This is an excerpt from Elizabeth Muirs fantastic recently published book: Riverdale : East Of The Don
It is used with the authors permission. Please buy a copy to find out the history of your street (and neighbourhood) and at the same time support a great local author!
The history of the Street names for Toronto’s East End : Letters A,B,C
Agnes Lane — Named after Agnes Thomson Muir, Alexander Muir’s first wife. She
and Alexander had two sons, James Joseph and George, and a daughter, Colinette Campbell.
Agnes died in 1864 after just four years of marriage. Alexander then married Mary Alice
Johnstone from Holland Landing in 1865; they had two children — Charles Alexander and Alice
Ainsworth Road — Possibly inspired by Ainsworth Road in London, England, or for the
various Ainsworths who migrated to the New World.
Albemarle Avenue — Named after the immigrants from Albemarle, in the northeast of
England, or William Coutts Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle, superintendent of Indian Affairs in
Canada 1854–56.
Allen Avenue — Formerly Fee’s Road, for Thomas Allen, alderman 1877–9, 1883–6,
1890–1, 1895–7 for St. David’s Ward. An Orangeman, Allen came to Canada from Ireland in
1851, married first Margaret Brown in 1857, and later Miss Beckett in 1877. He had twelve
children.232 Allen owned the three-storey brick East End Brewery built in 1862.233
Alton Avenue — Named after the Palatine German family of Altons who lived in the
Aldwych Avenue — Possibly named for the road in London, England, with the same
name, the origin of immigrants to Canada.
Arundel Avenue — Named after a community in West Sussex, where English
“Petworth” immigrants originated in 1832 and 1836. Sid Warren, an early resident, remembered
the Armstrong’s Dairy, a cattle farm and forty-acre pasture at the top of this street in the early
1900s. The street was originally called Whitney. 235
Audley Avenue — Named for a village in England, or for Lord Audley (James Touchet,
Lord Audley), the leader of a Cornish rebellion in 1497. One of the aldermen on the naming
committee was Cornish.236
Austin Avenue — Commemorates James Austin, a printer who came from Ireland in
1828/9, founded the Dominion Bank in 1871 and was its first president from 1871–9, and was
president of Consumer’s Gas. Austin owned Spadina House. He married Susan Bright in 1844
and they had two children. He willed $300,000 to his children, and the business and house to his
son, Albert William.237
Badgerow Avenue — Named after George Washington Badgerow, who taught school,
was called to the bar in 1871, and became a crown attorney in 1887, and MLA for York East
from 1879–86. Badgerow supported the Mackenzie rebels in 1837. He married Rachel
Mulholland in 1867. Part of the street was formerly called Franklin.238
Bain Avenue — Commemorates the Bain family. The Honourable Thomas Bain came
from Scotland in 1837 with his family, was in parliament for twenty-eight years, and was
speaker of the house in 1899. John Bain, born in England, worked in stationary firms, becoming
manager of the Canadian Publishing Company in 1882. He was selected as the librarian at The
Toronto Free Library, which opened on March 10, 1884, at Adelaide and Church in downtown
Toronto. Neil Kennedy Bain and his son James owned the “Bain House” on Dingwall Avenue
from 1869–1966. The street was formerly Highland Avenue and Cypress Street.239 [IMAGE 9-4]
Baird Avenue — Possibly named for William Alexander Baird, mayor of West Toronto
(the Junction) when it amalgamated with Toronto, a councillor and a Conservative MP from
1926 to 1940.
Baltic Avenue — Formerly called Louis Avenue and then Fifth Avenue.240
Basin Street — Derived from the geographical term “basin” for a bay.241
Bayfield Crescent — Possibly named after Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield, who
completed a hydrographical survey of the Canadian shores of the Great Lakes toward the end of
1825; or for Lieutenant Walter Leigh Bayfield, who won the Victoria Cross in 1939.242
Ben Kerr Lane — Named after Ben Kerr, Toronto author, broadcaster, musician, and
street performer, born in Nova Scotia. In 1969, he gave up a three-pack-a-day cigarette habit,
took a daily cayenne pepper cocktail for his health, and later ran from Toronto to Los Angeles to
promote a ban on smoking in offices. For the last twenty years of his life, he was a busker in
downtown Toronto, often voted “favourite street performer.” He ran in every Toronto mayoralty
election from 1985 to 2003 and lived on Jones Avenue.
Berkshire Avenue was possibly a made-up name to attract English immigrants.243
Bertmount Avenue and Wagstaff Drive — Named for Albert (Bert) Wagstaff and the
Wagstaff family, as Bertmount Avenue runs through the site of the Wagstaff home and
brickyard. A brickmaker in England, Robert Wagstaff and his wife Elizabeth Quince had eight
children, the youngest being David, a brickmaker in Toronto. He had land on Eastern Avenue,
and managed fifteen acres in 1881, turning out millions of bricks annually. Married in 1864 to
Matilda Sear, they had seven children, the fourth one, Albert.244
Bisley Street — Named for a local family called Bisley. The street was formerly known
as Russell Place.245
Blackburn Street — Named after for Clifford Earl Blackburn, building contractor and
alderman, or Thornton Blackburn, a black refugee who lived on Eastern Avenue and owned the
first cab in the city.246
Blong Avenue — Named after Henry Blong, a butcher and cattle dealer, who came to
Canada from Ireland. He owned Lot 13, Concession 1 in the Township of York. According to the
1861 census, Henry Sr.’s business produced 1,050 cattle worth $42,000 and 1,200 sheep and
calves worth $7,000 per year. The family lived in a two-storey frame house.247 Henry and Eldred
Easton had twelve children, three of them were butchers by 1861, Henry Jr., Richard, and
Robert. Edward Blong exported cattle, and was also at one time a butcher, as was another son,
Jonathan. Edward was on city council in 1895 representing Ward 1. One of their children was
killed by lightning. The street was formerly called Norfolk/d Avenue.248
Bloomfield Avenue — –Named after George Bloomfield, a local shoemaker, or for
Bloomfield Road near Cheltenham, England. The developer of the area was from Cheltenham.249
Booth Avenue — Named after George S. Booth, coppersmith or butcher, alderman
1889–90. Booth & Sons Brass Founders was established in 1853 in St. Catharines and moved to
Toronto in 1855; it was the largest copper and brass factory in Canada. The street was formerly
known as Bangor Avenue and was located north of Queen Street.250
Boothroyd Avenue — Possibly named for the Boothroyd family, who emigrated from
England to Toronto in the mid-1800s.
Boston Avenue — Named after Frank Boston, who managed a gravel pit and began the
first streetcar service on Kingston Road, or for his son Joseph Boston, a local florist.251
Bouchette Street — Named afterJoseph Bouchette, who conducted the first
hydrographic survey of Toronto Harbour in 1792.252
Boultbee Avenue — Named after lawyer Alfred Boultbee, a lawyer in Newmarket for
twenty-five years, and member of provincial parliament (MPP) for North York,1871–74 and East
York for 1879–82. He was also editor of the North York Sentinel. Boultbee came from England
and married Caroline Augusta Hamilton.253
Boulton Avenue — Named after William Henry Boulton, lawyer, alderman for St.
Patrick’s Ward, the first Orangeman to be elected mayor(1845–6, 1847, and 1858) and. MP
1844–53. He became the deputy grand master of Canada of the Orange Lodge.
Born into one of the most prominent families of Upper Canada, Boulton inherited “The
Grange” from his father. He also owned 270 acres of land east of the Don, which he tried to sell
for £5,000 in the late 1840s. Perhaps this was where Boulton rented a house to Daniel Bloxsom,
a black Canadian, who was convicted in 1847 of keeping a “bawdy house,” and as a result,
Boulton was charged with “living off the avails of prostitution.” Boulton appears to have been let
off without a fine, but the newspapers and some of the aldermen were very hard on him,
suggesting he rent the house to someone else. According to reports, Boulton replied that he
would do what he liked.254
Bowden Street — Named after for John Wilson Bowden, a contractor who purchased
land in the area in 1858, and subdivided it in 1871.255
Brick Court — Named for for the early brickyards in the area.256
Brighton Avenue — Named for a local family, the Brightons.257
Broadview Avenue —Reflects the wonderful broad view of the valley that the street
offers. The street was formerly called Scadding Street in the south and Don Mills/Mill Road in
the north.258
In 1858, the city decided to build a House of Refuge, a jail and an Industrial Farm. The
city was suffering a depression, and Mayor Adam Wilson declared these buildings urgent when
he said that “about one-half of our mechanics and laborers, and another class of our people
consisting of clerks, accountants, and writers are wholly without employment or the adequate
means of subsistence…”259
The city bought land on Broadview Avenue from the Scadding estate, and in 1860, John
Aspinwall Tully designed the House of Refuge for those who couldn’t “provide for themselves,”
such as “the blind, the helpless orphan, the vagrants, and the idiots.” The city advertised for a
keeper to be paid $500 and a matron to be paid $200. The chair of city council, James Vance,
urged the city to take care in hiring “the Keeper”: [BLOCKSTART] When it is considered that
various trades and employments … will be under his supervision, and while having to deal with
and govern the lewd, the dissolute and profligate, the indigent, the idle and refractory, the strong,
the stubborn and the vicious, the maimed, the blind, the Heaven-stricken, the aged, the orphaned
and the wretched, the imposter, the innocent and the idiotic … it cannot be objected that the
Board exaggerates the ability required in one to whom such trust maybe assigned…260
[ENDBLOCK]
By 1869, however, because of a global smallpox epidemic, the building was turned into a
smallpox hospital under Dr A. Riddell, who was paid $1,286 in 1873. Smallpox vaccine had
been available since 1796, but was not widely used. The House of Refuge set aside a portion of
the building for the care of aged women and later a legacy enabled a second building to be built
for elderly men.
