H  I  S  T  O  R  Y

The Bridle Path could hardly have been envisioned by Alexander Milne, who settled on what is now Edwards Gardens in 1827. Milne operated woolen and saw mills on the banks of Wilket Creek until 1832 when a dwindling water supply forced Milne to move east to a mill site along the Don River.

The Bridle Path inconspicuously spent the rest of the 1800's and early 1900's as farmland. It wasn't until 1929, when the Bayview Bridge was built over the steep Don River Valley, that this area was considered for residential development.

Hubert Daniel Bull Page, a Toronto-based land developer was one of the founders of the present day neighbourhood. Page envisioned the Bridle Path as an exclusive enclave of estate homes. In 1929, Page built the Cape Cod Colonial style house at number 2 The Bridle Path, in an effort to spark interest in his subdivision.

Early plans for this neighbourhood called for an elaborate system of equestrian Bridle Paths. These Bridle Paths have long since been paved over, however their legacy remains in the Bridle Path's unusually wide streets and in the name of this neighbourhood.

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H  I  S  T  O  R  Y

Hogg's Hollow is named after James Hogg, a Scotsman from Lanarkshire, who settled here in 1824. Hogg operated a whisky distillery and a grist mill, and was considered the most successful of all the millers in the valley.

In 1856 James Hogg's sons John and William, subdivided their late fathers estate under the name "Hogg's Hollow". The Hogg's Hollow subdivision included one hundred and forty-one lots however only a handful of houses were actually built at this time.

Four of the original Hogg's Hollow houses are still standing. These include two former mill workers cottages, that were relocated in 1986 to 4150 Yonge Street, where they now serve as the entrance to the Auberge du Pommier Restaurant. The other two original houses are located at number one and number five Old Yonge Street. Both of these houses have undergone extensive renovations. The Jolly Miller tavern, circa 1857, situated at 3885 Yonge Street, and the George S. Pratt House, circa 1886, located at 17 Mill Street, are the other historic landmarks in this neighbourhood.

The present day Hogg's Hollow neighbourhood began to be subdivided in the 1920's. This neighbourhood grew in stages and was finally completed in the 1960's.

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H  I  S  T  O  R  Y

The Cricket Club area was originally settled by a Scotsman named Andrew McGlashan who settled here with his family in the early 1800's. The McGlashan's operated a tannery on the south-west corner of Yonge Street and York Mills Road up until the 1860's.

In 1876 the McGlashan property was purchased by Andrew Bathgate. Bathgate's heirs sold the family homestead in 1907 to William George Gooderham the owner of the Gooderham and Worts distillery.

Gooderham fortuitously discovered a spring of fresh water on the Yonge Street hillside of his property where the York Mills Gardens apartments are now located. He then set up Mineral Springs Ltd., which bottled and sold this water around the world up until the 1920's.

Gooderham played a key role in the residential subdivision of this neighbourhood during the early 1900's. He also helped form the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club which opened in 1925 and has been a neighbourhood landmark ever since.

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H  I  S  T  O  R  Y

Caribou Park was formerly part of a farm owned by a pioneer named Thomas Snider who resided here from the 1830's to the 1870's. The Snider farm took in the entire present day neighbourhood and also included land west of Bathurst Street. Remarkably, the Snider farm house is still standing on the western edge of this neighbourhood at 519 Glengrove Avenue. The Snider house is hidden from the street by two towering blue spruce trees that stand guard over this historic house.

Following Thomas Snider, the next name to appear on city maps of this area is that of John H. Watson, whose family resided here from the 1870's up until the early 1900's.

Another house which was built when this area was still farmland is number 43 Kimbark Boulevard. This cobblestone house was built in 1906 by a stone mason from Scotland, and is listed on the Toronto Historical Board's Inventory of Heritage Properties.

The rest of the present day neighbourhood was laid out in two separate plans of subdivision registered in 1910 and 1912. However the actual building of houses in Caribou Park did not commence until the 1930's.

