Today’s Toronto has an area of 641 square kilometres or 247 square miles and encompasses many historic communities. Many survive as neighbourhoods, others as street names, and some only in history books and archives. The place names listed below may describe the residence of your ancestor or places he or she visited. This list is intended to guide you to the jurisdictions that may have created records, and to other Internet sources of information about the place. Please contact us if you come across other communities, or sources that might be useful for researchers.
| Agincourt: a community near Sheppard Avenue and Midland Avenue in Scarborough named in 1858 when it was granted a post office. See: Scarborough Historical Society. |
| Annex: part of York Township from about Avenue Road to Christie Street, from Bloor Street to Dupont Street, annexed to Toronto in the 1880s and 1890s. See: The Annex Residents Association |
| Armadale: a post office hamlet at Steeles Avenue and Markham Road on the north boundary of Scarborough, originally named Magdalla. See: Scarborough Historical Society. |
| Baby Point: a scenic residential area developed in 1912 on a bend of the Humber River in the west part of York Township, named for early French settler James Baby. See: Baby Point Heritage Foundation. |
| Balmy Beach: a community in the south east part of York Township annexed to Toronto in 1909. |
| Beach(es): a residential, retail and recreational area in east Toronto including Balmy, Kew, and Woodbine beaches. See: Beach and East Toronto Historical Society |
| Bedford Park: a community on Yonge Street at Lawrence Avenue in York Township that was amalgamated with Eglinton and Davisville and incorporated as North Toronto in 1890. See: Bedford Park: Story of a Community. |
| Bendale: a community that grew around the 1799 Thomson Settlement near Lawrence Avenue and McCowan Road in Scarborough; the name was changed from Benlomond to Bendale in 1881. See: Scarborough Historical Society. |
| Benlomond: an early name for Bendale |
| Berkeley: an area in York Township also known as Norway |
| Big Creek Bridge: an early name for York Mills |
| Birch Cliff: a scenic residential area near Kingston Road and Birchmount Avenue in Scarborough dating from 1895 when the Toronto Hunt Club moved to the area. See: Scarborough Historical Society. Click here for a short history of St. Nicholas, Birch Cliff. |
| Blue Hill: the once steep descent and rise of Yonge Street through the ravine north of Davenport Road, so named for the treacherous blue clay |
| Bracondale: a community at St. Clair Avenue and Bathurst Street in York Township annexed to Toronto in 1909, named for the home of the Turner family. See: Lost Rivers. |
| Brockton: a village in the west part of York Township incorporated in 1880, annexed to Toronto in 1884. See: Lost Rivers |
| Brown’s Corners: a community at Finch Avenue and Markham Road in Scarborough |
| Cabbagetown: originally a colloquial name for the poor residential area of Toronto east of Parliament Street and south of Gerrard Street—but now used for a prestigious residential area north east of Parliament and Gerrard. See: http://www.cabbagetownpa.ca/, http://www.cabbagetownpeople.ca/index.html and http://www.crpmuseum.com/index.php |
| Carlton: see Carlton West |
| Carlton West: a village, and a station on the Grand Trunk Railway on Old Weston Road in York Township, annexed to West Toronto Junction in 1888 |
| Carronbrook: an early name for the Dublin post office |
| Cedarvale: a residential area bordered by Eglinton Avenue West, Bathurst Street and Vaughan Road in York Township, laid out in 1912 by Sir Henry Pellatt, around the Cedarvale Ravine. See: http://www.torontoneighbourhoods.net/regions/york/147.html |
| Centre Island: see Toronto Islands |
| Chester: a hamlet near Broadview and Danforth in York Township |
| Clairville: a hamlet near Albion Road and Steeles Avenue in Etobicoke |
| Cliffside: a neighbourhood on the lakeshore east of Kennedy Road in Scarborough, formerly called Mortlake |
| Coleman’s Corners: a community near Dawes Road and Danforth Avenue in York Township |