In 1891, because of raging scarlet fever and diphtheria epidemics, the House of Refuge
was used as an isolation hospital with six volunteer nuns from the Sisters of St Joseph. Between
1891–92, 1,917 cases were treated there.261
In 1892, a “Swiss cottage” was built beside the hospital to treat smallpox.262 The older
building where smallpox had been treated was burnt deliberately in 1894, even before it had been
fully paid for, as people thought germs would linger in it. The Swiss Cottage was demolished in
1930. Infectious diseases were treated at this site until 1934 when, except for polio, the number
of cases dropped. In 1940, the isolation hospital was used for returning veterans. Now
Bridgepoint Health a new glass-wrapped world-leading rehabilitation centre sits on the edge of
the Don Valley, close to the original site of the House of Refuge.
The House of Refuge was one part of Mayor Wilson’s “treatment and rescue” plan, the
Don Jail and Industrial Farm, another.
Canadian folklorist Edith Fowke collected a song dating back at least to the 1890s that
begins, “On the banks of the Don there’s a dear little spot, A boarding house proper where you’ll
get your meals hot…”
But in the minds of most Don Jail prisoners, it likely wasn’t such a “dear little” spot.
Opened in 1864 on Broadview near the House of Refuge, it was intended as a “Palace for
Prisoners” — a progressive jail with an industrial farm where inmates could cultivate peas,
potatoes, and other crops, prisoners were to be rehabilitated and taught a trade. However, the
Don Jail soon earned the title of “Alcatraz.” Designed in the Renaissance Revival-style by
William Thomas for 300 prisoners, it later held up to 600. Two to three inmates sometimes
shared a 0.9 metre by 2.4 metres cell, sleeping in bunk-style hammocks. The spectacular half-
octagonal rotunda, with its glass floor and clerestory windows designed to allow sunlight to
stream in, was often the scene of brutal whippings. Thomas’ panopticon design, a series of cell
blocks radiating out from a central guard station, allowing the guards to watch all the cells
without the prisoners being aware, did nothing for the well-being of the inmates. Thirty-one men
were hanged there — many publicly. In fact, the first executions were ticketed events. Those
who weren’t able to get a ticket, climbed trees or sat on roofs to watch the spectacle.263
In the early years of Toronto’s prisons, the Irish consistently comprised thirty percent of
the prison population, likely because of massive immigration to York from Ireland. Between
1847 and 1848, when thousands of Irish came to Canada because of the potato famine, the Irish
accounted for sixty-nine percent of those arrested.264
In 1873, more than half the prisoners in the Don Jail had been incarcerated for being
drunk; the rest had been picked up for vagrancy and larceny. They were held from three to six
months and charged fines from $4.25 to $53.25. In 1877, again more than half had been charged
with being drunk, and the balance vagrancy or larceny, but the length of their imprisonment was
only around thirty days, and the fines were reduced from $4.25 to $8.00.
Virtually all of those prisoners were marked down in the register as being from the
“lower class.” The register also noted that almost one-quarter of the inmates “neither read nor
write,” more than half “read or write imperfectly” and the remainder “read only.” When a
prisoner was executed, it was common practice to dissect the prisoner’s brain to find out why he
or she committed the crime.265
The most famous inmate of the jail may have been the Irish writer, Brendan Behan, who
spent a night there in 1961; he had assaulted two Metro detectives who were summoned by hotel
management after Behan repeatedly demanded that a bottle be sent to his room. Behan had a
continual thirst for “drink,” and tended to use unsavoury language.266
The most notorious prisoners who ever stayed in the Don Jail were the members of the
Boyd Gang, who escaped from the jail twice. “Eddie” (Edwin Alonzo) Boyd, an accomplished
bank robber, used to jump up on bank counters waving his gun. People thought of him as a
“good” bad guy. He met up with three others in jail and they formed the Boyd Gang: Steve
Suchan, Lennie Jackson, and Willie Jackson (the latter two not related). Their second escape,
they sawed through the bars, tied bed sheets together and climbed down to the ground. Then
Suchard and Jackson robbed a bank on Kingston Road and in the process, shot a police officer,
Edmund Tong. After a long search, Lennie Jackson and Suchan were found in a barn on Leslie
Street and later hanged. Boyd was paroled in 1966.
In December 1962, Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas were the last prisoners to be hanged
in Canada, both in the Don Jail. Turpin, twenty-nine, was a petty thief who had shot Frederick
Nash, a police officer, and Lucas, fifty-four, was a career criminal and pimp from Detroit who
had killed two people who were to be witnesses in a drug trial. Lucas confessed (he was caught
red-handed), but Turpin always maintained his innocence, “but I did some other things in my
life,” he said and didn’t object to the penalty.267 [IMAGE 9-5]
A number of artists and authors have used the jail as their theme, such as Morley
Callaghan whose second novel, It’s Never Over, written in 1930, was set on Broadview Avenue
and features a character facing the death penalty in the Don Jail. Artist Carl Schaefer, from Bain
Avenue, painted a night picture of the jail.
In Vern McAree’s reminiscences about his boyhood days playing in the Don Flats near
the Don Jail, he recalls men taking kegs of beer to the flats where they would spend two or three
days drinking and “frequently some prostitute, emerging [from the Jail] after having served her
thirty days, would find herself surrounded by an amorous escort and would disappear for
purposes even small boys … could guess only too well.”268
The Don Jail is now closed. The renovated and restored first section contains the
administrative offices of the new Bridgepoint facility. [IMAGES 9-6, 9-7, 9-8, 9-9, 9-10]
Brooklyn Avenue — Named for the brook that ran through John Russell’s fifty-five acre
brickyard, one of the largest in Canada. The brook is now buried.269
Browning Avenue — Possibly for United Empire Loyalist John Browning from
Maryland. With his wife Louisa, he was awarded £10,000 as compensation for their losses in the
American Revolution. Or for the Rev. Arthur Browning who died in Toronto in 1904. He had
served as a missionary in British Columbia. A number of Browning families lived in the area:
Albert William Browning who married Fanny Hodgson in Toronto in 1884 and had two children,
Harry and Olive; J.A. Browning of Lot Street who married Jane Adair in 1841; James Browning
who was on the Board of Managers of North Broadview Presbyterian Church in 1890 at least. Or
for the English poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, as has been suggested.270
Brydale Avenue — An English name, possibly for immigrants from England.
Bushell Avenue — Named for the contractor Edmund Bushell, who died in the First
World War, or for the Rev. John Bushell, Anglican minister.271
Busy Street — Named perhaps because it was a very busy street. Stables for horses lined
the north side of the street.272 [IMAGE 9-11]
Butternut Street — Named for the butternut grove in the rear of the Playter farm.273
Byron Avenue — Commemorates the English poet, Lord Byron.
Caithness Avenue — Likely for Caithness, Scotland. In June 1842, 234 emigrants sailed
for Canada on the 600-ton Joseph Green; eighty-one were from Caithness.274
Cambridge Avenue — Named for Cambridge, England. Workers’ cottages, prime
examples of the Ontario vernacular style of architecture, still exist from 138–46 Cambridge
Avenue. A long row is rare today. Originally the street was called Sarah Street after one of
George Henry Playter’s daughters.275
Canning Avenue — Named possibly for the Canning family whose members emigrated
to Canada in the mid-1800s.
