Category Archives: General History

Ivy Avenue: before it was the boundary between Heaven and Hell

How did Ivy Avenue come to be the boundary between a kind of local heaven and a very local hell?  Well, it’s a long story, but I always like starting about 12,000 years ago — perhaps the local historian’s equivalent of “once upon a time”. In that long ago time, the ice from the lastContinue reading “Ivy Avenue: before it was the boundary between Heaven and Hell”

Ulster Stadium: Home of the Red Handers

Behind the decaying Ulster Arms between Greenwood and Coxwell Avenues, lies a neat few streets. Blocky houses, called “four squares” and post-War bungalows line Hertle and Highfield, making this enclave unique. Most of the houses in the surrounding neighbourhood are 25 to 30 years older, having been built between 1912 and 1930. But that isContinue reading “Ulster Stadium: Home of the Red Handers”

A Lost Street: Applegrove Avenune

What happened? How can a street be lost? Let’s go back to the beginning, around 1909 when Applegrove Avenue was a short street running from Morley Avenue, now Woodfield Road, to Ashdale Avenue — a mere two blocks. It ran through the Ashbridge’s large apple orchard, giving an obvious reason for the street name. ApplegroveContinue reading “A Lost Street: Applegrove Avenune”

Some Leslieville Street Names

It is sometimes difficult to trace the origins of street names. Clearly most Leslieville streets were named after families who lived here or after the builders who put up the houses on the street. Only a few, such as Eastern Avenue, are more or less self-explanatory. Moreover, street names changed over time. Doel became Dundas; KingstonContinue reading “Some Leslieville Street Names”

260 – 326 Carlaw: Brick dust into silver

260 – 326 Carlaw: Brick dust into silver What do Lauren Harris (the Group of Seven), William Gooderham of Gooderham Worts (the Distillery district), Col. R. S. McLaughlin (General Motors, Oshawa) and Rumpelstiltskin have in common? And what does that have to do with Carlaw Avenue? And how does E P. Taylor (Argus Corporation andContinue reading “260 – 326 Carlaw: Brick dust into silver”

The West Side Story: Carlaw

Carlaw Avenue is becoming the major north-south artery in Leslieville. It has evolved from impassable country lane to an industrial hub to a brownfield of abandoned factories and rusting equipment to a vibrant neighbourhood. Leslieville has few “high rises” and they are found only on Carlaw Avenue. These condos include new builds and adaptive re-usesContinue reading “The West Side Story: Carlaw”