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Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Once the southernmost leg of provincial Highway 11, linking the provincial capital with northern Ontario, Yonge Street has been referred to as "Main Street Ontario". Until 1999, the ''
Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' repeated the popular misconception that Yonge Street was long, making it the longest street in the world; this was due to a conflation of Yonge Street with the rest of Ontario's Highway 11. Yonge Street (including the Bradford-to-Barrie extension) is only long. Due to provincial downloading in the 1990s, no section of Yonge Street is marked as a provincial highway. The construction of Yonge Street is designated as an Event of National Historic Significance in Canada. Yonge Street was integral to the original planning and settlement of western Upper Canada in the 1790s, forming the basis of the
concession road In Upper and Lower Canada, concession roads were laid out by the colonial government through undeveloped Crown land to provide access to rows of newly surveyed lots intended for farming by new settlers. The land that comprised a row of lots that ...
s in Ontario today. Ontario's first colonial administrator, John Graves Simcoe, named the street for his friend Sir George Yonge, an expert on ancient Roman roads. In Toronto and York Region, Yonge Street is the north–south baseline from which street numbering is reckoned east and west. The eastern branch of the subway Line 1 Yonge–University serves nearly the entire length of the street in Toronto; it serves as the spine of the Toronto subway system, linking to suburban commuter systems such as the Viva Blue BRT. Yonge Street is a commercial main thoroughfare rather than a ceremonial one, with the Downtown Yonge shopping and entertainment district containing 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 Yonge-Dundas Square.