H  I  S  T  O  R  Y

The Windfields neighbourhood is located on the former site of Windfields Farm, after which this neighbourhood is named. Windfields Farm was the former estate of E.P. Taylor the legendary Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Windfields Farm was founded in 1937. It was Taylor's wife Winnifred who came up with the "Windfields" name while the couple were out walking on their property during a windy autumn day. In its heyday Windfields Farm was famous as one of the top thoroughbred racing stables in North America. Its stable of horses included Northern Dancer, the first Canadian horse to win the Kentucky Derby.

In 1963, an increasingly private E.P. Taylor moved his main residence to Lyford Cay in the Bahamas. In 1968, he sold most of his Windfields estate to developers. At the same time he donated thirty acres of land for what is now Windfields Park.

E.P. Taylor's Windfields mansion located at 2489 Bayview Avenue, was also gifted to the city by the Taylor family in 1968. This Colonial Revival style mansion is now the home of the Canadian Centre for Advanced Film Studies, which opened its doors in 1988. E.P. Taylor passed away at his home in Lyford Cay in 1989.

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H  I  S  T  O  R  Y

Lansing was first settled by Joseph Shepard who built a log house on Yonge Street at Sheppard Avenue in 1798. Shepard was a swashbuckling character who traded furs with the First Nations people, fought in the battle of York against the Americans and operated saw and grist mills on the banks of the Don River.

Shepard was a close friend of William Lyon Mackenzie who led the Toronto Rebellion in 1837. Shepard passed away just prior to the rebellion, however his four sons were active participants in this revolt. Joseph and Jacob were captured and spent time in prison, while Thomas and Michael escaped from the Kingston Penitentiary and fled to the United States.

In 1843 the Shepard brothers were pardoned by the Queen and returned to Lansing to carry on their fathers business. In 1860 Joseph Shepard built a general store and residence on the north-west corner of Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue. He added a post office in 1866. This post office was given the name "Lansing" by Shepard's daughter Saida.

The Lansing general store and post office - later known as Dempsey Brothers Hardware Store - was a fixture in this neighbourhood until 1996 when it was moved to its present location at 250 Beecroft Road where it now serves as a public museum and office for the North York Archives.

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H  I  S  T  O  R  Y

Dublin Heights began as a farming hamlet in the early 1800's. It is named after Dublin Farm which was located near Sheppard Avenue and Dufferin Street. Dublin Farm was owned by William Duncan, who emigrated to Canada from Ireland in 1827 and paid $3.50 an acre for his 200 acre farm.

William Duncan had a significant impact on the growth of Dublin Heights. He personally oversaw the building of Dublin Heights first school and hired the first schoolmaster. Duncan also served as a highly respected Justice of the Peace for York Township.

The Watson family, also from Ireland, opened the first general store and post office in Dublin Heights in 1854. This post office was originally called "Carronbrook," however that name was changed in 1878 to "Dublin" in recognition of William Duncan and his landmark "Dublin" farm.

The Dublin post office was closed in 1955 when the present day neighbourhood was being developed. The only tangible reminder of the history of Dublin Heights is the cornerstone from the circa 1872 Dublin Schoolhouse. This cornerstone is mounted on the main entrance wall of the present day Dublin Heights School, located on Bainbridge Avenue.

H  I  S  T  O  R  Y

Ledbury was a small farming community up until the early 1900's when the first houses in this neighbourhood were built along Bedford Park and Woburn Avenues, on the site of the old Lawrence farm.

The Ledbury area north of Woburn Avenue had been the former hobby farm of Alfred St.Germain, the successful publisher of the old Toronto Evening Journal. The St. Germain property was subdivided in 1922 by the Melrose Realty Company under the name Melrose Park.

