Dundas Street is a major historic arterial road in
Ontario, Canada. The road connects the city of
Toronto with its western
suburbs
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
and several cities in
southwestern Ontario
Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...
. Three provincial highways—
2,
5, and
99—followed long sections of its course, although these highway segments have since been
downloaded to the municipalities they passed through. Originally intended as a military route to connect the shipping port of
York (now Toronto) to the envisioned future capital of
London, Ontario, the street today connects Toronto landmarks such as
Yonge–Dundas Square and the city's
principal Chinatown to rural villages and the regional centres of
Hamilton and London.
A historic alternate name for the street was Governor's Road, as its construction was supervised by
John Graves Simcoe,
lieutenant governor of Upper Canada; and the section between Hamilton and
Paris still bears that name, albeit without an apostrophe.
Dundas Street is also one of the few east–west routes to run uninterrupted through the central and western Greater Toronto Area, from Toronto to Hamilton (the others are
Lake Shore Boulevard/
Lakeshore Road,
Eglinton Avenue,
Steeles Avenue, Queen Street (
Brampton)/
Highway 7, and
Bovaird Drive/Castlemore Road/
Rutherford Road
York Region, located in southcentral Ontario, Canada, assigned approximately 50 regional roads, each with a number ranging from 1 to 99. All expenses of York Regional Roads (for example, snow shovelling, road repairs, traffic lights) are funded ...
/Carrville Road/16th Avenue). Within Toronto, the TTC's
505 Dundas
The 505 Dundas is a Toronto streetcar route run by the Toronto Transit Commission in Ontario, Canada. The route is roughly U-shaped running mainly along Dundas Street between Dundas West and Broadview stations several blocks south of the Line ...
streetcar route serves the street from
Riverdale to
the Junction.
Following controversy over the namesake of the street,
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, in delaying the abolition of the
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
,
Toronto City Council voted in 2021 to rename the section of street within Toronto – with other municipalities reviewing their use of the name.
Route description
The route of Dundas Street through the city of Toronto is irregular. The street, as laid out today, is made up from what were originally several smaller named streets. Proceeding west through central Toronto, Dundas Street East originates near
the Beaches neighbourhood at
Kingston Road, itself a historic route to eastern Lake Ontario and the town of
Kingston
Kingston may refer to:
Places
* List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated:
** Kingston, Jamaica
** Kingston upon Hull, England
** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia
** Kingston, Ontario, Canada
** Kingston upon Thames, ...
. Originally, the street began at today's Queen and Ossington intersection, and incorporated today's Ossington Street north to the current Dundas intersection, then proceeded west along the route still used today.
Crossing the lower reaches of the
Don River west of
Broadview Avenue, Dundas serves as one of the few arterial roads connecting the
central city to the city's
original eastern suburbs. At
Yonge Street, Dundas passes
Yonge-Dundas Square, within sight of downtown landmarks such as the
Eaton Centre
Eaton Centre is a name associated with shopping centres in Canada, originating with Eaton's, one of Canada's largest department store chains at the time that these malls were developed. Eaton's partnered with development companies throughout ...
and
Toronto Metropolitan University. Designated Dundas Street ''West'' from this point westward, the route passes to the north of
City Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
and
Nathan Phillips Square. At
McCaul Street
McCaul Loop is a turning loop and was the western terminus of the 502 Downtowner until it's abolition in 2020. It is located on the east side of McCaul Street north of Queen Street West at the Village by the Grange mixed-use development, across th ...
, the road fronts the
Art Gallery of Ontario in proximity to some of the city's institutions of higher learning, including
OCAD University,
Michener Institute, and the
University of Toronto. At
Spadina Avenue, Dundas serves as the east-west axis of the city's
largest Chinatown, with the Chinatown sections of Dundas (from Beverly Street in the east to Kensington Avenue in the west) having street signs in Chinese as 登打士街, which is the same as Dundas Street in the Kowloon Peninsula of Hong Kong.
West of
Ossington Avenue, it meanders northwards towards
Bloor Street near the intersection of
Roncesvalles Avenue, heading north toward
the Junction district at
Keele Street. Proceeding due west from Keele through the Junction, Dundas parallels the
CP Rail line through the mixed industrial-residential district. At Scarlett Road, the route veers southwest toward a high crossing over the
Humber River valley, through the former village of
Lambton Mills. Beyond the river, Dundas serves as the northern boundary of the
Kingsway residential district. Passing the historic St. George's Church-on-the-Hill, Dundas again heads southwest toward the former village of
Islington
Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...
