Archives of Ontario Humber River photos, 1940s-1950s

[Lone Primate]

I had the opportunity in November, 2019, to take a few casual shots on my cell of some photos about to go into long term storage for preservation.

The references to Don Mills Road in the shots below are a little confusing. From what I understand, that was an earlier way of referring to what eventually was officially called Woodbine Avenue... before Woodbine itself disappeared under the Don Valley Parkway south of Sheppard by 1965 or so, and under Hwy 404 north to Steeles around 1977. The Don Mills Road that we all know and love today used to end at York Mills (and so did Woodbine, effectively, since it was a dead end south of that); with the half-mile jog between them, they'd get you from Markham all the way to East York.

I've long been fascinated by the old configuration of Lawrence at the East Don. These are some of the first real shots I've ever seen of what all that looked like prior to its complete reconstruction in the mid-60s. In this shot, I believe that's the Milne House you can see down there at the centre left.

Correct me if I'm wrong, folks, but if I'm not mistaken, what you're seeing below is Sugarloaf Hill, which was removed during the construction of the Don Valley Parkway.

This below is Todmorden Mills now, of course.

This one puzzles me. Dawes Road and Lawrence Avenue? I thought Dawes Road started just south of St. Clair. Did it ever extend further north?

 

[Lone Primate]

Seems to have been a thing in the 50s. Viewers might miss it if you don't actually point at it. "Oh, yeah... thanks, kid!"

The shots below are of the approach to the Donalda Farm. I don't know much about it, despite living walking distance from it, but it certainly looked beautiful. It's the golf course south of York Mills now or something, isn't it?

I've looked at aerials of Lawrence at the East Don from Google Maps and the City Archives and I still can't for the life of me tell which way we're looking or quite where this was. Anyone have any idea?

 

[Lone Primate]

Took me a while to figure this out but I believe from the attribution and the shadow cues that what we're looking at here is now roughly analogous to this.

 

[Lone Primate]

And this was how you used to cross the East Don on Lawrence Avenue. Today, of course, the DVP roars by just on the right there, and the left abutment of this bridge fell into the river in the mid-2000s.

Does anyone have any idea where this, below, might be? There doesn't seem to be Concession 1, Lot 21 in Vaughan, or anyplace north of Steeles Avenue, as far as I can tell; but I'm no expert. Maybe one of you is...?

 

[Lone Primate]

 

[Lone Primate]

The following few shots show where the quarry south of John Street used to be. Just off in the distance a little is where Leslie Street would have connected with John Street if it came this far north, but it dead ends just a little south of here and a little north of Steeles. I'm not really sure why.

 

[Lone Primate]

 

[Lone Primate]

Below: ohhhh boy. And to think, there are people in that crowd down there who are still alive today. It's hard to believe this was seen as fairly innocuous within living memory. The 60s sure changed things.

 

[Lone Primate]

The following photos are mostly shots of the devastation caused by Hurricane Hazel. Quite apart from how awesome the damage to the surrounding areas was, I think it also really drives home just how effective the hurricane was at bisecting the Toronto area east and west along the Humber. There aren't many bridges in these shots that would have been able to get people and commerce back and forth, and winter was coming.

 

[Lone Primate]

The 401 was still under construction in the west end when Hurricane Hazel hit, and no one ever got to use this bridge carrying the highway over the Humber in the vicinity of Weston Road. As I recall reading, it had to be completely demolished and rebuilt from scratch. Imagine the force of the water it took to cause the scour that collapsed these plinths. Thank God the highway wasn't open at the time. With a traffic load, it's just possible the bridge might have actually fallen into the river, taking everyone on it and approaching it with it...

The bridge below was one of the few on the lower Humber that survived the hurricane, and it's still there. It's been closed to vehicular traffic for a long time now, but it's still in use as a pedestrian crossing. I've been to it; it's quite nice. Very peaceful little area, especially on the east side of the river. The palatial estate up the hill on the west side is long gone, though, unfortunately.

This below shows Islington Avenue running across the imagine, and Finch Avenue dead-ending at it, which it did all the way to the early 1990s, believe it or not. At the bottom right you can see the avenue leading up to a children's hospital; it would also connect you, by a circuitous route, to Albion Road (which, at the time, Finch Avenue didn't). That avenue still exists north of Finch, although it's not connected to the road and it's essentially abandoned and returning to nature... at least, it was when I was there about ten years ago.

Old Dundas Street bridge in the centre right, below, got the chop as a result of the damage to it inflicted by the hurricane. What a real shame. It would have made a wonderful pedestrian crossing; or maybe even for local traffic if it had been kept in good condition.

 

[Lone Primate]

If I'm not mistaken, I believe the next few shots show the bridge that used to be on what's now called Flindon Road, but was called the Albion Road bridge at the time. This crossing is a little ways north of what we'd now consider Albion Road, and was replaced by a bridge that has since itself been replaced by another bridge. This bridge no longer exists; it was taken down in the 60s; the area has far more tree coverage now and only the east abutment is still visible.

 

[Lone Primate]

 

[TRONto]

Great set of pictures. Thanks for posting

 

[Lone Primate]

Great set of pictures. Thanks for posting

Oh, thanks, TorPronto. I've been sitting on these since November and finally decided to process them and put them up. Thank heavens you can put them up in batches of 15! If I'd known that before, I'd have done this a lot sooner. I hope everyone gets the same sense of wonder in the near-lost-past that these images give me.

 

[adma]

View attachment 260301

One thing I find interesting there is that it looks like there was once a fairly large apartment building NE of the high level Bloor bridge across the Humber--removed, presumably, for the Bloor line's Humber crossing in the 1960s...