| Coonat’s Corners: an early name for Thistletown |
| Corktown: a colloquial name for the largely Irish residential area near King Street and Parliament Street in Toronto. Also used for the West Hill area in Scarborough. |
| Cummer’s Settlement: see Willowdale. |
| Danforth, The: a name for the retail and residential community on and adjacent to Danforth Avenue in Toronto |
| Danforth: a post office opened in 1859 in Scarborough |
| Davenport: a hamlet on Davenport Road in York Township that developed in the 1850s around a station of the Northern Railway, annexed to West Toronto Junction in 1888 |
| Davisville: a community on Yonge Street at Davisville Avenue in York Township, named for first postmaster John Davis who immigrated from Staffordshire in 1840 and operated Davisville Pottery |
| Dayton: an early name for the Emery post office |
| Deer Park: a community on Yonge Street at St. Clair Avenue in York Township |
| Don Mills: or just “Don”, an area in York Township named for the Don River east of the river to Victoria Park Avenue from Eglinton to York Mills Road; later a planned residential development built between 1952 and 1965 |
| Don Mount: a community on the Don River near Queen Street and Broadview Avenue in York Township |
| Doncaster: a community on the east bank of the Don River about half a mile south of Todmorden in York Township |
| Dovercourt: a subdivision in the west part of York Township annexed to Toronto in 1910, named for a home of the Denison family |
| Downsview: a large, mainly rural area in York Township named for John Perkins Bull’s farm, with approximate boundaries of Lawrence Avenue to Wilson Avenue, and Bathurst Street to Jane Street |
| Dublin: a crossroads village in York Township at Sheppard Avenue and Dufferin Street founded by William Duncan |
| Earlscourt: a community on St. Clair Avenue west of Dufferin Street in York Township annexed to Toronto in 1910 |
| East Toronto: an incorporated town in York Township, which was annexed to Toronto in 1908. |
| East York (Township, Borough): a mostly rural area severed from York Township in 1923. See: City of Toronto Archives and East York Historical Society |
| Eglinton: a community on Yonge Street north of today’s Eglinton Avenue in York Township |
| Elderslie: a post office established in 1852 on Markham Road between Lawrence Avenue and Ellesmere Road in Scarborough; the name was changed to Woburn in 1856 |
| Elia: an area in York Township north of Sheppard Avenue between Dufferin and Jane streets. Elia post office was at Finch Avenue And Keele Street. |
| Ellesmere: a community at Kennedy Road and Ellesmere Road in Scarborough where a post office was established in 1853 |
| Emery: a community centred at Finch Avenue and Weston Road in York Township. See Emery Village Business Improvement Area |
| Etobicoke (Township, Borough, City): an original township, surveyed in 1791, west of the Humber River. See: City of Toronto Archives and http://www.etobicokehistorical.com/ |
| Fairbank: a community in York Township near the intersection of Eglinton Avenue, Dufferin Street and Vaugan Road, named for Matthew Parson’s farm. See http://fairbank.gloamingheritage.com/ |
| Finch’s Corners: a post office on Yonge Street at Finch Avenue |
| Fisherville: a hamlet at Dufferin Street and Steeles Avenue on the north edge of York Township, overlapping into Vaughan Township |
| Flynntown: an area on Leslie Street north of Sheppard Avenue in York Township, named for early settler Martin Flynn |
| Forest Hill: a mostly upscale residential area severed from York Township in 1923 and annexed to Toronto in 1967 |
| Government Park: the area south of Queen Street between the Town of York and the Don River originally reserved for government use |
| Green Grove: see Thistletown |
| Grouse Hill: an early name for the Emery post office |
| Hanlan’s Point: see Toronto Islands |
| Heron’s Bridge: an early name for York Mills |
| High Park: the residential area in the west part of Toronto surrounding the large park donated to the city in 1873 and 1890 by influential civic engineer and architect John George Howard. See: City of Toronto Archives and http://www.highpark.org/ |