. This route traverses the west end of the city, avoiding obstacles that were expensive to negotiate in the 18th century, such as
Grenadier Pond
High Park is a municipal park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. High Park is a mixed recreational and natural park, with sporting facilities, cultural facilities, educational facilities, gardens, playgrounds and a zoo. One-third of the park remains ...
in what is now
High Park and the highest point of the Humber Valley (Bloor Street to the south requires a high bridge to cross the river at that point).
Dundas intersects for a second time with Bloor Street at
Kipling Avenue in Etobicoke. In 1961, the intersection was rebuilt into a highway-type interchange, with an overpass over Kipling. The City of Toronto demolished the interchange and replaced it with a new at-grade intersection. A new routing of Dundas Street to the south of the former interchange was opened in February 2019, connecting via Dunbloor Road (which was rechristened to be a part of Dundas for continuity) to the section east of Kipling. From Kipling, Dundas is a six-lane arterial road, and begins to follow the former
Highway 5
Route 5, or Highway 5, may refer to routes in the following countries:
International
* Asian Highway 5
* European route E05
* European route E005
Argentina
* National Route 5
Australia New South Wales
* M5 Motorway (Sydney)
* The Det ...
(which ran along the more direct Bloor east of that point). West of
Cloverdale Mall, Dundas Street meets
Highway 427 at a
parclo interchange. Until the late 2000s the Highway 427 off-ramp signage referred to Dundas Street as provincial Highway 5 despite that road being downloaded to municipal authorities in 1954, while the Highway 427 provincial route number was assigned in 1971.
Upon crossing the Toronto boundary at
Etobicoke Creek, the street enters
Mississauga
Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...
, in the
Peel Region and follows a southwestern heading. It then enters
Halton Region and passes through
Oakville and
Burlington, and then
Waterdown (a part of
Hamilton). It leaves the former Highway 5 alignment (which continues west as a still-provincially maintained highway through rural
Brant County) west of
Highway 6
Route 6, or Highway 6, may refer to routes in the following countries:
International
* Asian Highway 6
* European route E6
* European route E006
Albania
* National Road SH6
Argentina
* Buenos Aires Provincial Route 6
Australia New ...
in Waterdown, and resumes to the south in its namesake former town
Dundas Dundas may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Dundas, New South Wales
* Dundas, Queensland, a locality in the Somerset Region
* Dundas, Tasmania
* Dundas, Western Australia
* Fort Dundas, a settlement in the Northern Territory 1824–1828
* Shire of ...
(today also part of Hamilton) and follows the former
Highway 99
International
* European route E99
Australia
* Springbrook Road, Queensland
Canada
* British Columbia Highway 99
* Ontario Highway 99 (former)
* Saskatchewan Highway 99
China
* G99 Expressway
India
* National Highway 99 (India)
...
(now
Hamilton Road 99) and assumes its alternate name, Governors Road, after crossing Main Street (the original
Highway 8). It follows the entire length of former Hwy. 99 west to Osborne Corners where it follows former Highway 5 again to
Paris, where it joined former
Highway 2
The following highways are numbered 2. For roads numbered A2, see list of A2 roads. For roads numbered B2, see list of B2 roads. For roads numbered M2, see list of M2 roads. For roads numbered N2, see list of N2 roads.
International
* AH2, As ...
and picks up the name Dundas again. Through most of Paris, Highway 2 bypasses it as it becomes a broken residential street, but rejoins it to follow King Edward Street. The name again resumes west of Paris as the street proceeds west along the former highway through
Woodstock en route to
London.
In London, the street ends just east of the confluence of the
Thames River before it crosses the Kensington Bridge to west London. Originally, this section was called "Dundas Street West" with the eastern portion being "Dundas Street East". However, since construction in the mid-1980s, the entire western portion has been called "Riverside Drive". Some Londoners still refer to the non-renamed portion "Dundas Street East" though it no longer bears an "East" designation. Riverside Drive ends further west at junction with Boler Road and Sanatorium Road.
Neighbourhoods
Immigrant communities have sprung up along the route of Dundas Street within Toronto, with most still retaining elements of their original character.