Route description

Yonge Street originates on the northern shore of
Toronto Bay Toronto Harbour or Toronto Bay is a bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a natural harbour, protected from Lake Ontario waves by the Toronto Islands. Today, the harbour is used primarily for recreational b ...
at Queens Quay as a four-lane arterial road (speed limit 40 km/h) proceeding north. Toronto's
Harbourfront Harbourfront may refer to: * Harbourfront (Toronto), a neighbourhood in Toronto ** 509 Harbourfront, Toronto streetcar route **Harbourfront Centre, cultural organization on the waterfront of Toronto * HarbourFront (Singapore), waterfront site in Si ...
is built on landfill extended into the bay. The former industrial area has been converted from port, rail and industrial uses to a dense, residential, high-rise community. The elevated
Gardiner Expressway The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends ...
and the congested rail lines of the Toronto railway viaduct on their approach to Union Station pass over Yonge Street. The road rises slightly near Front Street, marking the pre-landfill shoreline. Here, at the southern edge of the
central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
, is the Dominion Public Building, the
Sony Centre for the Performing Arts Meridian Hall is a major performing arts venue in Toronto, Ontario, and it is the country's largest soft-seat theatre. The facility was constructed for the City of Toronto municipal government and is currently managed by TO Live, an arms-len ...
and the
Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...
, the latter housed in a former
Bank of Montreal The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company. The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...
office, once Canada's largest bank branch. Beyond Front Street, the road passes through the east side of the Financial District, which holds many of Canada's tallest buildings, and passes an entrance to the
Allen Lambert Galleria Brookfield Place (formerly BCE Place), is an office complex in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, comprising the block bounded by Yonge Street, Wellington Street West, Bay Street, and Front Street. The complex contains of office space, and con ...
. Between Front Street and Queen Street, Yonge Street is bounded by historic and commercial buildings, many serving the large weekday workforce concentrated here. These include the flagship Toronto locations of the Hudson's Bay Company and Saks Fifth Avenue, both in the historic Simpson's building. Yonge Street's entire west side, from Queen Street to
Dundas Street Dundas Street is a major historic arterial road in Ontario, Canada. The road connects the city of Toronto with its western suburbs and several cities in southwestern Ontario. Three provincial highways— 2, 5, and 99—followed long sectio ...
, is occupied by 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 ...
, a multi-storey indoor mall featuring shops along its Yonge Street frontage and a Nordstrom anchor store at the corner of Dundas Street. The east side has two historic performance venues, the Ed Mirvish Theatre (formerly the Canon Theatre and before that, the Pantages) and the
Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres are a pair of stacked theatres in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Winter Garden Theatre is seven storeys above the Elgin Theatre. They are the last surviving Edwardian stacked theatres in the world. History T ...
. In addition, Massey Hall is just to the east on Shuter Street. Opposite the north end of the Eaton Centre lies Yonge-Dundas Square. The area now comprising the square was cleared of several small commercial buildings and redeveloped in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It has been outfitted with large video screens, and developed with retail shopping arcades, fountains and seating in a bid to become "Toronto's Times Square". It is the site of numerous public events. Another stretch of busy retail lines both sides of Yonge Street north of Dundas Street. The density of businesses diminishes north of Gerrard Street; residential towers with some ground-floor commercial uses flank this section. The Art Deco College Park building, a former shopping complex of the T. Eaton Company, occupies much of the west side of Yonge Street from Gerrard Street north to
College Street College Street may refer to: *College Street (Kolkata) *College Street (Toronto) * College Street (Sydney) *College Street (York) College Green is an open space in the city centre of York, England. History The green lies within the historic pr ...
. It was converted into a residential and commercial complex after the building of the Eaton Centre. From College Street north to Bloor Street, Yonge Street serves smaller street-level retail, mostly in two- to three-storey buildings of a hundred years' vintage. The businesses here, unlike the large chains that dominate south of Gerrard Street, are mostly small independent shops and serve a dense residential community on either side of Yonge Street. The intersection of Yonge and Bloor streets is a major crossroads of Toronto, informally considered the northern edge of the downtown core. Subway Line 2 Bloor–Danforth intersects the Yonge line here, with the resulting transfers between lines making Bloor–Yonge station the busiest in the city. The northeast quadrant features the Hudson's Bay Centre office and retail complex, including a Hudson's Bay Company Hudson's Bay store. The northwest quadrant has the
Two Bloor West Two Bloor West, is an office building at the intersection of Yonge Street and Bloor Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is sometimes referred to as Toronto's CIBC building, but that name can also refer to Commerce Court. Located at the interse ...
office tower. The southeast quadrant has a condominium tower constructed in the early 21st century, and the southwestern quadrant is being developed for a condominium. The
Mink Mile Mink Mile is an upscale shopping district in the neighbourhood of Yorkville in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, along Bloor Street between Yonge Street and Avenue Road. History In the 21st century, mid-market retailers have begun to locate along the M ...
's borders extend from Yonge to Avenue Road along Bloor. The intersection of Yonge and Bloor streets is a "scramble"-type intersection, which allows pedestrians to cross from any corner to any other corner. Immediately north of Bloor, the street is part of the old town of Yorkville, today a major shopping district extending west of Yonge Street along Cumberland and Bloor streets. North of Yorkville, densities and traffic decrease somewhat and the speed limit increases slightly (to 50 km/h, which it remains for most of its urban length) as Yonge Street forms the main street of