| Highfield: a post office village at Rexdale Blvd. and Highway 27 in Etobicoke. See: http://etobicokehistorical.com/ |
| Highland Creek: an early settlement near the Highland Creek and Kingston Road in Scarborough; the west part became West Hill in 1879 |
| Hillside: a small community on the Rouge River near Old Finch Avenue and Sewells Road in Scarborough |
| Hoggs Hollow: a small settlement named for the Hogg family in York Township on Yonge Street near York Mills Road |
| Hough’s Corners: an early name for Wexford |
| Humber: an early name for Weston |
| Humber Summit: a mill district on Islington Avenue between Finch and Steeles avenues in the north west corner of York Township |
| Humber Bay: a community in south Etobicoke between Mimico Creek and the Humber River. See http://humberbaysoldiers.blogspot.com/. |
| Island(s): see Toronto Islands |
| Islington: an early village on Dundas Street at Islington Avenue in Etobicoke. See: http://www.villageofislington.com/ |
| Junction: see West Toronto Junction |
| Kaiserville: a community, named for the Kaiser family, on Steeles Avenue at Jane Street on the north edge of York Township and overlapping into Vaughan Township |
| Kensington (Market): a residential and commercial area south west of College Street and Spadina Avenue in Toronto that became home to several waves of immigrant communities beginning with Jews in first decades of the 20th century. See Kensington Market Historical Society. |
| Kew Beach: a post office community on the lakeshore in the east part of Toronto. |
| L’Amoreaux: (or L’Amaroux) a community on the border of York Township and Scarborough at Finch Avenue, named for an early Huguenot settler |
| Lambton (Mills): a mill village and post office on Dundas Street on the Humber River, the boundary of York Township and Etobicoke |
| Lansing: a community on Yonge Street at Sheppard Avenue in York Township |
| Leaside: The Town of Leaside was incorporated in 1913 and merged with the Township of East York in 1967. It is located mostly south of Eglinton Ave East, east of Bayview, and north and east of the Don Valley Parkway. See: http://leaside100.ca/ and Leaside Life News |
| Leslieville: a community on Queen Street in the south east part of York Township annexed to Toronto in 1884 |
| Liberties of Toronto: the mainly undeveloped area within the boundaries of the City of Toronto when it was incorporated in 1834, but outside the “city limits”, which contained the developed and densely populated parts |
| Little Norway: an area on Toronto’s downtown lakeshore that was used by the Royal Norwegian Air Force as a training centre during the WWII. Flight training was based at the Island airport. See: http://www.emb-norway.ca/News_and_events/Historical-ties/Archive-WW2/littlenorway/history/ |
| Little York: a community on Kingston Road east of Norway where the Grand Trunk Railway established a freight yard |
| Long Branch: a community on the lakeshore of Etobicoke that began as a summer resort in 1886. See: Etobicoke Historical Society |
| Macaulaytown: a colloquial name for the residential area that developed on land that had belonged to Dr. Macaulay near Bay Street north of Queen Street in Toronto |
| Magdalla: see Armadale |
| Malcolm’s Corners: an early name for Malvern |
| Malvern: a crossroads village at Finch Avenue and Markham Road in Scarborough, named when it was granted a post office in 1856 |
| Metropolitan Toronto: an additional tier of government from 1953 to 1997 that concerned itself with issues of regional significance in Toronto, Etobicoke, York, East York, North York and Scarborough. See: City of Toronto Archives |
| Millford Mills: an early name for York Mills |
| Milliken: a rural community on Kennedy Road on the boundary between Scarborough and Markham, named for an early settler |
| Mimico: an early village near Mimico Creek in Etobicoke, incorporated as a town in 1917. The Toronto Public Library has digitized The Mimico Story by Harvey Currell. See: http://etobicokehistorical.com/ , http://mimicoestates.blogspot.com/, http://mimicosoldiers.blogspot.com/, and http://mimicohistory.blogspot.com/ |
