New Toronto

New Toronto
—  Neighbourhood  —
Old Post Office 2930 Lake Shore Boulevard West at Islington Avenue
Motto: Intelligence, Industry, Integrity
Location within Toronto
Coordinates: 43°36′02″N 79°30′19″W / 43.60056°N 79.50528°W / 43.60056; -79.50528Coordinates: 43°36′02″N 79°30′19″W / 43.60056°N 79.50528°W / 43.60056; -79.50528
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
City	Toronto
Community	Etobicoke-York
Established	1890 (Subdivision) 1892 (Postal village)
Incorporated	1913 (Village) 1920 (Town)
Changed Municipality	1954 Metropolitan Toronto 1998 Toronto from Etobicoke
Annexed	1967 into Etobicoke
Government
- MP	Bernard Trottier (Etobicoke-Lakeshore)
- MPP	Laurel Broten (Etobicoke-Lakeshore)
- Councillor	Mark Grimes (Ward 6 Etobicoke-Lakeshore)

The historic Town of New Toronto is a neighbourhood in the south-west end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the south-centre of the former Township (and later, City) of Etobicoke and was an independent municipality from 1913 to 1967, one of the former 'Lakeshore Municipalities'. New Toronto is bounded by Lake Ontario to the south, with a western boundary of Twenty-Third Street (south of Lake Shore Blvd. West) and the mid-point between Twenty-Second and Twenty-Fourth Streets (north of Lake Shore Blvd. West), the Canadian National Railways mainline to the north, and Dwight Avenue to the east.

Neighbouring communities consist of the Town of Mimico to the east, and the Village of Long Branch to the west.

Character

Gatehouse and main entrance to former Mimico Lunatic Asylum Grounds

This neighbourhood is centred around the intersection of Seventh Street/ Islington Avenue and Lake Shore Boulevard West with a commercial strip running east-west along the latter street. Residential streets generally run north-south from Lake Ontario north to Birmingham Street, except for the Lakeshore Grounds (formerly the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital) to the southwest which extends from Lake Shore Blvd. West south to the Lake. North of Birmingham Street has traditionally been a large industrial district, although a number of industries moved or closed in the period from 1987 to the early 1990s.

McDonald Stamping Works (built 1890) on Islington Ave.

New Toronto is now a neighbourhood in transition, as the industrial corridor located at the north end of the community is being redeveloped after having been vacant and fallow for many years. Industry that gradually moved out of New Toronto over the years is now being re-established, in addition to institutional uses. New Toronto also has a high senior citizen population.

The area contains a large amount of government-assisted housing between 9th and 13th Streets, north of Lake Shore Blvd. West, built by The Daniels Corp. developers, on the former Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company site.

Bay-and-gable houses (renovated) in New Toronto

In September 2009, the new Toronto Police College training facility opened at 70 Birmingham St., and also houses a 22 Division Police Substation. This is the site of the former Continental Can Company of Canada Ltd. New Toronto Plant.

The Lakeshore Campus of Humber College is located on the former grounds of the Mimico Lunatic Asylum (later the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital), at the foot of Kipling Avenue.

New Toronto's high school, now called Lakeshore Collegiate Institute, was originally built and operated as New Toronto Secondary School with first classes beginning in 1950. It is located on the northwest corner of Kipling Avenue and Birmingham Street.

In 1890, new streets for New Toronto were laid out in several series, essentially without names by simply using ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.). When the streets were laid out along Lake Shore Road (now Lake Shore Blvd. West), they had a single new starting point. The second numbering system began with First Street being one half block west of Dwight Ave (the boundary street between Mimico and New Toronto) and continuing westward. Originally named Mimico Avenue, what is now Kipling Ave. would also be named 18th Street more than once. The number naming convention was later applied to streets further west of New Toronto in the Village of Long Branch when theirs were renamed in 1931, continuing up to Forty-Third Street today (the section of Forty-Third Street in what is now Marie Curtis Park, and Island Road, were washed out during Hurricane Hazel).