Summerhill Summerhill or Summer Hill may refer to the following places: Australia * Summer Hill, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney *Summerhill, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston * Summerhill (Mount Duneed), a prefabricated iron cottage in Victoria Canada * ...
, which together with Rosedale to the east is noted for its opulent residences. The area is marked by the historic
North Toronto railway station The North Toronto railway station is a former Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) station in the northwest corner of the Rosedale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the east side of Yonge Street, adjacent to the neighbourhood ...
, formerly served by the
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
and now the location of an LCBO store. The CPR route parallels the foot of the Iroquois shoreline escarpment, which Yonge Street ascends here toward Midtown. Development along Yonge to
St. Clair Avenue St. Clair Avenue is a major east-west street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was laid out in the late 18th century by the British as a concession road (the Third Concession), north of Bloor Street and north of Queen Street. St. Clair Avenue ...
is mostly two- and three-storey buildings with ground-floor commercial uses of varying types. South of St. Clair once stood the Deer Park carhouse for the Metropolitan Street Railway Metropolitan line. It was sold by the Toronto Transportation Commission to the Badminton and Racquet Club of Toronto in 1924 and mostly destroyed by a fire in 2017. From approximately
St. Clair Avenue St. Clair Avenue is a major east-west street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was laid out in the late 18th century by the British as a concession road (the Third Concession), north of Bloor Street and north of Queen Street. St. Clair Avenue ...
to Yonge Boulevard, Yonge Street is central to the former suburb municipality of North Toronto, now widely referred to as Midtown. It is divided into several local neighbourhoods. Yonge Street along this stretch features mixed low-scale residential, retail and commercial buildings. The intersection at Eglinton Avenue has become a focal point, serving as a high-density residential, commercial and transit hub. The site of Montgomery's Tavern is nearby. It was the site of a significant clash in the
Upper Canada Rebellion The Upper Canada Rebellion was an insurrection against the oligarchic government of the British colony of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) in December 1837. While public grievances had existed for years, it was the rebellion in Lower Canada (p ...
and is marked as a National Historic Site. The tavern was later replace by the Postal Station K Building, now a podium for Montgomery Square condominium complex. North of Yonge Boulevard, Yonge Street traverses the deep forested ravine of the West Don Valley at Hoggs Hollow, a formidable obstacle in pioneer days and the site of one of the last of the former toll gates. The lower-density residential community and park-like setting here represent an interlude between North Toronto and the newer high-rise district beyond, towering over the valley. Canada's busiest section of highway ( Highway 401) spans the valley via the
Hogg's Hollow Bridge Hoggs Hollow Bridge, originally known as the Yonge Boulevard Viaduct, is a set of four separate highway bridges that span the West Branch of the Don River Valley in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and carries 14 lanes of Highway 401. The four structure ...
(exit 369). Leaving the valley north of Highway 401, densities and traffic both significantly increase on entering North York City Centre, the downtown core of the former suburban city of
North York North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a popu ...
. North York Centre features numerous residential and office towers, most with ground-floor commercial uses, with some stretches of older two-storey buildings, many slated for redevelopment. Slightly under halfway up Yonge Street from Sheppard to Finch on the west side is the North York Civic Centre complex and the adjacent North York Centre office and retail towers. These lands contain Mel Lastman Square, the actual North York district municipal offices, the North York Central Library and the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts. The street widens to a six-lane urban arterial road through North York Centre (although north of Sheppard Avenue the outer lanes are for parking outside of rush hours), passing inner-suburb transit hubs at Sheppard and Avenues. From Finch Avenue to Stouffville Road (acquiring the York Regional Road 1 designation north of the Toronto city limits at Steeles Avenue in York Region), Yonge Street is a suburban commercial strip, passing Highway 407 (exit 77) two kilometres north of Steeles. This segment is a busy suburban arterial, interrupted by the original town centres of suburban communities such as Thornhill (where the route crosses the East Don Valley in the upper part of its watershed) and Richmond Hill. Various stretches of Yonge Street throughout this area contain residential high-rise buildings of varying ages, with some currently under development. Continuous urbanization ends just south of Stouffville Road, and the street passes through brief semi-rural exurban stretches between Richmond Hill, Aurora, Newmarket, and
Holland Landing Holland Landing is a community in the town of East Gwillimbury, located in the northern part of the Regional Municipality of York, in south-central Ontario, Canada. Its major road is Yonge Street (bypassed by the former Highway 11) and the commun ...
, passing a number of kettle lakes and traversing the crest of the Oak Ridges Moraine, thence leaving the Lake Ontario basin. Yonge passes through the core of Aurora, and in the regional seat of Newmarket, Yonge serves as the town's main suburban artery, passing through low-density residential and commercial areas, bypassing its core to the west. North of Green Lane, Regional Road 1 deviates from the original baseline north of Lake Ontario, bypassing the centre of Holland Landing with a northwest heading and thereby circumnavigating Cook's Bay and the lower Holland Marsh, through exurban areas en route to
Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
. The bypass was constructed in 1959.