Melrose Realty president H.A. Clark selected the street names for the Melrose Park subdivision. St. Germain was chosen for obvious reasons, while Old Orchard Grove recalls the St. Germain apple orchard. Deloraine, Melrose, Marmion, and Falkirk are street names adopted from the works of Sir Walter Scott, of whom Clark was an avid fan.

Ledbury's residential development was not fully complete until the 1950's when Ledbury school and Ledbury Park were added to this neighbourhood.

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H  I  S  T  O  R  Y

"York" makes reference to the former Town of York - the forerunner to modern day Toronto and "Mills" refers to the grist and saw mills that churned in this valley from 1804 until 1926. During this period of industry York Mills was a busy place. It included a distillery, a tannery, a blacksmith shop, three churches, a school, a post office, a toll gate and the Jolly Miller Tavern which is still standing today at 3885 Yonge Street. Another York Mills landmark is St.John's Anglican Church which began in 1816. The original log church was replaced by the present day white brick church in 1844. The church bells of St.John's still ring out over the valley every day at noon cheerfully piercing the monotone roar of the traffic below on Yonge Street.

York Mills' transition from a rural hamlet to a residential neighbourhood began in the 1930's on the ridge of the hill near St. John's Church, and in the Hedgewood Road area south of York Mills Road. St. Andrew's College, a venerable boys private school owned the land east of Old Yonge Street over to Bayview Avenue during the early 1920's before moving north to Aurora in 1924. The former St. Andrew's College grounds were then purchased by St. Andrew's Estates which operated a championship golf course at this site until the 1950's when the club was sold to developers. St. Andrew's Park, Tournament Park and local street names including Foursome and Lower Links, are reminders that this part of York Mills was once a golf course.

Ed Note: E.P. Taylor, a giant in the archives of Canadian business, oversaw the development of York Mills Plaza in 1952 and was responsible for subdividing much of York Mills east of Bayview Avenue.

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H  I  S  T  O  R  Y

One of Glen Park's first settlers was Sir Sanford Fleming - the father of standard time and the chief engineer of the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway. Fleming's property was located just south of Lawrence Avenue between Dufferin and Keele Streets. In 1856, Fleming subdivided his farm into the Balmoral subdivision, which was the first planned subdivision in North York. Unfortunately, Fleming was ahead of his time - pardon the pun - and Balmoral never got past the marketing stage.

Fleming's son Colonel Fred Fleming took over the family farm in 1881 and began importing and breeding Hereford cattle. Under the young Fleming's guidance "Park Farm" rose to prominence as one of the finest stock breeding farms in Canada.

Glen Park's transition from farmland to residential neighbourhood began in the 1920's. Its largest period of growth occurred after the second world war, when many returning war veterans and their families settled in Glen Park. This increased population led to the building of the Glen Park Public School in 1948.

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H  I  S  T  O  R  Y

Armour Heights was originally settled in the 1830's by John Armour after whom this neighbourhood is named. The Armour homestead was situated where Armour Heights Community Centre is located today.

The Armour family sold their farm in 1911 to Colonel F.B. Robins, who planned the Armour Heights neighbourhood. Robins envisioned Armour Heights as a high-class address with its own polo field and bridle path. The polo field was never built however the bridle path has become today's Yonge Boulevard.

When the first World War broke out Colonel Robins put his subdivision on hold and instead donated land in Armour Heights to the air force as a training school for American and Canadian pilots. American Aviatrix hero Amelia Earhardt was a regular visitor to the airfield during the latter part of the war when she was stationed in Toronto as a nurses aid with the Canadian Red Cross.

The Armour Heights subdivision was beginning to gather steam when in 1929 Robins and fellow developer W.P. Mulock sold all their interest in Armour Heights to R. J. Lillico & Associates. This sale was described in local papers at the time as one of the largest real estate transactions ever in Toronto.

The new owners attempted to change the name of this subdivision to Beverley Hills but it is the original Armour Heights name that has stood the test of time.

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