History

Mimico; Goad's 1890 Plan (western part)

Beginnings

The largest farming families in what would become New Toronto were the Northcote family to the east around where Seventh Street/Islington Avenue meets Lake Shore Blvd. West today, and the Goldthorpe family to the west at Mimico Avenue (now Kipling Avenue) where the Mimico Lunatic Asylum was later built.^[1][2] In 1888, a farm south of the Lake Shore Road and east of Mimico Avenue (Kipling Avenue) which had been purchased by the Ontario Government, was used to create the Mimico Lunatic Asylum (alleviating overcrowding at Toronto's Asylum on Queen Street West - now the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health). In 1890 a plan of subdivision was filed by a group of industrialists and the first streets laid out in what is now New Toronto by the Mimico Real Estate Security Company.^[3] With the first industries in New Toronto already operating, or to be operational by the end of 1890, New Toronto was promoted with the publication of an article in the October 25th, 1890 edition of the Toronto Globe newspaper (now the Globe & Mail) entitled "Toronto's Growing Suburb - New Toronto - As it is and what it will be".^[4] New Toronto, as an industrial centre "was expected to rival - if not exceed - 'old' Toronto in manufacturing output". A few workers homes were built on early streets north of Lake Shore Road while Mimico's planned development proceeded slowly.

John Shean's Hotel (later, The New Toronto Hotel and the Almont Hotel) was located across from the Asylum grounds at Mimico Avenue (Kipling Ave.) and The Lake Shore Road (now Lake Shore Blvd West). In 1892 a Post Office was established in New Toronto. The next year, the pastor of Mimico's Methodist Church began holding separate services in New Toronto establishing a church building as a branch of Mimico's new Methodist Circuit in 1909.^[5]

The Mimico Yards (The Grand Trunk Railway freight yards) were established in 1906 in what was already a Postal Village, encouraging many more industries to relocate to New Toronto. The same year a Public School was established on Sixth Street. A proper school house was opened in 1909 on Fifth Street (Fifth Street Public School).^[6] By 1911 an Anglican church had been completed in New Toronto called St. Margaret's.

Growth

Fire Insurance Map showing New Toronto (south-east) 1911, 1926 Rev

In 1913, New Toronto was incorporated as a separate village, with a population of 500. In 1915 the Methodist church became a separate Methodist Parish from Mimico. 1916 saw a referendum on joining New Toronto to Mimico which passed in Mimico but was defeated by New Toronto residents.

With the First World War raging, new industries arrived in New Toronto - most notably The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company established a plant in New Toronto in 1916-17 that quickly became the town's largest employer. Other major industries included: Canadian Industries Limited (1915), Anaconda American Brass Company of Canada (1922, after taking over the operations of Browns Copper & Brass Rolling Mills Ltd., 1915), W & A Gilbey Ltd. distillery (1933), and the Continental Can Company of Canada Ltd. (1936).

New Toronto became a town in 1920 and established a Library Association.^[7] In 1924 a St. Teresa's Catholic Church was created in New Toronto out of Mimico's St. Leo's Catholic Church.

By 1927 a new school was needed and the Seventh Street Public school was opened.^[8]

With the creation of the United Church of Canada after the union of the Methodist, Congregational and Presbyterian Churches, the New Toronto Methodist Church opened a new Church building, the first to be built specifically as a United Church, called the Century United Church.

In 1929 an Italianate style building was built for a New Toronto Fire Station and was also used as the Town Hall for a time, it is still a Fire Station today.^[9] At the same time, the new mayor William Jackson donated land for a Public Library Building, Jackson would go on to be mayor almost continuously until 1952, he also served as Warden of York County (leader of the Regional Government).^[10] In 1930, the Campbell Soup Company Ltd. had arrived in New Toronto.^[11] In 1947 the Fifth Street Public School burned down and was replaced with the new Second Street Public School.^[12]

To serve the large local population of Ukrainians who had settled in New Toronto over the years, St. Michaels Ukrainian Catholic Church was built in 1954 on Sixth Street (just north of St. Margaret's Anglican Church).

Deindustrialisation

Former New Toronto Hydro Substation (1919)

In 1953 with urbanisation spreading north from the Lake Shore municipalities (Mimico, New Toronto, Long Branch) into Etobicoke Township, these municipalities were separated from York County along with the other municipalities south of Steeles Ave to create a new 'urban' region: Metropolitan Toronto.