Carlaw Avenue — Named for Major John Anderson Carlaw, cashier (comptroller) of the
Grand Trunk Railway for more than thirty years, property owner and major in the Railway’s own
military force, which was set up to defend its extensive holdings. His mother was Isabella Bain
from Scotland, possibly connected to the Bain families in Toronto. John owned property near the
Leslies and when he subdivided his property, he ran a north-south street through it, naming it
Carlaw Avenue. The parents of the great operatic singer Teresa Stratas lived on Carlaw Avenue,
although her father had a coffee shop at Bay Street north of Dundas.276
Caroline Avenue — Likely for Caroline, Princess of Wales, later Queen of George IV,
or for Caroline Davis, who married George Leslie.277
Carroll Street for Dr. James Carroll, alderman for St. Matthew’s Ward, 1884, brother of
Rev. Dr. John Saltkill Carroll, the well-known author and Methodist preacher, the youngest son
in the family, one of twins. While John Carroll decried his lack of education as a child, having to
quit at age nine after poor schooling, Dr. James Carroll went to excellent schools. John and three
siblings were sent to a teacher (Mrs. Glennon) who lived in the other half of their house, and who
“was totally without skill or authority to govern a school.”278 The street was formerly called High
Street, then Steiner Street, Thompson Street, and Matilda Street.279
Cavell Avenue — Was formerly called Dresden Street. Edith Cavell, a British nurse
celebrated for helping about 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during
World War I was arrested, charged with treason, and executed. She became an international
hero; the Germans were seen as monsters.280
Chatham Avenue — Possibly for William Pitt, prime minster of England, the 1st Earl of
Chatham, or for the town of Chatham in England.
Chester Avenue and Chester Hill Road — Named for the village of Chester. In 1873,
the City of Toronto Directory listed thirty-five people living in the suburban village of Chester
near Broadview and Danforth. All but one, Rev. Wm. Strong, MA, were blue collar, semi-skilled
or skilled workers. At the same time in 1873, only seventeen people were listed as living in
nearby Todmorden. While only a portion of suburban inhabitants were listed in the Directories,
it does signify that Chester had grown to be a much larger community than Todmorden. In 1890,
Chester and Todmorden had applied for annexation to Toronto but it was denied, as the two
villages together were short of the 750 people required. In 1892, the Directory listed 178 people
at Chester; the area would not be annexed until seventeen years later.281
It is thought that Chester was named after the English village of Chester by James
Beaven, the English Anglican minister, although there were a number of families named Chester
in Toronto. John Chester was listed on a roll of loyalists before 1776; George Chester, Isaac
Chester and Thomas Chester were listed on militia rolls in 1828–29. William Chester lived in
Ontario in 1856.282 The Playters, who gave parcels of land for the village, had lived in
Chesterfield Township in New Jersey. Sotterley in England, the location of the Playters’
ancestral home, was part of the estate of Earl Hugh of Chester. The Axon family, who lived in
Chester, originally came from the village of Chester in England.
Newspaperman Mike Filey wrote: “Nestled in the northern outskirts of Toronto in 1910
were several small rural neighbourhoods that dawdled along in semi-isolation, known at various
times as Doncaster or Chester and collectively as the Danforth after the sandy main drag that
turned to gumbo after a downpour …”283
In 1910, the year after Chester was annexed to the City of Toronto, the City Directory
still listed Chester as a suburban area but with people living at addresses all along the Danforth,
and arterial side streets, including Pape, Logan, Ferrier, Fulton, Carlaw, Ellerbeck and Langley.
Mayor Ernest A. Macdonald promoted Chester village. Born in New York State, he was
called the “Baron of Chester” because of his real estate developments in the northeast end of the
city, and the “Baron of Bellamy” because of a real estate development ten miles east of the Don
River near the Grand Trunk Railway line on the lakefront. “In the district over the Don known as
Chester,” in what is now Riverdale, [Macdonald] opened up miles of streets through market
gardens, had them paved and ‘sewered,’ and in many places erected expensive houses. But when
the boom burst, his scheme “fell to the ground.” He made and lost a fortune in real estate,
estimated in today’s dollars as $200,000,000. He created St. Matthew’s Ward and was
instrumental in having streetcars on Broadview.284
Macdonald claimed that “no intelligent citizen would establish a home in a community
where no church was readily accessible,” so he began North Broadview Presbyterian Church at
his own expense. There weren’t enough members to pay a minister, so students would preach on
Sunday and were nicknamed “Bishop of Chester.” By 1911, however, church finances were
sound enough to build a new church at Broadview and Dearbourne. MacDonald kept financing
the church, liquidating its debts.285
The church never had a large congregation. By 1921, there were only 348 members,
although they had budgeted $3,300 for the minister’s salary that year, equivalent to $43,000
Macdonald was a Toronto alderman for five years and, in 1900, became mayor for one
year. He called his predecessors “overrated men” who had “maladministered the city over the
last few years.” During his first term as alderman, Macdonald went to jail rather than answer a
judge’s question about the ownership of a cow. He began a weekly journal, The Factor, in order
to promote an aqueduct from Georgian Bay to Toronto. He was defeated twice for mayor by
John Shaw, an Orangeman. Macdonald suffered from “nervous prostration” and died from
syphilis. He was survived by a son in the Mounted Police in South Africa.286
Clark Street — Named for Edward Frederick Clarke, mayor from 1888–91; MPP from
1886–94; MP from 1896–1905; Orangeman from Ireland; and journalist. Clarke married
Charlotte Elizabeth Scott. It was said that he attracted women voters because he used women
canvassers during elections.287
Coady Avenue — Named for the Coady family that worked in local market gardens and
brickyards.288
Colgate Avenue — Named for the Colgate Palmolive company located there. The street
was formerly Natalie Street, but the company requested a change. William Colgate was an
American manufacturer who organized Bible societies and gave money to Colgate University.289
Commissioners Street — Named for the first five Toronto Harbour Commissioners in
1911, L.H. Clarke, T.L. Church, R.S. Gourlay, R.H. Smith and F.S. Spence, responsible for
filling in the mouth of the Don River and re-routing it into the Keating Channel, consequently
destroying the marsh.290
Condor Avenue — Possibly for the Condor families in the area who emigrated from
England.
Cruikshank Avenue — Possibly for Scottish settlers in the area.
Cummings Street — Formerly called Grover, possibly for Thomas Cumming, grocer.291
Curzon Street — Named for the London street of the same name; or for George
Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, British foreign secretary; or for Sarah
Anne Vincent Curzon: see under “Women in Riverdale.”292
Agnes Lane — Named after Agnes Thomson Muir, Alexander Muir’s first wife. She
and Alexander had two sons, James Joseph and George, and a daughter, Colinette Campbell.
Agnes died in 1864 after just four years of marriage. Alexander then married Mary Alice
Johnstone from Holland Landing in 1865; they had two children — Charles Alexander and Alice
Ainsworth Road — Possibly inspired by Ainsworth Road in London, England, or for the
various Ainsworths who migrated to the New World.
Albemarle Avenue — Named after the immigrants from Albemarle, in the northeast of
England, or William Coutts Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle, superintendent of Indian Affairs in
Canada 1854–56.
Allen Avenue — Formerly Fee’s Road, for Thomas Allen, alderman 1877–9, 1883–6,
1890–1, 1895–7 for St. David’s Ward. An Orangeman, Allen came to Canada from Ireland in
1851, married first Margaret Brown in 1857, and later Miss Beckett in 1877. He had twelve
children.232 Allen owned the three-storey brick East End Brewery built in 1862.233
Alton Avenue — Named after the Palatine German family of Altons who lived in the
Aldwych Avenue — Possibly named for the road in London, England, with the same
name, the origin of immigrants to Canada.
Arundel Avenue — Named after a community in West Sussex, where English
“Petworth” immigrants originated in 1832 and 1836. Sid Warren, an early resident, remembered
the Armstrong’s Dairy, a cattle farm and forty-acre pasture at the top of this street in the early
1900s. The street was originally called Whitney. 235
Audley Avenue — Named for a village in England, or for Lord Audley (James Touchet,
Lord Audley), the leader of a Cornish rebellion in 1497. One of the aldermen on the naming
committee was Cornish.236
Austin Avenue — Commemorates James Austin, a printer who came from Ireland in
1828/9, founded the Dominion Bank in 1871 and was its first president from 1871–9, and was
president of Consumer’s Gas. Austin owned Spadina House. He married Susan Bright in 1844
and they had two children. He willed $300,000 to his children, and the business and house to his
son, Albert William.237
Badgerow Avenue — Named after George Washington Badgerow, who taught school,
was called to the bar in 1871, and became a crown attorney in 1887, and MLA for York East
from 1879–86. Badgerow supported the Mackenzie rebels in 1837. He married Rachel
Mulholland in 1867. Part of the street was formerly called Franklin.238
Bain Avenue — Commemorates the Bain family. The Honourable Thomas Bain came
from Scotland in 1837 with his family, was in parliament for twenty-eight years, and was
speaker of the house in 1899. John Bain, born in England, worked in stationary firms, becoming
manager of the Canadian Publishing Company in 1882. He was selected as the librarian at The
Toronto Free Library, which opened on March 10, 1884, at Adelaide and Church in downtown
Toronto. Neil Kennedy Bain and his son James owned the “Bain House” on Dingwall Avenue
from 1869–1966. The street was formerly Highland Avenue and Cypress Street.239 [IMAGE 9-4]
Baird Avenue — Possibly named for William Alexander Baird, mayor of West Toronto
(the Junction) when it amalgamated with Toronto, a councillor and a Conservative MP from
1926 to 1940.