| Moffat’s Corners: a crossroads village in Scarborough, served by the Strangford post office which opened in 1863 |
| Mortlake: see Cliffside |
| Mount Dennis: a community in York Township near Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue named for the Dennis family, early millers in the area |
| Newtonbrook: an early community on Yonge Street at Drewry Avenue near the north boundary of York Township |
| New Toronto: a village incorporated in 1913 on the shore of lake Ontario in Etobicoke, between Mimico and Long Branch. See: http://www.newtorontohistorical.com/ |
| Northmount: a post office near Newtonbrook |
| North Toronto: a town in Yonge Street in York Township, incorporated in 1890, which included the communities of Davisville, Eglinton and Bedford Park. It was annexed to Toronto in 1912. See:http://northtorontohistoricalsociety.org/ , and http://newtorontosoldiers.blogspot.com/ |
| North York (Township, Borough, City): a large portion of York Township that became a separate municipality in 1922. See: North York Historical Society, City of Toronto Archives |
| Norway, Little: see Little Norway |
| Norway: a community at Kingston Road and Woodbine Avenue in the east part of York Township, known for a time as Berkeley |
| Oakwood: a community centred on St. Clair Avenue, east of Dufferin Street in York Township |
| Oriole: a small mill community near Leslie Street and Sheppard Avenue in York Township |
| O’Sullivan’s Corners: a small community on the boundary of York Township and Scarborough, south of L’Amoreaux at Sheppard Avenue |
| Parkdale: a town incorporated 1878 in the west part of York Township, annexed to Toronto in 1889. See: http://www.parkdalevillagebia.com/history |
| Peninsula: prior to a storm in 1858 the Peninsula protected the York harbour. The storm opened the Eastern Gap near the mouth of the Don River and the Peninsula became the Toronto Islands |
| Regent Park: Canada’s largest and oldest publicly funded community, built more than 50 years ago, it was originally designed as a transitional community. The Regent Park area occupies the original site of Cabbagetown dating back to the 1820s. See the Cabbagetown/Regent Park Museum site at: http://www.crpmuseum.com/index.php |
| Richview: an agricultural community near Eglinton Avenue and Martin Grove Road in Etobicoke named for the post office opened in 1852 |
| Riverdale: a Toronto community east of the Don River, south of Danforth Avenue (see Riverside). See: http://riverdalehistoricalsociety.com/ |
| Riverside: an area of York Township east of the Don River annexed to Toronto in 1884, now called Riverdale |
| Rosedale: an early residential subdivision north east of Bloor Street and Yonge Street in York Township |
| St. Andrews: an early name for Thistletown |
| Scarborough (Township, Borough, City): an original township, surveyed in 1791 and named a few years later. See: City of Toronto Archives and http://www.scarboroughhistorical.com/ and http://www.beamccowan.com/notable.htm |
| Scarborough (village): an early crossroads village in Scarborough Township near Markham and Kingston Roads and Eglinton Avenue; a post office opened there in 1832 |
| Scarborough Junction: a village that developed around the stations of the Grand Trunk Railway and Toronto-Nippissing Railway near Kennedy Road and St. Clair Avenue in Scarborough |
| Seaton Village: a community west of Bathurst Street to about Manning Avenue between Bloor Street and Dupont Street in York Township, annexed to Toronto in 1888 |
| Silverthorn’s Mill: see Summerville |
| Smithfield: an early community at Albion Road and Martin Grove Road in Etobicoke |
| Strangford: a post office that operated from 1863 to 1873 at St. Clair Avenue and Victoria Park Avenue in Scarborough |
| Summerville: a small village on Dundas Street at Etobicoke Creek on the border of Etobicoke Township and Mississauga, known earlier as Silverthorn’s Mill. See: http://www5.mississauga.ca/library/history/Archives/summerville.htm |
| Sunnyside: a park on the lakeshore near Roncesvalles Avenue in Toronto, very popular from about 1890 to 1950, and the surrounding area. |
