Rural Villages
Early 19th century Toronto was a town of a few thousand people. Most of the rest of the region that today makes up the city was rural farmland dotted with small villages. Some towns such as Norway, Ontario have disappeared leaving only a few traces, but many others, such as Malvern and Wexford have become well known neighbourhoods in the Toronto suburbs. On the main routes leaving the city, small inns and taverns were established, often around the toll booths that were placed on the early highways and these often developed into small towns. There were three main routes out of the city: Kingston Road leading to the east, Yonge Street going north, and Dundas Street heading west. Weston Road was another early route that saw some communities develop. A second type of town that developed in the hinterland surrounding early Toronto were small towns to support the farms that covered most of the region. These tended to develop at the intersection of two concession roads and were usually based around a post office or a small church.
| Village | Location | Founded | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agincourt | Brimley and Sheppard | post office 1858 | Farming town with a post office and general store |
| Armadale | Markham Road and Steeles | Settled c. 1805 post office 1869 | Originally known as Magdala |
| Bendale | Lawrence and McCowan | Settled 1799 post office 1878 | Originally known as Benlomond |
| Bedford Park | Yonge and Lawrence | Bedford Park Hotel opened 1873 | |
| Birch Cliff | Kingston and Birchmount | Post office 1908 | |
| Brockton | Dundas St W | Settled 1830s, incorporated 1876 | |
| Brown's Corners | Finch and Markham | Post office 1856 | Post office closed and moved to Malvern in 1865 |
| Chester | Danforth and Chester | 1850s | Also known as Doncaster, origin of the name of Chester subway station |
| Coleman’s Corners | Danforth and Dawes | 1877 | Named after Charles Coleman, firs postmaster of the post office established in 1877. Also known as Little York |
| Davisville | Yonge and Davisville | Post office 1840s | |
| Don Vale | Winchester and Don River | 1840s | Grew up around an inn by one of the main crossings of the Don |
| Downsview | Keele and Wilson | Settled 1842 | |
| Dublin | Sheppard and Dufferin | ||
| Eglinton | Yonge and Eglinton | 1800s | Also spelled as Eglington |
| Elia | Keele and Finch | Settled 1790s, Post office 1878 | |
| Ellesmere | Kennedy and Ellesmere | Post office 1853 | |
| Emery | Weston and Finch | Settled 1790s, post office 1879 | Also known as Dayton |
| Fairbanks | Dufferin and Eglinton | Settled 1834, post office 1874 | Also spelled as Fairbank |
| Flynntown | Leslie and Sheppard | ||
| Highland Creek | Kingston Road and Highland Creek | Settled 1802 | First community in Scarborough |
| Hillside | Finch and Meadowvale Road | School built 1847 | |
| Islington | Dundas and Islington | ||
| Kaiserville | Jane and Steeles | ||
| Lambton Mills | Humber and Dundas | Settled 1806 | Originally named Cooper's Mills |
| L'Amoreaux | Finch and Birchmount | Settled 1816 school built 1847 | |
| Lansing | Yonge and Sheppard | Settled 1798 post office 1866 | |
| Leaside | Millwood and McRae | Settled 1819 | |
| Leslieville | Queen and Leslie | 1850s | Grew up around an inn on what was then Kingston Road |
| Malvern | Sheppard and Markham Road | Post office 1865 | Originally known as Malcolm's Corners |
| Markland Wood | Bloor Street, Toronto's westernmost neighbourhood | 1960 | Originally known as Silverthorn Farm |
| Milneford Mills | Don River and Old Lawrence Road | 1830s | Demolished to make way for DVP |
| Milliken | Kennedy and Steeles | Post office 1859 | |
| Moffat's Corners | St. Clair and Victoria Park | 1863 | Post office established to serve rural area in 1863. Also known as Strangford |
| Mortlake | Midland and Kingston Rd | 1865 | Grew around the Halfway House Hotel |
| Newtonbrook | Yonge and Drewry | ||
| Norway | Woodbine and Kingston Road | c. 1835 | Toll gate and then a small sawmill built on main route east of town |
| Port Union | Lawrence and Port Union Road | Post office 1865 | |
| Rowntree Mills | Humber River south of Steeles | Settled 1840s | |
| Scarborough Village | Markham and Eglinton | Post office 1832 | First post office in Scarborough, and origin of the name for the entire township |
| Smithfield | Albion and Martingrove | ||
| Thistletown | Humber and Albion Rd | Also known as St. Andrew's and Coonats Corner | |
| Todmorden Mills | Greenwood and Don River | c. 1795 | Established around a lumber mill built to provide wood for the construction of York |
| Wexford | Lawrence and Pharmacy | School built 1847 | |
| Willowdale | Yonge and Sheppard | Settled 1797 | |
| Woburn | Markham and Old Danforth Road | Post office 1852 | Known as Elderslie until 1856 |
| York Mills | Yonge and York Mills | First mill built 1804 |
Read more about this topic: History Of Neighbourhoods In Toronto
Famous quotes containing the words rural and/or villages:
“Our rural village life was a purifying, uplifting influence that fortified us against the later impacts of urbanization; Church and State, because they were separated and friendly, had spiritual and ethical standards that were mutually enriching; freedom and discipline, individualism and collectivity, nature and nurture in their interaction promised an ever stronger democracy. I have no illusions that those simpler, happier days can be resurrected.”
—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)
“Ezra Pound still lives in a village and his world is a kind of village and people keep explaining things when they live in a village.... I have come not to mind if certain people live in villages and some of my friends still appear to live in villages and a village can be cozy as well as intuitive but must one really keep perpetually explaining and elucidating?”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)