Baltic Avenue — Formerly called Louis Avenue and then Fifth Avenue.240
Basin Street — Derived from the geographical term “basin” for a bay.241
Bayfield Crescent — Possibly named after Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield, who
completed a hydrographical survey of the Canadian shores of the Great Lakes toward the end of
1825; or for Lieutenant Walter Leigh Bayfield, who won the Victoria Cross in 1939.242
Ben Kerr Lane — Named after Ben Kerr, Toronto author, broadcaster, musician, and
street performer, born in Nova Scotia. In 1969, he gave up a three-pack-a-day cigarette habit,
took a daily cayenne pepper cocktail for his health, and later ran from Toronto to Los Angeles to
promote a ban on smoking in offices. For the last twenty years of his life, he was a busker in
downtown Toronto, often voted “favourite street performer.” He ran in every Toronto mayoralty
election from 1985 to 2003 and lived on Jones Avenue.
Berkshire Avenue was possibly a made-up name to attract English immigrants.243
Bertmount Avenue and Wagstaff Drive — Named for Albert (Bert) Wagstaff and the
Wagstaff family, as Bertmount Avenue runs through the site of the Wagstaff home and
brickyard. A brickmaker in England, Robert Wagstaff and his wife Elizabeth Quince had eight
children, the youngest being David, a brickmaker in Toronto. He had land on Eastern Avenue,
and managed fifteen acres in 1881, turning out millions of bricks annually. Married in 1864 to
Matilda Sear, they had seven children, the fourth one, Albert.244
Bisley Street — Named for a local family called Bisley. The street was formerly known
as Russell Place.245
Blackburn Street — Named after for Clifford Earl Blackburn, building contractor and
alderman, or Thornton Blackburn, a black refugee who lived on Eastern Avenue and owned the
first cab in the city.246
Blong Avenue — Named after Henry Blong, a butcher and cattle dealer, who came to
Canada from Ireland. He owned Lot 13, Concession 1 in the Township of York. According to the
1861 census, Henry Sr.’s business produced 1,050 cattle worth $42,000 and 1,200 sheep and
calves worth $7,000 per year. The family lived in a two-storey frame house.247 Henry and Eldred
Easton had twelve children, three of them were butchers by 1861, Henry Jr., Richard, and
Robert. Edward Blong exported cattle, and was also at one time a butcher, as was another son,
Jonathan. Edward was on city council in 1895 representing Ward 1. One of their children was
killed by lightning. The street was formerly called Norfolk/d Avenue.248
Bloomfield Avenue — –Named after George Bloomfield, a local shoemaker, or for
Bloomfield Road near Cheltenham, England. The developer of the area was from Cheltenham.249
Booth Avenue — Named after George S. Booth, coppersmith or butcher, alderman
1889–90. Booth & Sons Brass Founders was established in 1853 in St. Catharines and moved to
Toronto in 1855; it was the largest copper and brass factory in Canada. The street was formerly
known as Bangor Avenue and was located north of Queen Street.250
Boothroyd Avenue — Possibly named for the Boothroyd family, who emigrated from
England to Toronto in the mid-1800s.
Boston Avenue — Named after Frank Boston, who managed a gravel pit and began the
first streetcar service on Kingston Road, or for his son Joseph Boston, a local florist.251
Bouchette Street — Named afterJoseph Bouchette, who conducted the first
hydrographic survey of Toronto Harbour in 1792.252
Boultbee Avenue — Named after lawyer Alfred Boultbee, a lawyer in Newmarket for
twenty-five years, and member of provincial parliament (MPP) for North York,1871–74 and East
York for 1879–82. He was also editor of the North York Sentinel. Boultbee came from England
and married Caroline Augusta Hamilton.253
Boulton Avenue — Named after William Henry Boulton, lawyer, alderman for St.
Patrick’s Ward, the first Orangeman to be elected mayor(1845–6, 1847, and 1858) and. MP
1844–53. He became the deputy grand master of Canada of the Orange Lodge.
Born into one of the most prominent families of Upper Canada, Boulton inherited “The
Grange” from his father. He also owned 270 acres of land east of the Don, which he tried to sell
for £5,000 in the late 1840s. Perhaps this was where Boulton rented a house to Daniel Bloxsom,
a black Canadian, who was convicted in 1847 of keeping a “bawdy house,” and as a result,
Boulton was charged with “living off the avails of prostitution.” Boulton appears to have been let
off without a fine, but the newspapers and some of the aldermen were very hard on him,
suggesting he rent the house to someone else. According to reports, Boulton replied that he
would do what he liked.254
Bowden Street — Named after for John Wilson Bowden, a contractor who purchased
land in the area in 1858, and subdivided it in 1871.255
Brick Court — Named for for the early brickyards in the area.256
Brighton Avenue — Named for a local family, the Brightons.257
Broadview Avenue —Reflects the wonderful broad view of the valley that the street
offers. The street was formerly called Scadding Street in the south and Don Mills/Mill Road in
the north.258
In 1858, the city decided to build a House of Refuge, a jail and an Industrial Farm. The
city was suffering a depression, and Mayor Adam Wilson declared these buildings urgent when
he said that “about one-half of our mechanics and laborers, and another class of our people
consisting of clerks, accountants, and writers are wholly without employment or the adequate
means of subsistence…”259
The city bought land on Broadview Avenue from the Scadding estate, and in 1860, John
Aspinwall Tully designed the House of Refuge for those who couldn’t “provide for themselves,”
such as “the blind, the helpless orphan, the vagrants, and the idiots.” The city advertised for a
keeper to be paid $500 and a matron to be paid $200. The chair of city council, James Vance,
urged the city to take care in hiring “the Keeper”: [BLOCKSTART] When it is considered that
various trades and employments … will be under his supervision, and while having to deal with
and govern the lewd, the dissolute and profligate, the indigent, the idle and refractory, the strong,
the stubborn and the vicious, the maimed, the blind, the Heaven-stricken, the aged, the orphaned
and the wretched, the imposter, the innocent and the idiotic … it cannot be objected that the
Board exaggerates the ability required in one to whom such trust maybe assigned…260
[ENDBLOCK]
By 1869, however, because of a global smallpox epidemic, the building was turned into a
smallpox hospital under Dr A. Riddell, who was paid $1,286 in 1873. Smallpox vaccine had
been available since 1796, but was not widely used. The House of Refuge set aside a portion of
the building for the care of aged women and later a legacy enabled a second building to be built
for elderly men.
In 1891, because of raging scarlet fever and diphtheria epidemics, the House of Refuge
was used as an isolation hospital with six volunteer nuns from the Sisters of St Joseph. Between
1891–92, 1,917 cases were treated there.261
In 1892, a “Swiss cottage” was built beside the hospital to treat smallpox.262 The older
building where smallpox had been treated was burnt deliberately in 1894, even before it had been
fully paid for, as people thought germs would linger in it. The Swiss Cottage was demolished in
1930. Infectious diseases were treated at this site until 1934 when, except for polio, the number
of cases dropped. In 1940, the isolation hospital was used for returning veterans. Now
Bridgepoint Health a new glass-wrapped world-leading rehabilitation centre sits on the edge of
the Don Valley, close to the original site of the House of Refuge.
The House of Refuge was one part of Mayor Wilson’s “treatment and rescue” plan, the
Don Jail and Industrial Farm, another.
Canadian folklorist Edith Fowke collected a song dating back at least to the 1890s that
begins, “On the banks of the Don there’s a dear little spot, A boarding house proper where you’ll
get your meals hot…”
But in the minds of most Don Jail prisoners, it likely wasn’t such a “dear little” spot.
