Yonge and Eglinton

Yonge-Eglinton
Neighbourhood
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
City	Toronto

Home on west side of Yonge Street, south of Eglinton Avenue, 1921

Yonge Street looking south from Eglinton Avenue, 1963. The former Ontario Health Insurance Plan building, visible on the left side of the image, was demolished and is now the site of the Minto Midtown residential complex, completed in 2007.

Yonge and Eglinton, also known as Yonge-Eglinton, is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which was once a part of the old Town of North Toronto.

In recent years, its centralized location has spawned development, including a number of big-box retailers and tall, high density residential towers. Development has concentrated around the Eglinton subway station, and has resulted in a mixed-use neighbourhood with a mix of detached houses, townhouses, and high rises. The Eglinton–Scarborough Crosstown line is expected to further boost development.

The area is home to a variety of small retail stores, restaurants, larger stores, and a mall/movie theatre complex. Numerous public high schools dot the neighbourhood, including North Toronto Collegiate Institute, Northern Secondary, Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, several private schools, and the TCDSB (Catholic board) Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School and St. Monica's Catholic Elementary School. Public parks in the area include Eglinton Park, Oriole Park and the Belt Line Railway.

History

The neighbourhood was first settled by Europeans in the early nineteenth century, who founded the village named Eglinton. In 1837, the Confrontation at Montgomery's Tavern took place just north of the Yonge and Eglinton intersection.

During the early 19th century, the area was part of the largest cattle grazing region in Upper Canada (now the Southern region of Ontario). The region was the first in North America to extend the use of cowbells to all cattle. Prior to this, it had been standard practice for a cowbell to be attached to only the best and leading piece of livestock.^[1] To honour this proud and storied heritage, the City of Toronto named a local street "Cowbell Lane."^[2]

In 1884 the Metropolitan Street Railway connected the area to Toronto with a horse-drawn streetcar on Yonge Street to the village. Rapid housing development soon followed. As the population grew the area was incorporated in 1890 into the town of North Toronto. North Toronto and was then annexed to Toronto in 1912. In 1954 the subway station opened it was the northern end of the Yonge subway line, and remained so until 1973 when the line was extended north to York Mills.^[3] Expanded rapid transit is expected to arrive in about 2020 with the opening of the Crosstown line along Eglinton.

Business

A number of businesses call the area home, notably retailer Canadian Tire, whose home corporate head offices are located in the Canada Square office complex. Other organizations calling the area home include public broadcaster TVOntario and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario.

Many restaurants and businesses can be found in the area, including sushi, Thai food, Mexican food, and Italian food, among others. Several nightclubs are also located here.

References

1. "A Brief History of Toronto", Macleans Magazine, Dec. 1991, p43
2. "Naming of Public Lane Located East of Yonge Street Between Eglinton Avenue East and Soudan Avenue" (PDF). 2009-06-01. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
3. "The Toronto (TTC) Subway Turns Fifty: Subway Milestones - Expansion". 2008-07-14. Retrieved 2008-08-13.

External links

• City of Toronto - Yonge-Eglinton Neighbourhood Profile

Coordinates: 43°42′24″N 79°23′54″W / 43.706802°N 79.398271°W