| Swansea: a community in York Township bounded by Grenadier Pond in High Park, the Humber River, Bloor Street and the lakeshore, incorporated as a village in 1926; annexed to Toronto in 1967. See: http://www.swansea.ca/ and http://www.swanseatownhall.ca/ |
| Thistletown: a hamlet on Albion Road in the Humber River valley in Etobicoke named for a local family; known earlier as Coonats Corners and St. Andrews |
| Todmorden: a village on the east side of the Don River that grew around the mills of the Skinner, Eastwood and Helliwell families; named for the English home of the Helliwells. See: http://pubhist.info.yorku.ca/institution/todmorden-mills-heritage-museum-and-arts-centre/ and http://todmordenandwalsden.co.uk/ |
| Toronto, City of: surrounded by York Township, the Town of York was renamed Toronto when it was incorporated in 1834. The city grew by annexing major portions of York Township and its incorporated municipalities, until in 1998 it became part of the much larger City of Toronto which amalgamated Etobicoke, York, North York, East York, Scarborough and Toronto. See: http://www.toronto.ca/archives/records_toronto.htm |
| Toronto Islands: a series of sandbar islands that protect the Toronto harbour. Originally a peninsula, severed from the mainland by a storm in 1858, the Islands have been augmented and stabilized from erosion, and now are mostly parkland with an airport, several yacht clubs, and limited residential development. See: http://torontoisland.org/ |
| Toronto Junction: see West Toronto Junction |
| Toronto, East: see East Toronto |
| Toronto Metropolitan: see Metropolitan Toronto |
| Toronto, North: see North Toronto |
| Ward, The: a colloquial name for the slum area that developed north west of Queen Street and Bay Street, known earlier as Macaulaytown |
| Ward’s Island: see Toronto Islands |
| West Hill: an area on the west side of Highland Creek at Kingston Road in Scarborough, that had been part of the community of Highland Creek until it was granted a post office in 1879 |
| West Toronto Junction: a town incorporated in York Township 1887, annexed to Toronto in 1909. See: http://www.wtjhs.ca/ |
| Weston: an early hamlet first known as “Humber” that became an incorporated town in York Township and Etobicoke. See: http://welcometoweston.ca/ |
| Wexford: a community dating from the 1840s near the junction of Lawrence Avenue and Pharmacy Avenue in Scarborough; known originally as Hough’s Corners |
| Willowdale: a community on Yonge Street in York Township, between Lansing and Newtonbrook, named in 1855 when it was granted a post office. Originally known as Cummer’s Settlement for early settler Jacob Cummer’s family |
| Woburn: a post office established as Elderslie in 1852 on Markham Road between Lawrence Avenue and Ellesmere Road in Scarborough; the name was changed to Woburn in 1856 and the community became the centre of township government in the 1850s |
| Wychwood Park: a private residential area laid out as an artists’ enclave by landscape painter Marmaduke Matthews north west of Davenport Road and Bathurst Street in York Township; annexed to Toronto in 1909. See: http://www.lostrivers.ca/points/Wychwood.htm |
| York (Township, Borough, City): the township that originally surrounded the Town of York and stretched from the boundaries of Scarborough to Etobicoke and from Lake Ontario to Steeles Avenue. Over the years many communities including North York and East York were severed from it and much of the remaining territory was annexed by the burgeoning City of Toronto. See: City of Toronto Archives |
| York Mills: a community near Yonge Street in York Township that originated in the 1820s around mills on the west branch of the Don River. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Mills |
| York, East: see East York |
| York, Little: see Little York |
| York, North: see North York |
| York, Town of: founded in 1793 and incorporated as the City of Toronto in 1834 |
| Yorkville: a village incorporated in 1853 at Bloor Street and Yonge Street in York Township; annexed by Toronto in 1883 |