York Regional Road 51

Regional Road 51 is the original route of the main section. Yonge Street branches off Regional Road 1 at the foot of the bypass to continue north through Holland Landing. This short section, known locally as the ''Yonge Street Extension'', is co-signed with Regional Road 13. At Queensville Side Road, the road breaks, and resumes again slightly to the west for before it ends in the upper Holland Marsh with an unopened road clearance signed with trees next to the Silver Lakes Golf and Country Club.


Simcoe Road 4

Yonge resumes to the northwest in Bradford (reached via Regional Road 1), at a right turn at an intersection in downtown Bradford, where it is initially named Barrie Street before the name Yonge resumes, roughly paralleling Lake Simcoe's western shore through rural countryside, traversing the rolling hills of southeast Simcoe County, and is signed Simcoe Road 4. The street officially ends in Barrie at a rail spur, where its name changes to Burton Avenue at Garden Drive, which itself ends less than a kilometre from Kempenfelt Bay, at a T-intersection with Essa Road.


History


Establishment of the route

With the outbreak of hostilities between France and Great Britain in 1793, part of the War of the First Coalition, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada (now Ontario), John Graves Simcoe, was concerned about the possibility of the United States entering British North America in support of their French allies. In particular, the location of Newark (now
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 ...
), the first and former capital of Upper Canada, was in danger of being attacked by the Americans from the nearby border. Additionally, US forces could easily sever British access to the upper lakes at
Lake St. Clair Lake St. Clair (french: Lac Sainte-Claire) is a freshwater lake that lies between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan. It was named in 1679 by French Catholic explorers after Saint Clare of Assisi, on whose feast day ...
or the Detroit River, cutting the colony off from the important trading post at Michilimackinac. Simcoe planned to move the capital to a better-protected location and build overland routes to the upper lakes as soon as possible. Simcoe established York, as Toronto was originally called, with its naturally enclosed harbour, as a defensible site for a new capital. To provide communications between the site and the upper lakes, he planned two connected roads, the first running north from York to Lake Simcoe, (then named Lake aux Claies), the second joining Lake Simcoe with Georgian Bay. This would allow overland transport to the upper lakes, bypassing U.S. strongholds. The route from Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe is still known as Yonge Street, and the second leg to Georgian Bay was long known as the Penetanguishene Road. Before the construction of Yonge Street, a
portage Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...
route, the Toronto Carrying-Place Trail, had already linked Lakes Ontario and Simcoe. On September 25, 1793, Simcoe and a small party of soldiers and native guides started northward along the trail, establishing the Pine Fort on the western branch of the Holland River, near the modern location of
Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
. Stopping only to rename Lake aux Claies to "Lake Simcoe" in memory of his father, the party continued north to Lake Couchiching, and then down the Severn River to Georgian Bay. Here he selected the site of Penetanguishene as the location for a new naval base and port. On his return, he met with an Ojibway named 'Old Sail' and was shown a new route along another arm of the trail, this one starting on the eastern branch of the Holland River and thereby avoiding the marshes of the western branch (today's Holland Marsh). They left Pine Fort on October 11 and reached York on the 15th. Simcoe selected this eastern route for his new road, moving the southern end from the Rouge River to the western outskirts of the settled area in York, and the northern end to a proposed new town on the Holland River, St. Albans. The road was actually called Concession 1 at first with Concessions 2 etc. on either side. For instance Concession 1 Whitchurch Township faces Yonge St. and goes east to Concession 2, which starts at Bayview Ave. Concession 1 King Township faces Yonge St. and goes west to Concession 2, which starts at Bathurst St. There are 10 concessions in York County going east and west from Concession 1, Yonge St. The east side ending at then Ontario County, now Durham Region, and the west side ending at Peel County (now Peel Region).