Kensington Market was home to Toronto's first Jewish community; Spadina's
Chinatown
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
is still the city's largest downtown Asian ethnic enclave;
Brockton Village became a west-end destination for the immigrant Irish community in the mid-19th century. This district was later settled by emigrants from Portugal and Brazil and bears the name
"Rua Açores". The Junction attracted many immigrant labourers from
Ireland,
Britain, and Southern and Eastern Europe due to its proximity to railways and heavy industry, such as meatpacking, which sprouted up there in the late 19th century.
Downtown centre
Dundas Street is centrally located in downtown Toronto, about midway between
Front Street and Bloor Street. It serves as a major east-west thoroughfare for vehicular, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic downtown and beyond. Since the building of the Eaton Centre and the Yonge-Dundas Square, the intersection of Yonge and Dundas Streets has become one of the busiest intersections in the city. It is estimated that over 56 million people pass this intersection each year. To ease traffic, a
pedestrian scramble has been installed.
Northeast of Yonge and Dundas is the Ryerson University campus. To the east of downtown, Dundas travels through the older
Cabbagetown neighbourhood, and the large
Regent Park public housing project fills the block south of Dundas between
Parliament Street and River Street.
The Dundas and Bay Street area, west to University Avenue, has been developing into a
Little Tokyo
Little Tokyo ( ja, リトル・トーキョー) also known as Little Tokyo Historic District, is an ethnically Japanese American district in downtown Los Angeles and the heart of the largest Japanese-American population in North America. It is t ...
district. It was previously the location of
Toronto's original Chinatown.
Art Gallery district
Dundas Street is the address of the Art Gallery of Ontario, which takes a full city block on the south side of the street, at the corner of McCaul Street, just west of
University Avenue. The north side of the street between McCaul and Beverley is also home to several private art galleries. Just to the south of Dundas on McCaul is OCAD University.
History
Dundas Street was developed in different time periods and in different sections. The section of the street near Dundas Valley (today known as Governors Road) was surveyed by
Augustus Jones and constructed by the
Queen's Rangers as a colonial road at the direction of
John Graves Simcoe, first lieutenant-governor of
Upper Canada. It connected the town then known as Coote's Paradise, which would be renamed
Dundas Dundas may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Dundas, New South Wales
* Dundas, Queensland, a locality in the Somerset Region
* Dundas, Tasmania
* Dundas, Western Australia
* Fort Dundas, a settlement in the Northern Territory 1824–1828
* Shire of ...
in reference to the road, which in turn, was named after Simcoe's friend,
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville,
to settlements to the west, and also around Lake Ontario to Newark (
Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, across the river from New York, United States. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in the Niagara Region of On ...
). In the early 19th century, when Toronto's oldest streets were first named, Dundas was an important settlement in its own right, rather than simply a suburb of
Hamilton, as it has since become.
The road from the western end of Lake Ontario was constructed east to York in 1796. The road ended at the Humber River at Old Mill Road, following the path of today's Bloor Street within
Etobicoke. A bridge was built in 1811 to cross the Humber, followed by a series of other bridges over the years. Dundas was re-routed in 1928, which resulted in what is now Old Dundas Street on either side of the Humber. The western section of Old Dundas Street becomes Home Smith Park Road. The current bridge over the Humber opened in 1957 (repaired in 1973 and 2009) to replace the 1907 iron trestle that lost approaches on both ends during
Hurricane Hazel in 1954 and resulted in the old bridge being demolished in 1955. An 1800 map shows Dundas connecting with the newly built Yonge Street, although the map does not show the route of this section within Toronto with any detail. An 1816 map of York shows a "Burlington Road", which was a westward extension of today's Queen Street.
The first section of the current route of Dundas Street constructed in Toronto was constructed during the War of 1812. It connected today's intersection of Queen Street and Ossington Avenue to Lambton Mills. It was constructed by the militia under the supervision of George Taylor Denison. The section of today's Ossington Avenue from Queen Street north to the intersection of Dundas Street was also known as Dundas. At the time, the district along Dundas was not cleared.
Montgomery's Inn was built on Dundas Street in 1830 for travellers along this route and also became a centre of neighbourhood business. It stands today, operated as a museum by the City of Toronto after the former City of
Etobicoke was annexed into Toronto in 1998.
