all of their stories are brought back to life.

Inhoudsopgave

LIST OF THE LOST

INTRODUCTION



1. ALONG THE LAKESHORE


Toronto’ First Vanished Villages

Teiaiagon and Ganatchakiagon


The Europeans Arrive, in Numbers

Old York

The Toronto Islands

New Town


The Villages on the Lake

Windermere

Humber Bay

Long Branch

Lorne Park

Rosebank

Fairport



2. EARLY PIONEER PATHS


Don Mills Road

Don Vale

Chester

Todmorden Village


Dawes Road

Coleman’s Corners

Little York

Moffat’s Corners


Davenport Road

Davenport

Carlton


Albion Road

Thistletown

Smithfield

Claireville



3. YONGE STREET

Yorkville

Drummondville

Davisville

“Eglington”

Bedford Park

York Mills

Lansing

Willowdale

Newtonbrook

Langstaff



4. THE GOVERNOR’S ROAD

Blue Bell Village

Brockton

Lambton Mills

Islington

Summerville

Dixie

Cooksville

Springfield



5. THE LOST VILLAGES OF THE PIONEER KINGSTON ROAD

Don Mount

Leslieville

Norway

Mortlake, and the Famous Halfway House

Scarborough Post Office

Highland Creek and West Hill

Rouge Hill

Dunbarton

Liverpool

Duffin’s Creek



6. VANISHED FARM HAMLETS OF SCARBOROUGH AND THE NORTHEAST

Danforth Post Office

Bell’s Corners

Bendale

Woburn

Wexford

O’Sullivan’s Corners

L’Amoreaux

Hillside

Hough’s Corners

Ellesmere

Milliken

Malvern

Armadale

Hagerman’s Corners

Brown’s Corners

Dollar



7. FARM HAMLETS OF THE NORTHWEST


The Vaughn Road

Fairbank

Dublin

Elia

Emery

Fisherville

Kaiserville

Downsview

Concrod

Edgeley


Airport Road

Woodhill

Grahamsville

Malton

Mount Charles

Derry West

Elmbank

Richview

Britannia

Hanlon

Burnhamthorpe

Highfield



8. BY THE OLD MILL STREAM


The Rouge River

Buttonville

Headford


The Don River

Todmorden Mills

Oriole

Flynntown

Don Mills

Gray Mills

Milneford Mills

German Mills


The Humber River

Milton Mills

Brownsville

Pine Gorve

Rowntree Mills


The Credit River

Barbertown

Churchville

Old Meadowvale



9. THE RAILWAY TOWNS

Mimico

New Toronto

West Toronto Junction

East Toronto

Scarborough Junction

Scarborough Village

Port Union

Leaside



EPILOGUE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

APPENDIX 1: THE STREET RAILWAYS

APPENDIX 2: TORONTO’S LOST STATIONS

FURTHER READING

IMAGE CREDITS

INDEX

Over de auteur

Ron Brown, a geographer and travel writer, has authored more than twenty books, including Canada’s World Wonders and The Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore. A past chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada and a current member of the East York Historical Society, he gives lectures and conducts tours along Ontario’s back roads. Ron lives in Toronto.