Construction of Yonge Street

The following spring, Simcoe instructed Deputy Surveyor General Augustus Jones to blaze a small trail marking the route. Simcoe initiated construction of the road by granting land to settlers, who in exchange were required to clear 33 feet of frontage on the road passing their
lot Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to: Common meanings Areas * Land lot, an area of land * Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *Lot number, in batch production *Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...
. Certain seasons saw the muddy sidewalks of York in deplorable condition, and Yonge Street was renowned as being particularly bad, making it difficult to transport loads along it. The first Toronto resident known to have introduced sidewalks was
Jesse Ketchum Jesse Ketchum (March 31, 1782 – September 7, 1867) was a tanner and political figure in Upper Canada. He was born in town Spencertown, New York in 1782 to parents Mollie Robbins Ketchum and Jesse Ketchum Senior. After his mother died, he w ...
, who used tanned bark. In the summer of 1794,
William Berczy William von Moll Berczy (December 10, 1744 – February 5, 1813) was a German-born Upper Canada pioneer and painter. He is considered one of the co-founders of the Town of York, Upper Canada, now Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Biography Berczy was ...
was the first to take up the offer, leading a group of 64 families north-east of Toronto to found the town of
German Mills German Mills is a community within the city of Markham in Ontario, Canada. The easternmost community in the historic town of Thornhill, German Mills was named for the early German settlers in the area. History German Mills is closely associate ...
, in modern Markham. By the end of 1794, Berczy's settlers had cleared the route around Thornhill. However, the settlement was hit by a series of setbacks and road construction stalled. Work on the road started again in 1795 when the Queen's Rangers took over. They began their work at Eglinton Avenue and proceeded north, reaching the site of St. Albans on 16 February 1796. Expansion of the trail into a road was a condition of settlement for farmers along the route, who were required to spend 12 days a year to clear the road of logs, subsequently removed by convicted drunks as part of their sentence. The southern end of the road was in use in the first decade of the 19th century, and became passable all the way to the northern end in 1816. The road was extended south from Eglinton to Bloor Street in 1796 by Berczy, who needed a route to his warehouse on the Toronto lakeshore. The area south of Bloor Street proved too swampy for a major road. A path did exist between Queen and Bloor Streets, but was called the "road to Yonge Street", rather than being considered part of the street itself due to its poor condition. Over time the creeks were rerouted and the swamps drained. In 1812 the route was extended from Queen Street to the harbour, and in 1828 the entire southern portion was solidified with gravel. St. Albans never developed as Simcoe had hoped, but the town of
Holland Landing Holland Landing is a community in the town of East Gwillimbury, located in the northern part of the Regional Municipality of York, in south-central Ontario, Canada. Its major road is Yonge Street (bypassed by the former Highway 11) and the commun ...
eventually grew up on the site, a somewhat more descriptive name. Holland Landing was settled by Quakers who moved into the area after having left the United States in the aftermath of the American Revolution. The settlers were branching out from their initial town of "Upper Yonge Street", which later became Newmarket. The road almost served its original military purpose during the War of 1812, when construction of a new fleet of first-rate ships began on the Lakes, necessitating the shipment of a large anchor from England for use on a
frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
under construction on Lake Huron. The war ended while the anchor was still being moved, and now lies just outside Holland Landing in a park named in its honour.


Evolution of Yonge Street

Bears were known to wander onto Yonge Street in the early days of Toronto. In 1809
Lieutenant Fawcett A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often s ...
, of the 100th Regiment, came across a large bear on Yonge Street and cut its head open with his sword. In 1824, work began to extend Yonge Street to Kempenfelt Bay near Barrie. A north-western extension was branched off the original Yonge Street in Holland Landing and ran into the new settlement of
Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
before turning north towards Barrie. Work was completed by 1827, making connections with the Penetanguishene Road. The decision was made to withdraw the military garrison in Penetanguishene in 1852. A year later, the Northern Railway of Canada was built along this established route, between Toronto and Kempenfelt Bay and extended to Collingwood by 1855. Settlement along the Penetanguishene Road pre-dated the road itself. Subsequent extensions of Yonge Street (though never named as such) which later became the more northerly parts of Highway 11, built in the 1830s (some with military strategy in mind), pushed settlement northeast along the shores of Lake Simcoe. By 1860 the
Muskoka Road Muskoka may refer to: Canada Geographical * Lake Muskoka, lake located between Port Carling and Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada * Muskoka River, a river in the Muskoka District of Ontario, Canada Municipalities * District Municipality of Muskoka, a ...
penetrated the southern skirts of the
Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...
, advancing towards
Lake Nipissing Lake Nipissing (; french: lac Nipissing, oj, Gichi-nibiinsing-zaaga’igan) is a lake in the Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under ...
. A horse-drawn streetcar line was completed on Yonge Street in Toronto in September 1861 and operated by the Toronto Street Railway. The line went from Scollard Street to King Street. Streetcar service would be electrified in Toronto by 1892. Confederation and the construction of the
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
further diminished the importance of Yonge Street, as the new Dominion of Canada heralded the construction of east–west trade routes spanning the continent. By the 1870s, Henry Scadding, author of '' Toronto of Old'', declared that Penetanguishene did not have the importance to need an approach such as the "extension of the Yonge Street Road". During the late 1800s, the Toronto and York Radial Railway used the Yonge Street right-of-way, originally to the town of North Toronto, but expanding over the years all the way to Sutton, on southern Lake Simcoe. The Radial Railway ran along the eastern side of the street, allowing the prevailing westerly winds to remove snow from the slightly raised rails. The arrival of the Canadian Northern Railway in 1906 lessened traffic on the Radial, but it was not until Yonge became a major route for automobiles that the Radial truly fell into disuse. The last TYRR train north from Toronto ran on March 16, 1930. The line was then purchased by the townships north of the city and re-incorporated as North Yonge Railways, running service for another eighteen years before operations ended, along with service on numerous other portions of the Radial lines, in 1948. The space it formerly occupied was used to expand the road between Aurora and Newmarket.


