Map from 1878

A neighbour provided us with a map of our area from 1878.

This view shows the area from Yonge Street to Bayview Avenue, with York Mills Road near the bottom:

• The strip along York Mills Road, both south of it, and north to include the lots on both the north and south sides of Munro Boulevard were owned by T. Hamilton Mercer.
• The area north of that, including the lots on both sides of Gordon Road north to the lots on both sides of Owen Boulevard were owned by Thomas Breen. Breen Crescent is now just to the north of that property.
• The area that became the St. Andrew's Golf Club, including the lots on both sides of Lower Links Road and Danville Drive up to Lord Seaton Road was owned by Thomas Botham. The driveway became The Links Road, and the house is near where the golf course's clubhouse was.
• Interestingly, Old Yonge Street is here a straight road, with a bend in it closer to where it joins Yonge Street. As can be seen in this current Google Earth image of the same area, Old Yonge Street north of St. John's Anglican Church was later moved to the east and curved, presumably to make room for the house lots along the top of the valley.
• The odd intersection of York Mills Road west of Bayview Avenue may have been because of the bridge which had to be built over the creek that used to run at the current intersection of York Mills Road and Bayview Avenue.
• The bridge over the valley (that later became highway 401) is not built yet, and there is still a river through the ravine where Knollwood Street and Toba Drive are now.
• Houses are shown as solid squares, an orchard is a matrix of dots, an asterisk is a church, and a wagon wheel is a mill. A driveway to a house is a pair of dashed lines.
• The building on Yonge Street which is just north of Mill Street is probably the Jolly Miller hotel, here is a photograph of it taken in 1967, with the Jolly Miller skating rink behind.

This view shows a larger area, from Bathurst Street to east of Bayview Avenue, and from just north of Lawrence Avenue to north of Sheppard Avenue.

• Note the Dempsey Brothers Store at the north-west corner of Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue.
• This 1934 photograph is a view looking west along Sheppard Avenue, with Yonge Street in the foregound, running north to the right. The Dempsey Brothers store is to the right.

This view shows a still larger area, from St. Clair Avenue (which didn't extend west of Yonge Street) at the bottom to Steeles Avenue at the very top, and from Bathurst Street to Victoria Park Avenue at the very right. Some observations:

• The main street slightly in from the right (which begins at a complicated intersection at Lawrence Avenue and runs north to Steeles Avenue, getting closer to the right side of the map) is Woodbine Avenue, which is now the Don Valley Parkway south of Steeles Avenue.
• Lawrence Avenue does connect to the east side of Bayview Avenue, but these are now private roads through Glendon College and Crestwood School.
• Don Mills Road does not continue north of York Mills Road.
• Leslie Street does not continue south of Lawrence Avenue East.
• A "PO" is a post office, and a "SCH" is a public school. The Zion Schoolhouse (which is still in its same location) can be seen on the south side of Finch Avenue East, just east of Leslie Street. Note that you can zoom in with the "+" icon above the map, and pan around using the hand symbol and dragging the map.