Opened in 1864 on Broadview near the House of Refuge, it was intended as a “Palace for
Prisoners” — a progressive jail with an industrial farm where inmates could cultivate peas,
potatoes, and other crops, prisoners were to be rehabilitated and taught a trade. However, the
Don Jail soon earned the title of “Alcatraz.” Designed in the Renaissance Revival-style by
William Thomas for 300 prisoners, it later held up to 600. Two to three inmates sometimes
shared a 0.9 metre by 2.4 metres cell, sleeping in bunk-style hammocks. The spectacular half-
octagonal rotunda, with its glass floor and clerestory windows designed to allow sunlight to
stream in, was often the scene of brutal whippings. Thomas’ panopticon design, a series of cell
blocks radiating out from a central guard station, allowing the guards to watch all the cells
without the prisoners being aware, did nothing for the well-being of the inmates. Thirty-one men
were hanged there — many publicly. In fact, the first executions were ticketed events. Those
who weren’t able to get a ticket, climbed trees or sat on roofs to watch the spectacle.263
In the early years of Toronto’s prisons, the Irish consistently comprised thirty percent of
the prison population, likely because of massive immigration to York from Ireland. Between
1847 and 1848, when thousands of Irish came to Canada because of the potato famine, the Irish
accounted for sixty-nine percent of those arrested.264
In 1873, more than half the prisoners in the Don Jail had been incarcerated for being
drunk; the rest had been picked up for vagrancy and larceny. They were held from three to six
months and charged fines from $4.25 to $53.25. In 1877, again more than half had been charged
with being drunk, and the balance vagrancy or larceny, but the length of their imprisonment was
only around thirty days, and the fines were reduced from $4.25 to $8.00.
Virtually all of those prisoners were marked down in the register as being from the
“lower class.” The register also noted that almost one-quarter of the inmates “neither read nor
write,” more than half “read or write imperfectly” and the remainder “read only.” When a
prisoner was executed, it was common practice to dissect the prisoner’s brain to find out why he
or she committed the crime.265
The most famous inmate of the jail may have been the Irish writer, Brendan Behan, who
spent a night there in 1961; he had assaulted two Metro detectives who were summoned by hotel
management after Behan repeatedly demanded that a bottle be sent to his room. Behan had a
continual thirst for “drink,” and tended to use unsavoury language.266
The most notorious prisoners who ever stayed in the Don Jail were the members of the
Boyd Gang, who escaped from the jail twice. “Eddie” (Edwin Alonzo) Boyd, an accomplished
bank robber, used to jump up on bank counters waving his gun. People thought of him as a
“good” bad guy. He met up with three others in jail and they formed the Boyd Gang: Steve
Suchan, Lennie Jackson, and Willie Jackson (the latter two not related). Their second escape,
they sawed through the bars, tied bed sheets together and climbed down to the ground. Then
Suchard and Jackson robbed a bank on Kingston Road and in the process, shot a police officer,
Edmund Tong. After a long search, Lennie Jackson and Suchan were found in a barn on Leslie
Street and later hanged. Boyd was paroled in 1966.
In December 1962, Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas were the last prisoners to be hanged
in Canada, both in the Don Jail. Turpin, twenty-nine, was a petty thief who had shot Frederick
Nash, a police officer, and Lucas, fifty-four, was a career criminal and pimp from Detroit who
had killed two people who were to be witnesses in a drug trial. Lucas confessed (he was caught
red-handed), but Turpin always maintained his innocence, “but I did some other things in my
life,” he said and didn’t object to the penalty.267 [IMAGE 9-5]
A number of artists and authors have used the jail as their theme, such as Morley
Callaghan whose second novel, It’s Never Over, written in 1930, was set on Broadview Avenue
and features a character facing the death penalty in the Don Jail. Artist Carl Schaefer, from Bain
Avenue, painted a night picture of the jail.
In Vern McAree’s reminiscences about his boyhood days playing in the Don Flats near
the Don Jail, he recalls men taking kegs of beer to the flats where they would spend two or three
days drinking and “frequently some prostitute, emerging [from the Jail] after having served her
thirty days, would find herself surrounded by an amorous escort and would disappear for
purposes even small boys … could guess only too well.”268
The Don Jail is now closed. The renovated and restored first section contains the
administrative offices of the new Bridgepoint facility. [IMAGES 9-6, 9-7, 9-8, 9-9, 9-10]
Brooklyn Avenue — Named for the brook that ran through John Russell’s fifty-five acre
brickyard, one of the largest in Canada. The brook is now buried.269
Browning Avenue — Possibly for United Empire Loyalist John Browning from
Maryland. With his wife Louisa, he was awarded £10,000 as compensation for their losses in the
American Revolution. Or for the Rev. Arthur Browning who died in Toronto in 1904. He had
served as a missionary in British Columbia. A number of Browning families lived in the area:
Albert William Browning who married Fanny Hodgson in Toronto in 1884 and had two children,
Harry and Olive; J.A. Browning of Lot Street who married Jane Adair in 1841; James Browning
who was on the Board of Managers of North Broadview Presbyterian Church in 1890 at least. Or
for the English poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, as has been suggested.270
Brydale Avenue — An English name, possibly for immigrants from England.
Bushell Avenue — Named for the contractor Edmund Bushell, who died in the First
World War, or for the Rev. John Bushell, Anglican minister.271
Busy Street — Named perhaps because it was a very busy street. Stables for horses lined
the north side of the street.272 [IMAGE 9-11]
Butternut Street — Named for the butternut grove in the rear of the Playter farm.273
Byron Avenue — Commemorates the English poet, Lord Byron.
Caithness Avenue — Likely for Caithness, Scotland. In June 1842, 234 emigrants sailed
for Canada on the 600-ton Joseph Green; eighty-one were from Caithness.274
Cambridge Avenue — Named for Cambridge, England. Workers’ cottages, prime
examples of the Ontario vernacular style of architecture, still exist from 138–46 Cambridge
Avenue. A long row is rare today. Originally the street was called Sarah Street after one of
George Henry Playter’s daughters.275
Canning Avenue — Named possibly for the Canning family whose members emigrated
to Canada in the mid-1800s.
Carlaw Avenue — Named for Major John Anderson Carlaw, cashier (comptroller) of the
Grand Trunk Railway for more than thirty years, property owner and major in the Railway’s own
military force, which was set up to defend its extensive holdings. His mother was Isabella Bain
from Scotland, possibly connected to the Bain families in Toronto. John owned property near the
Leslies and when he subdivided his property, he ran a north-south street through it, naming it
Carlaw Avenue. The parents of the great operatic singer Teresa Stratas lived on Carlaw Avenue,
although her father had a coffee shop at Bay Street north of Dundas.276
Caroline Avenue — Likely for Caroline, Princess of Wales, later Queen of George IV,
or for Caroline Davis, who married George Leslie.277
Carroll Street for Dr. James Carroll, alderman for St. Matthew’s Ward, 1884, brother of
Rev. Dr. John Saltkill Carroll, the well-known author and Methodist preacher, the youngest son
in the family, one of twins. While John Carroll decried his lack of education as a child, having to
quit at age nine after poor schooling, Dr. James Carroll went to excellent schools. John and three
siblings were sent to a teacher (Mrs. Glennon) who lived in the other half of their house, and who
“was totally without skill or authority to govern a school.”278 The street was formerly called High
Street, then Steiner Street, Thompson Street, and Matilda Street.279
Cavell Avenue — Was formerly called Dresden Street. Edith Cavell, a British nurse
celebrated for helping about 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during
World War I was arrested, charged with treason, and executed. She became an international
hero; the Germans were seen as monsters.280
Chatham Avenue — Possibly for William Pitt, prime minster of England, the 1st Earl of
Chatham, or for the town of Chatham in England.
Chester Avenue and Chester Hill Road — Named for the village of Chester. In 1873,
the City of Toronto Directory listed thirty-five people living in the suburban village of Chester
near Broadview and Danforth. All but one, Rev. Wm. Strong, MA, were blue collar, semi-skilled
or skilled workers. At the same time in 1873, only seventeen people were listed as living in
nearby Todmorden. While only a portion of suburban inhabitants were listed in the Directories,
it does signify that Chester had grown to be a much larger community than Todmorden. In 1890,
Chester and Todmorden had applied for annexation to Toronto but it was denied, as the two
villages together were short of the 750 people required. In 1892, the Directory listed 178 people
at Chester; the area would not be annexed until seventeen years later.281
It is thought that Chester was named after the English village of Chester by James
Beaven, the English Anglican minister, although there were a number of families named Chester
in Toronto. John Chester was listed on a roll of loyalists before 1776; George Chester, Isaac
Chester and Thomas Chester were listed on militia rolls in 1828–29. William Chester lived in
Ontario in 1856.282 The Playters, who gave parcels of land for the village, had lived in
Chesterfield Township in New Jersey. Sotterley in England, the location of the Playters’
ancestral home, was part of the estate of Earl Hugh of Chester. The Axon family, who lived in
Chester, originally came from the village of Chester in England.
Newspaperman Mike Filey wrote: “Nestled in the northern outskirts of Toronto in 1910
were several small rural neighbourhoods that dawdled along in semi-isolation, known at various
times as Doncaster or Chester and collectively as the Danforth after the sandy main drag that
turned to gumbo after a downpour …”283
In 1910, the year after Chester was annexed to the City of Toronto, the City Directory
still listed Chester as a suburban area but with people living at addresses all along the Danforth,
and arterial side streets, including Pape, Logan, Ferrier, Fulton, Carlaw, Ellerbeck and Langley.