From Ossington Avenue to the east, Dundas was pieced together from various streets. In the latter half of the 19th century, Arthur Street was connected from Ossington Avenue and Dundas Street to Bathurst Street along the current alignment of Dundas. St. Patrick Street, the portion of today's Dundas from Bathurst Street to (east of McCaul Street it was called Anderson Street) College Avenue (now University Avenue) bisected the Grange estate in 1877. The section from College Avenue (now University Avenue) to Yonge Street was known as Agnes Street. East of Yonge, it was Crookshank Street, Wilton Street, with a portion called Wilton Crescent (George Street to Sherbourne Avenue), and finally Beech Street to River Street. Beyond River Dundas was severed until a steel
Arch bridge was built over the Don River in 1910-1911. East of the Don, various streets were connected by jogs in the 20th century to form the current road. From the 1920s until the 1940s, Dundas Street terminated at Broadview Avenue in the east. In the 1950s, the city of Toronto implemented a project to extend Dundas eastwards from Broadview to Kingston Road as a new four-lane traffic arterial in order to provide an alternative east-west route to Gerrard and Queen. From west to east, Crawford Street, Elliot Street, Whitby Street, Dickens, Dagmar, Doel, Applegrove and Ashbridge Avenues as well as Maughan Crescent and Hemlock Avenue were all cleared and widened. In some cases, alleyways were used to connect these nine separate streets.
In the 20th century, Highway 5 was designated to continue west beyond the former village of Waterdown, leaving the Dundas Street corridor and bypassing the town of Dundas, which is located on the lower side of the
Niagara Escarpment
The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States that runs predominantly east–west from New York through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and into Illinois. The escarpment is most famous as the cliff over ...
. This led to the abandonment or redesignation of the original street through the escarpment.
Dundas Street Bridge
A three-hinged ribbed steel arch bridge was built from 1910 to 1911 to span the Don River valley and railway tracks (now used by the
Don Valley Parkway) below.
The bridge was a set of four Warren pony truss spans connected by a shorter riveted Warren deck truss spans to the east and west.
The bridge has been altered with the removal of ornamental railings with concrete barrier topped with ornamental railing, removal of steel girders with larger abutments to allow for wider road deck was completed in 2007.
Name controversy
Amid the
protests following the
murder of George Floyd in 2020, over 10,000 people signed a petition calling for the city to rename Dundas Street, due to
Henry Dundas' "involvement in supporting the gradual abolition of the
Slave Trade in the British Empire in the 18th century" as opposed to immediate abolition.
["Thousands sign petition to rename Dundas Street, named for politician who delayed abolition of slavery"](_blank)
CBC News Toronto, June 10, 2020. On , Mayor
John Tory stated that a working group would be formed "to examine the issue of renaming streets in a broader sense".
The city's final report, published in June 2021, supported renaming the street, concluding that Dundas "played an instrumental role in delaying the abolition of the slave trade" and that this conflicts with "the values of equity and inclusion" of the city.
[Oliver Moore]
"Toronto moves to rename Dundas Street after city report agrees with critics of namesake’s legacy"
''The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', June 28, 2021. The city's process also sparked reviews of the use of the Dundas name in other areas of the province, including
Mississauga
Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...
,
London and
Hamilton.
[Ben Cohen]
"‘This is going to be massive’: Move to replace the Dundas name causes ripples across the province"
''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', June 30, 2021.
On July 6, 2021, the City of Toronto's executive committee unanimously supported the renaming of Dundas Street.
During public deputations, former Governor General
Adrienne Clarkson stated that "the name of Dundas has no relevance to Canada … he has no connection to Toronto".
On July 14,
Toronto City Council voted 17–7 to rename the street, with a new name to be chosen by April 2022. However, this has been delayed to 2023.
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Chronology of Cities, Towns and Townships in Hamilton - Hamilton Public Library"The Many Streets of Dundas" ''Spacing Toronto, ''October 15, 2011.
"A brief history of what is now known as Dundas Street" blogTO, September 29, 2012.
{{Crossings navbox
, structure = Bridges
, place =
Don River (Ontario)
, bridge = Dundas Street Bridge
, bridge signs =
, upstream =
Gerrard Street Bridge
, upstream signs =
, downstream =
Queen Street Viaduct
, downstream signs =
Roads in Toronto
Ontario road transport articles without a junction list
Roads in Mississauga