St. Clair Avenue - Name

Name

St. Clair Avenue takes its name from Augustine St. Clare, a character from the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Grainger family who rented a farm near the present-day intersection of Avenue Road and St. Clair. After viewing a stage production of Uncle Tom's Cabin, two members of the family, Albert and Edwin, adopted names of two characters as their middle names as each boy had no given middle name. Edwin added Norton to his name, and Albert chose St. Clare, although he used the incorrect spelling of St. Clair, as it was used in the theatre program. (Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River also use the incorrect spelling) As a joke, Edwin and Albert made street signs using their names and posted them at Yonge and St. Clair. The St. Clair sign survived for a while and the name became adopted as the name for the 3rd Concession Road. The first known printed use of the St. Clair name was in an 1878 publication, Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of York.

In 1913, the first Roman Catholic church in the area was built, and named after the actual Saint Clare. St. Clare's Church is at 1118 St. Clair Avenue West, on the north side of the street, east of Dufferin. The parish opened the St. Clare's Catholic School, an elementary school, next door in 1916.