Mayor Ernest A. Macdonald promoted Chester village. Born in New York State, he was
called the “Baron of Chester” because of his real estate developments in the northeast end of the
city, and the “Baron of Bellamy” because of a real estate development ten miles east of the Don
River near the Grand Trunk Railway line on the lakefront. “In the district over the Don known as
Chester,” in what is now Riverdale, [Macdonald] opened up miles of streets through market
gardens, had them paved and ‘sewered,’ and in many places erected expensive houses. But when
the boom burst, his scheme “fell to the ground.” He made and lost a fortune in real estate,
estimated in today’s dollars as $200,000,000. He created St. Matthew’s Ward and was
instrumental in having streetcars on Broadview.284
Macdonald claimed that “no intelligent citizen would establish a home in a community
where no church was readily accessible,” so he began North Broadview Presbyterian Church at
his own expense. There weren’t enough members to pay a minister, so students would preach on
Sunday and were nicknamed “Bishop of Chester.” By 1911, however, church finances were
sound enough to build a new church at Broadview and Dearbourne. MacDonald kept financing
the church, liquidating its debts.285
The church never had a large congregation. By 1921, there were only 348 members,
although they had budgeted $3,300 for the minister’s salary that year, equivalent to $43,000
Macdonald was a Toronto alderman for five years and, in 1900, became mayor for one
year. He called his predecessors “overrated men” who had “maladministered the city over the
last few years.” During his first term as alderman, Macdonald went to jail rather than answer a
judge’s question about the ownership of a cow. He began a weekly journal, The Factor, in order
to promote an aqueduct from Georgian Bay to Toronto. He was defeated twice for mayor by
John Shaw, an Orangeman. Macdonald suffered from “nervous prostration” and died from
syphilis. He was survived by a son in the Mounted Police in South Africa.286
Clark Street — Named for Edward Frederick Clarke, mayor from 1888–91; MPP from
1886–94; MP from 1896–1905; Orangeman from Ireland; and journalist. Clarke married
Charlotte Elizabeth Scott. It was said that he attracted women voters because he used women
canvassers during elections.287
Coady Avenue — Named for the Coady family that worked in local market gardens and
brickyards.288
Colgate Avenue — Named for the Colgate Palmolive company located there. The street
was formerly Natalie Street, but the company requested a change. William Colgate was an
American manufacturer who organized Bible societies and gave money to Colgate University.289
Commissioners Street — Named for the first five Toronto Harbour Commissioners in
1911, L.H. Clarke, T.L. Church, R.S. Gourlay, R.H. Smith and F.S. Spence, responsible for
filling in the mouth of the Don River and re-routing it into the Keating Channel, consequently
destroying the marsh.290
Condor Avenue — Possibly for the Condor families in the area who emigrated from
England.
Cruikshank Avenue — Possibly for Scottish settlers in the area.
Cummings Street — Formerly called Grover, possibly for Thomas Cumming, grocer.291
Curzon Street — Named for the London street of the same name; or for George
Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, British foreign secretary; or for Sarah
Anne Vincent Curzon: see under “Women in Riverdale.”292
Agnes Lane — Named after Agnes Thomson Muir, Alexander Muir’s first wife. She
and Alexander had two sons, James Joseph and George, and a daughter, Colinette Campbell.
Agnes died in 1864 after just four years of marriage. Alexander then married Mary Alice
Johnstone from Holland Landing in 1865; they had two children — Charles Alexander and Alice
Ainsworth Road — Possibly inspired by Ainsworth Road in London, England, or for the
various Ainsworths who migrated to the New World.
Albemarle Avenue — Named after the immigrants from Albemarle, in the northeast of
England, or William Coutts Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle, superintendent of Indian Affairs in
Canada 1854–56.
Allen Avenue — Formerly Fee’s Road, for Thomas Allen, alderman 1877–9, 1883–6,
1890–1, 1895–7 for St. David’s Ward. An Orangeman, Allen came to Canada from Ireland in
1851, married first Margaret Brown in 1857, and later Miss Beckett in 1877. He had twelve
children.232 Allen owned the three-storey brick East End Brewery built in 1862.233
Alton Avenue — Named after the Palatine German family of Altons who lived in the
Aldwych Avenue — Possibly named for the road in London, England, with the same
name, the origin of immigrants to Canada.
Arundel Avenue — Named after a community in West Sussex, where English
“Petworth” immigrants originated in 1832 and 1836. Sid Warren, an early resident, remembered
the Armstrong’s Dairy, a cattle farm and forty-acre pasture at the top of this street in the early
1900s. The street was originally called Whitney. 235
Audley Avenue — Named for a village in England, or for Lord Audley (James Touchet,
Lord Audley), the leader of a Cornish rebellion in 1497. One of the aldermen on the naming
committee was Cornish.236
Austin Avenue — Commemorates James Austin, a printer who came from Ireland in
1828/9, founded the Dominion Bank in 1871 and was its first president from 1871–9, and was
president of Consumer’s Gas. Austin owned Spadina House. He married Susan Bright in 1844
and they had two children. He willed $300,000 to his children, and the business and house to his
son, Albert William.237
Badgerow Avenue — Named after George Washington Badgerow, who taught school,
was called to the bar in 1871, and became a crown attorney in 1887, and MLA for York East
from 1879–86. Badgerow supported the Mackenzie rebels in 1837. He married Rachel
Mulholland in 1867. Part of the street was formerly called Franklin.238
Bain Avenue — Commemorates the Bain family. The Honourable Thomas Bain came
from Scotland in 1837 with his family, was in parliament for twenty-eight years, and was
speaker of the house in 1899. John Bain, born in England, worked in stationary firms, becoming
manager of the Canadian Publishing Company in 1882. He was selected as the librarian at The
Toronto Free Library, which opened on March 10, 1884, at Adelaide and Church in downtown
Toronto. Neil Kennedy Bain and his son James owned the “Bain House” on Dingwall Avenue
from 1869–1966. The street was formerly Highland Avenue and Cypress Street.239 [IMAGE 9-4]
Baird Avenue — Possibly named for William Alexander Baird, mayor of West Toronto
(the Junction) when it amalgamated with Toronto, a councillor and a Conservative MP from
1926 to 1940.
Baltic Avenue — Formerly called Louis Avenue and then Fifth Avenue.240
Basin Street — Derived from the geographical term “basin” for a bay.241
Bayfield Crescent — Possibly named after Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield, who
completed a hydrographical survey of the Canadian shores of the Great Lakes toward the end of
1825; or for Lieutenant Walter Leigh Bayfield, who won the Victoria Cross in 1939.242
Ben Kerr Lane — Named after Ben Kerr, Toronto author, broadcaster, musician, and
street performer, born in Nova Scotia. In 1969, he gave up a three-pack-a-day cigarette habit,
took a daily cayenne pepper cocktail for his health, and later ran from Toronto to Los Angeles to
promote a ban on smoking in offices. For the last twenty years of his life, he was a busker in
downtown Toronto, often voted “favourite street performer.” He ran in every Toronto mayoralty
election from 1985 to 2003 and lived on Jones Avenue.
Berkshire Avenue was possibly a made-up name to attract English immigrants.243
Bertmount Avenue and Wagstaff Drive — Named for Albert (Bert) Wagstaff and the
Wagstaff family, as Bertmount Avenue runs through the site of the Wagstaff home and
brickyard. A brickmaker in England, Robert Wagstaff and his wife Elizabeth Quince had eight
children, the youngest being David, a brickmaker in Toronto. He had land on Eastern Avenue,
and managed fifteen acres in 1881, turning out millions of bricks annually. Married in 1864 to
Matilda Sear, they had seven children, the fourth one, Albert.244
Bisley Street — Named for a local family called Bisley. The street was formerly known
as Russell Place.245
Blackburn Street — Named after for Clifford Earl Blackburn, building contractor and
alderman, or Thornton Blackburn, a black refugee who lived on Eastern Avenue and owned the
first cab in the city.246
Blong Avenue — Named after Henry Blong, a butcher and cattle dealer, who came to
Canada from Ireland. He owned Lot 13, Concession 1 in the Township of York. According to the
1861 census, Henry Sr.’s business produced 1,050 cattle worth $42,000 and 1,200 sheep and
calves worth $7,000 per year. The family lived in a two-storey frame house.247 Henry and Eldred
Easton had twelve children, three of them were butchers by 1861, Henry Jr., Richard, and
Robert. Edward Blong exported cattle, and was also at one time a butcher, as was another son,
Jonathan. Edward was on city council in 1895 representing Ward 1. One of their children was
killed by lightning. The street was formerly called Norfolk/d Avenue.248
Bloomfield Avenue — –Named after George Bloomfield, a local shoemaker, or for
Bloomfield Road near Cheltenham, England. The developer of the area was from Cheltenham.249
Booth Avenue — Named after George S. Booth, coppersmith or butcher, alderman
1889–90. Booth & Sons Brass Founders was established in 1853 in St. Catharines and moved to
Toronto in 1855; it was the largest copper and brass factory in Canada. The street was formerly
known as Bangor Avenue and was located north of Queen Street.250
Boothroyd Avenue — Possibly named for the Boothroyd family, who emigrated from
England to Toronto in the mid-1800s.