Growing freight traffic in the Toronto area necessitated the creation of an amalgamated facility and a by-pass of the congested Toronto Terminal downtown. A modern hump yard in Maple, first named Toronto Yard and then MacMillan Yard, the freight by-pass opened in 1965 at which time Mimico was downgraded considerably, resulting in the loss of much employment. At the same time the Toronto By-Pass line allowed for the creation of GO Transit commuter train line between Oakville and Pickering. GO named its facility Willowbrook, after the nearby Willowbrook Road. Old CNR facilities in Mimico Yard were used for the startup of this trial train service. Its subsequent growth has resulted in new facilities being built for GO. In 1967 New Toronto was amalgamated with the other Lake Shore municipalities (Mimico and Long Branch) back into Etobicoke to create the Borough of Etobicoke. In 1984 Etobicoke became a city. In 1985, Via Rail facilities at Spadina Avenue were relocated from downtown Toronto to New Toronto's underused former Mimico Yards at the newly completed Toronto Maintenance Centre (which would have its major operations moved to Quebec just a few years later).

In May 1987, Goodyear Canada Inc., which was the largest employer in New Toronto, shut down its plant^[13] contributing to a general loss of employment in the area. While many Ukrainian and Polish immigrants traditionally lived in New Toronto and surrounding communities beginning early in the 20th Century, more arrived after the Communist Bloc collapsed in 1989. By the mid-1970s the population aged as many younger people moved further west to Mississauga and other new suburbs where large houses were being built. At this time the former Century United Church closed to be replaced with a mosque. New Toronto's Library was demolished in 1993 to be replaced with a new building.^[14] In 1998 Etobicoke was joined with the other municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto and the Metropolitan government itself to form the new City of Toronto. Recent attempts to rejuvenate New Toronto include the protection of remaining industrial lands (for employment) and the old Mimico Lunatic Asylum buildings and grounds with the establishment of Humber College's Lake Shore campus and the Lakeshore Grounds, as well as the construction of the new Lakeshore Lions Arena on the former W & A Gilbey ditillery site.

Notable residents

Former New Toronto Town Hall (now LAMP)

Mayors^[15]

• George Ironside (1913–1917) (Reeve)
• Charles Lovejoy (1917–1922) Mayor from 1920
• S. Tucker (1922)
• George Janes (1923–1926)
• George Warner (1926–1929)
• William Jackson (1929–1937, 1938–1952)
• S. Douglas (1937)
• E. Grant (1952–1954)
• J. Strath (1954)
• Don Russell (1955–1967)^[16]

Schools

• Humber College (Lakeshore Campus)
• Lakeshore Collegiate Institute, originally New Toronto Secondary School
• Father John Redmond Catholic Secondary School
• Second Street Junior Middle School is a public elementary school located on the southwest corner of the Toronto District School Board a few blocks east of the intersection of Seventh Street/ Lake Shore Boulevard West and Islington Avenue. The original school was built in 1949 and a large second storey wheelchair accessible addition was built in 1996 where the previous single-storey wing existed. The School was built because Fifth Street School had burnt down and the students needed a new school. The Fifth Street School became the New Toronto Town Hall, then Metro Police 21 Division station, and then became the Lakeshore Area Multiservices Project (LAMP) in 1973. The City of Toronto is the owner of the building now.
• Seventh Street Junior School is a public elementary school on Seventh Street. The original school opened in 1922. In 1989, a new school was built on the school yard and the old building was then demolished.
• Twentieth Street Junior School is a public elementary school on the corner of Lake Shore Boulevard and Twentieth Street. There has been a school on this site serving the New Toronto community since 1920. In 1993, the original building and its additions were demolished and a new structure was constructed which opened in September 1994. The school is fully accessible and is close to a host of community recreation facilities such as Lakeshore Lions Arena and Gus Ryder Pool. Twentieth Street Junior School is a short walk from Lake Ontario.
• St. Teresa Catholic Elementary School is a school on Tenth Street. Although St. Teresa Roman Catholic Church, New Toronto is older than Christ the King Roman Catholic Church, Long Branch, Christ the King Catholic Elementary School, Long Branch was established 10 years before St. Teresa's and catholic children in New Toronto attended that school or the mother school for both St. Teresa's and Christ the King; St. Leo Catholic Elementary School, Mimico. St. Teresa's school was established in 1957 during a post war population boom in the, then independent, Town of New Toronto, including many families from was devastated catholic European countries, especially Poland. Since the amalgamation of New Toronto into Etobicoke in 1967 and Etobicoke into Toronto in 1997, St. Teresa has been challenged by the deindustrialisation of New Toronto which has led to an exodus of working families to newer suburbs. At the same time, St. Teresa, whose students originally attended Etobicoke's first catholic secondary schools, Michael Power (for boys) or St Joseph's (for girls) if able to pay, or the local public New Toronto Secondary School (now Lakeshore Collegiate Institute), has benefitted from the relocation of the daughter school of Michael Power-St. Joseph's, Father John Redmond Catholic Secondary School, established after the extension of catholic school funding to secondary schools in the 1980s, from the former Aldewoood Secondary School to a new building in New Toronto's large former Mimico Lunatic Asylum grounds.