Boston Avenue — Named after Frank Boston, who managed a gravel pit and began the
first streetcar service on Kingston Road, or for his son Joseph Boston, a local florist.251
Bouchette Street — Named afterJoseph Bouchette, who conducted the first
hydrographic survey of Toronto Harbour in 1792.252
Boultbee Avenue — Named after lawyer Alfred Boultbee, a lawyer in Newmarket for
twenty-five years, and member of provincial parliament (MPP) for North York,1871–74 and East
York for 1879–82. He was also editor of the North York Sentinel. Boultbee came from England
and married Caroline Augusta Hamilton.253
Boulton Avenue — Named after William Henry Boulton, lawyer, alderman for St.
Patrick’s Ward, the first Orangeman to be elected mayor(1845–6, 1847, and 1858) and. MP
1844–53. He became the deputy grand master of Canada of the Orange Lodge.
Born into one of the most prominent families of Upper Canada, Boulton inherited “The
Grange” from his father. He also owned 270 acres of land east of the Don, which he tried to sell
for £5,000 in the late 1840s. Perhaps this was where Boulton rented a house to Daniel Bloxsom,
a black Canadian, who was convicted in 1847 of keeping a “bawdy house,” and as a result,
Boulton was charged with “living off the avails of prostitution.” Boulton appears to have been let
off without a fine, but the newspapers and some of the aldermen were very hard on him,
suggesting he rent the house to someone else. According to reports, Boulton replied that he
would do what he liked.254
Bowden Street — Named after for John Wilson Bowden, a contractor who purchased
land in the area in 1858, and subdivided it in 1871.255
Brick Court — Named for for the early brickyards in the area.256
Brighton Avenue — Named for a local family, the Brightons.257
Broadview Avenue —Reflects the wonderful broad view of the valley that the street
offers. The street was formerly called Scadding Street in the south and Don Mills/Mill Road in
the north.258
In 1858, the city decided to build a House of Refuge, a jail and an Industrial Farm. The
city was suffering a depression, and Mayor Adam Wilson declared these buildings urgent when
he said that “about one-half of our mechanics and laborers, and another class of our people
consisting of clerks, accountants, and writers are wholly without employment or the adequate
means of subsistence…”259
The city bought land on Broadview Avenue from the Scadding estate, and in 1860, John
Aspinwall Tully designed the House of Refuge for those who couldn’t “provide for themselves,”
such as “the blind, the helpless orphan, the vagrants, and the idiots.” The city advertised for a
keeper to be paid $500 and a matron to be paid $200. The chair of city council, James Vance,
urged the city to take care in hiring “the Keeper”: [BLOCKSTART] When it is considered that
various trades and employments … will be under his supervision, and while having to deal with
and govern the lewd, the dissolute and profligate, the indigent, the idle and refractory, the strong,
the stubborn and the vicious, the maimed, the blind, the Heaven-stricken, the aged, the orphaned
and the wretched, the imposter, the innocent and the idiotic … it cannot be objected that the
Board exaggerates the ability required in one to whom such trust maybe assigned…260
[ENDBLOCK]
By 1869, however, because of a global smallpox epidemic, the building was turned into a
smallpox hospital under Dr A. Riddell, who was paid $1,286 in 1873. Smallpox vaccine had
been available since 1796, but was not widely used. The House of Refuge set aside a portion of
the building for the care of aged women and later a legacy enabled a second building to be built
for elderly men.
In 1891, because of raging scarlet fever and diphtheria epidemics, the House of Refuge
was used as an isolation hospital with six volunteer nuns from the Sisters of St Joseph. Between
1891–92, 1,917 cases were treated there.261
In 1892, a “Swiss cottage” was built beside the hospital to treat smallpox.262 The older
building where smallpox had been treated was burnt deliberately in 1894, even before it had been
fully paid for, as people thought germs would linger in it. The Swiss Cottage was demolished in
1930. Infectious diseases were treated at this site until 1934 when, except for polio, the number
of cases dropped. In 1940, the isolation hospital was used for returning veterans. Now
Bridgepoint Health a new glass-wrapped world-leading rehabilitation centre sits on the edge of
the Don Valley, close to the original site of the House of Refuge.
The House of Refuge was one part of Mayor Wilson’s “treatment and rescue” plan, the
Don Jail and Industrial Farm, another.
Canadian folklorist Edith Fowke collected a song dating back at least to the 1890s that
begins, “On the banks of the Don there’s a dear little spot, A boarding house proper where you’ll
get your meals hot…”
But in the minds of most Don Jail prisoners, it likely wasn’t such a “dear little” spot.
Opened in 1864 on Broadview near the House of Refuge, it was intended as a “Palace for
Prisoners” — a progressive jail with an industrial farm where inmates could cultivate peas,
potatoes, and other crops, prisoners were to be rehabilitated and taught a trade. However, the
Don Jail soon earned the title of “Alcatraz.” Designed in the Renaissance Revival-style by
William Thomas for 300 prisoners, it later held up to 600. Two to three inmates sometimes
shared a 0.9 metre by 2.4 metres cell, sleeping in bunk-style hammocks. The spectacular half-
octagonal rotunda, with its glass floor and clerestory windows designed to allow sunlight to
stream in, was often the scene of brutal whippings. Thomas’ panopticon design, a series of cell
blocks radiating out from a central guard station, allowing the guards to watch all the cells
without the prisoners being aware, did nothing for the well-being of the inmates. Thirty-one men
were hanged there — many publicly. In fact, the first executions were ticketed events. Those
who weren’t able to get a ticket, climbed trees or sat on roofs to watch the spectacle.263
In the early years of Toronto’s prisons, the Irish consistently comprised thirty percent of
the prison population, likely because of massive immigration to York from Ireland. Between
1847 and 1848, when thousands of Irish came to Canada because of the potato famine, the Irish
accounted for sixty-nine percent of those arrested.264
In 1873, more than half the prisoners in the Don Jail had been incarcerated for being
drunk; the rest had been picked up for vagrancy and larceny. They were held from three to six
months and charged fines from $4.25 to $53.25. In 1877, again more than half had been charged
with being drunk, and the balance vagrancy or larceny, but the length of their imprisonment was
only around thirty days, and the fines were reduced from $4.25 to $8.00.
Virtually all of those prisoners were marked down in the register as being from the
“lower class.” The register also noted that almost one-quarter of the inmates “neither read nor
write,” more than half “read or write imperfectly” and the remainder “read only.” When a
prisoner was executed, it was common practice to dissect the prisoner’s brain to find out why he
or she committed the crime.265
The most famous inmate of the jail may have been the Irish writer, Brendan Behan, who
spent a night there in 1961; he had assaulted two Metro detectives who were summoned by hotel
management after Behan repeatedly demanded that a bottle be sent to his room. Behan had a
continual thirst for “drink,” and tended to use unsavoury language.266
The most notorious prisoners who ever stayed in the Don Jail were the members of the
Boyd Gang, who escaped from the jail twice. “Eddie” (Edwin Alonzo) Boyd, an accomplished
bank robber, used to jump up on bank counters waving his gun. People thought of him as a
“good” bad guy. He met up with three others in jail and they formed the Boyd Gang: Steve
Suchan, Lennie Jackson, and Willie Jackson (the latter two not related). Their second escape,
they sawed through the bars, tied bed sheets together and climbed down to the ground. Then
Suchard and Jackson robbed a bank on Kingston Road and in the process, shot a police officer,
Edmund Tong. After a long search, Lennie Jackson and Suchan were found in a barn on Leslie
Street and later hanged. Boyd was paroled in 1966.
In December 1962, Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas were the last prisoners to be hanged
in Canada, both in the Don Jail. Turpin, twenty-nine, was a petty thief who had shot Frederick
Nash, a police officer, and Lucas, fifty-four, was a career criminal and pimp from Detroit who
had killed two people who were to be witnesses in a drug trial. Lucas confessed (he was caught
red-handed), but Turpin always maintained his innocence, “but I did some other things in my
life,” he said and didn’t object to the penalty.267 [IMAGE 9-5]
A number of artists and authors have used the jail as their theme, such as Morley
Callaghan whose second novel, It’s Never Over, written in 1930, was set on Broadview Avenue
and features a character facing the death penalty in the Don Jail. Artist Carl Schaefer, from Bain
Avenue, painted a night picture of the jail.
In Vern McAree’s reminiscences about his boyhood days playing in the Don Flats near
the Don Jail, he recalls men taking kegs of beer to the flats where they would spend two or three
days drinking and “frequently some prostitute, emerging [from the Jail] after having served her
thirty days, would find herself surrounded by an amorous escort and would disappear for
purposes even small boys … could guess only too well.”268
The Don Jail is now closed. The renovated and restored first section contains the
administrative offices of the new Bridgepoint facility. [IMAGES 9-6, 9-7, 9-8, 9-9, 9-10]
Brooklyn Avenue — Named for the brook that ran through John Russell’s fifty-five acre
brickyard, one of the largest in Canada. The brook is now buried.269
Browning Avenue — Possibly for United Empire Loyalist John Browning from
Maryland. With his wife Louisa, he was awarded £10,000 as compensation for their losses in the
American Revolution. Or for the Rev. Arthur Browning who died in Toronto in 1904. He had
served as a missionary in British Columbia. A number of Browning families lived in the area:
Albert William Browning who married Fanny Hodgson in Toronto in 1884 and had two children,
Harry and Olive; J.A. Browning of Lot Street who married Jane Adair in 1841; James Browning
who was on the Board of Managers of North Broadview Presbyterian Church in 1890 at least. Or
for the English poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, as has been suggested.270
Brydale Avenue — An English name, possibly for immigrants from England.
Bushell Avenue — Named for the contractor Edmund Bushell, who died in the First
World War, or for the Rev. John Bushell, Anglican minister.271
Busy Street — Named perhaps because it was a very busy street. Stables for horses lined
the north side of the street.272 [IMAGE 9-11]
Butternut Street — Named for the butternut grove in the rear of the Playter farm.273
Byron Avenue — Commemorates the English poet, Lord Byron.
Caithness Avenue — Likely for Caithness, Scotland. In June 1842, 234 emigrants sailed
for Canada on the 600-ton Joseph Green; eighty-one were from Caithness.274
Cambridge Avenue — Named for Cambridge, England. Workers’ cottages, prime
examples of the Ontario vernacular style of architecture, still exist from 138–46 Cambridge
Avenue. A long row is rare today. Originally the street was called Sarah Street after one of
George Henry Playter’s daughters.275
Canning Avenue — Named possibly for the Canning family whose members emigrated
to Canada in the mid-1800s.
Carlaw Avenue — Named for Major John Anderson Carlaw, cashier (comptroller) of the
Grand Trunk Railway for more than thirty years, property owner and major in the Railway’s own
military force, which was set up to defend its extensive holdings. His mother was Isabella Bain
from Scotland, possibly connected to the Bain families in Toronto. John owned property near the
Leslies and when he subdivided his property, he ran a north-south street through it, naming it
Carlaw Avenue. The parents of the great operatic singer Teresa Stratas lived on Carlaw Avenue,
although her father had a coffee shop at Bay Street north of Dundas.276
Caroline Avenue — Likely for Caroline, Princess of Wales, later Queen of George IV,
or for Caroline Davis, who married George Leslie.277
Carroll Street for Dr. James Carroll, alderman for St. Matthew’s Ward, 1884, brother of
Rev. Dr. John Saltkill Carroll, the well-known author and Methodist preacher, the youngest son
in the family, one of twins. While John Carroll decried his lack of education as a child, having to
quit at age nine after poor schooling, Dr. James Carroll went to excellent schools. John and three
siblings were sent to a teacher (Mrs. Glennon) who lived in the other half of their house, and who
“was totally without skill or authority to govern a school.”278 The street was formerly called High
Street, then Steiner Street, Thompson Street, and Matilda Street.279
Cavell Avenue — Was formerly called Dresden Street. Edith Cavell, a British nurse
celebrated for helping about 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during
World War I was arrested, charged with treason, and executed. She became an international
hero; the Germans were seen as monsters.280
Chatham Avenue — Possibly for William Pitt, prime minster of England, the 1st Earl of
Chatham, or for the town of Chatham in England.
Chester Avenue and Chester Hill Road — Named for the village of Chester. In 1873,
the City of Toronto Directory listed thirty-five people living in the suburban village of Chester
near Broadview and Danforth. All but one, Rev. Wm. Strong, MA, were blue collar, semi-skilled
or skilled workers. At the same time in 1873, only seventeen people were listed as living in
nearby Todmorden. While only a portion of suburban inhabitants were listed in the Directories,
it does signify that Chester had grown to be a much larger community than Todmorden. In 1890,
Chester and Todmorden had applied for annexation to Toronto but it was denied, as the two
villages together were short of the 750 people required. In 1892, the Directory listed 178 people
at Chester; the area would not be annexed until seventeen years later.281
It is thought that Chester was named after the English village of Chester by James
Beaven, the English Anglican minister, although there were a number of families named Chester
in Toronto. John Chester was listed on a roll of loyalists before 1776; George Chester, Isaac
Chester and Thomas Chester were listed on militia rolls in 1828–29. William Chester lived in
Ontario in 1856.282 The Playters, who gave parcels of land for the village, had lived in
Chesterfield Township in New Jersey. Sotterley in England, the location of the Playters’
ancestral home, was part of the estate of Earl Hugh of Chester. The Axon family, who lived in
Chester, originally came from the village of Chester in England.
Newspaperman Mike Filey wrote: “Nestled in the northern outskirts of Toronto in 1910
were several small rural neighbourhoods that dawdled along in semi-isolation, known at various
times as Doncaster or Chester and collectively as the Danforth after the sandy main drag that
turned to gumbo after a downpour …”283
In 1910, the year after Chester was annexed to the City of Toronto, the City Directory
still listed Chester as a suburban area but with people living at addresses all along the Danforth,
and arterial side streets, including Pape, Logan, Ferrier, Fulton, Carlaw, Ellerbeck and Langley.
Mayor Ernest A. Macdonald promoted Chester village. Born in New York State, he was
called the “Baron of Chester” because of his real estate developments in the northeast end of the
city, and the “Baron of Bellamy” because of a real estate development ten miles east of the Don
River near the Grand Trunk Railway line on the lakefront. “In the district over the Don known as
Chester,” in what is now Riverdale, [Macdonald] opened up miles of streets through market
gardens, had them paved and ‘sewered,’ and in many places erected expensive houses. But when
the boom burst, his scheme “fell to the ground.” He made and lost a fortune in real estate,
estimated in today’s dollars as $200,000,000. He created St. Matthew’s Ward and was
instrumental in having streetcars on Broadview.284
Macdonald claimed that “no intelligent citizen would establish a home in a community
where no church was readily accessible,” so he began North Broadview Presbyterian Church at
his own expense. There weren’t enough members to pay a minister, so students would preach on
Sunday and were nicknamed “Bishop of Chester.” By 1911, however, church finances were
sound enough to build a new church at Broadview and Dearbourne. MacDonald kept financing
the church, liquidating its debts.285
The church never had a large congregation. By 1921, there were only 348 members,
although they had budgeted $3,300 for the minister’s salary that year, equivalent to $43,000
Macdonald was a Toronto alderman for five years and, in 1900, became mayor for one
year. He called his predecessors “overrated men” who had “maladministered the city over the
last few years.” During his first term as alderman, Macdonald went to jail rather than answer a
judge’s question about the ownership of a cow. He began a weekly journal, The Factor, in order
to promote an aqueduct from Georgian Bay to Toronto. He was defeated twice for mayor by
John Shaw, an Orangeman. Macdonald suffered from “nervous prostration” and died from
syphilis. He was survived by a son in the Mounted Police in South Africa.286
Clark Street — Named for Edward Frederick Clarke, mayor from 1888–91; MPP from
1886–94; MP from 1896–1905; Orangeman from Ireland; and journalist. Clarke married
Charlotte Elizabeth Scott. It was said that he attracted women voters because he used women
canvassers during elections.287
Coady Avenue — Named for the Coady family that worked in local market gardens and
brickyards.288
Colgate Avenue — Named for the Colgate Palmolive company located there. The street
was formerly Natalie Street, but the company requested a change. William Colgate was an
American manufacturer who organized Bible societies and gave money to Colgate University.289
Commissioners Street — Named for the first five Toronto Harbour Commissioners in
1911, L.H. Clarke, T.L. Church, R.S. Gourlay, R.H. Smith and F.S. Spence, responsible for
filling in the mouth of the Don River and re-routing it into the Keating Channel, consequently
destroying the marsh.290
Condor Avenue — Possibly for the Condor families in the area who emigrated from
England.
Cruikshank Avenue — Possibly for Scottish settlers in the area.
Cummings Street — Formerly called Grover, possibly for Thomas Cumming, grocer.291
Curzon Street — Named for the London street of the same name; or for George
Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, British foreign secretary; or for Sarah
Anne Vincent Curzon: see under “Women in Riverdale.”292