Institutions

Italianate Fire Station

• New Toronto Town Hall (now LAMP)
• New Toronto Post Office^[17]
• New Toronto Fire Hall, 130 Eighth St
• New Toronto Library
• Almont Hotel^[18]
• Winston Spencer Churchill Legion Hall
• Mimico Railway Yards
• Mimico Lunatic Asylum (former) now a park accommodating: Humber College (Lake Shore Campus) & Fr. John Redmond Secondary Separate School
• Lakeshore Lions Arena

New Toronto always had a large industrial base including plants operated by: Ritchie and Ramsay Co. paper mills, Anaconda American Brass Ltd., Canadian Industries Ltd., Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. Ltd., Plibrico, Charis Ltd., W & A Gilbey Ltd., Continental Can Company of Canada Ltd. (all demolished), as well as the Campbell Soup Company of Canada Ltd. and Dominion Colour Corporation Ltd. (surviving), McDonald Stamping Works/Robert Menzie Wallpaper Co./Reg. N. Boxer Co./Canadian Wallpaper Manufacturers Ltd., Mel-O-Ripe Bananas (buildings survive).

Churches

Former Almont Hotel at Kipling and Lake Shore

• St. Margaret Anglican Church Founded 1911
• St. Teresa Roman Catholic Church Founded 1924
• St. Michaels Ukrainian Catholic Church (1954)
• Living Hope Baptist Church
• New Covenant Pentecostal Church
• Bosnian Mosque former site of Century United Church

Transportation

The Toronto Transit Commission's 501 Queen streetcar line, which runs along Lake Shore Boulevard, connects New Toronto to the downtown core. Though Mimico GO Station is nearby and GO Transit trains use track in the northern reaches of the neighbourhood, there is no active railway station in New Toronto. Two TTC bus lines serve the area. The 44 Kipling and the 110 Islington routes connect to the Bloor-Danforth subway to the north.

References

1. ^ Tremaines Atlas of the County of York, 1860
2. ^ Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of York 1878, Etobicoke Township
3. ^ Mimico, Etobicoke Township, York County, Province of Ontario, Chas. E. GOAD, 1890
4. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/Early%20History.htm
5. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/Religion.htm
6. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/Education.htm
7. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/New%20Toronto%20Public%20Library.htm
8. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/Seventh%20Street%20School.htm
9. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/New%20Toronto%20Fire%20Department.htm
10. ^ http://google.com/search?q=cache:GsO8pHynJ0QJ:www.newtorontohistorical.com/1937%2520New%2520Toronto%2520Souvenir%2520Booklet.pdf+William+Jackson+mayor+%22New+Toronto%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=ca&client=firefox-a
11. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/Campbells%20Soup.htm
12. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/Second%20Street.htm
13. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/Goodyear%20Tire.htm
14. ^ http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/hou_az_nt.jsp
15. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/Politics.htm
16. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/Residents.htm
17. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/New%20Toronto%20Post%20Office.htm
18. ^ http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/Almont%20Hotel.htm

• "Topographic Map sheet 30M12". Atlas of Canada. Natural Resources Canada. 2006-02-06. http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/topo/map/. Retrieved 2008-12-05. 

External links

• City of Toronto - New Toronto Neighbourhood Profile
• New Toronto Historical Society
• Asylum by the Lake
• New Toronto Street Re-naming History

• 

  Victorian Bay-and-gable house

• 

  Surviving Victorian house in New Toronto

• 

  Victorian house at New Toronto boundary with Long Branch

• 

  Residential redevelopment on former Goodyear Canada site

• 

  former Bell Telephone Company of Canada New Toronto Telephone Exchange

• 

  c1920 facade of the Reg. N. Boxer Wallpaper Company building on Birmingham Street