Canada's first Subway

From the early 1900s onwards, there were several proposals to build a subway for streetcars on Yonge Street, given the high demand for north–south travel within downtown Toronto. Following World War 2, the Toronto Transit Commission proposed a north–south
subway Subway, Subways, The Subway, or The Subways may refer to: Transportation * Subway, a term for underground rapid transit rail systems * Subway (underpass), a type of walkway that passes underneath an obstacle * Subway (George Bush Interconti ...
line along the Yonge Street corridor between Union Station and Eglinton Avenue.James Bow
"A History of the Original Yonge Subway"
December 8, 2009
Approved by voters in 1946, construction began in September 1949, with disruptive cut-and-cover construction on Yonge Street taking place between College Avenue and Front Street. The Yonge Subway was opened in 1954 as Canada's first subway line at a cost of $59m. The line has subsequently been extended several times, most recently to Vaughan, York Region in 2017. The line – now Line 1 Yonge–University – is the busiest subway line in Canada, and one of the busiest in North America.


Yonge Street as the "longest street in the world"

Yonge Street was formerly a part of Highway 11, which led to claims that Yonge Street was the longest street in the world.Meri Perra
"The ‘myth’ of Yonge Street being the world's longest road lives on"
'' Yahoo! News'', April 14, 2011.
Running (mostly) concurrent with Yonge as far north as Barrie, then continuing beyond through central and northern Ontario to the Ontario- Minnesota border at Rainy River, the highway was over long. But Yonge Street could only be called the longest street in the world if it were fully synonymous with Highway 11 over the highway's entire length, which has never been the case.Sean Marshall
"The end of Yonge Street"
'' Spacing'', April 13, 2011.
The original historic alignment of Yonge Street diverges from Highway 11 at the Newmarket Inn in East Gwillimbury, one kilometre north of Green Lane; at this junction, the Highway 11 route begins to divert west, while Yonge Street turns right at the intersection and then loops back onto the historic alignment. It then continues along its original alignment, ending at Queensville Side Road in
Holland Landing Holland Landing is a community in the town of East Gwillimbury, located in the northern part of the Regional Municipality of York, in south-central Ontario, Canada. Its major road is Yonge Street (bypassed by the former Highway 11) and the commun ...
. Approximately 350 metres further west, a later extension travels north for about 1.8 kilometres, stopping at a dead end just past the Silver Lakes Golf and Country Club; further north, the name picks up again as an unpaved farm road which ends at Ravenshoe Road west of Keswick and just south of Lake Simcoe. The diversion running from Holland Landing to
Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
does not carry the Yonge name but instead was named Bradford Street in Holland Landing, and Holland Landing Road in Bradford. The latter was later extended as a bypass was added, curving off the original alignment. A second bypass was later constructed, bypassing the entirety of Holland Landing Road and joining Bradford at Bridge Street. At its intersection with 8th Line in Bradford, the former Highway 11 route does pick up the Yonge Street name again, retaining it through Innisfil until transitioning into Burton Avenue in the Allandale neighbourhood of Barrie. From that point, no other part of the highway any further north ever carried the Yonge Street name at all; at its terminus in Rainy River, Highway 11's street name is Atwood Avenue rather than Yonge Street. When the final leg of Highway 11 between Atikokan and Rainy River was completed in 1965, the Rainy River Chamber of Commerce responded with a publicity stunt requesting that Toronto change the name of Yonge Street to Atwood Avenue so that the highway could have the same street name at both ends, but this did not occur. The claim was first added by the
Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
in 1977 at the request of Toronto writer Jay Myers, supplanting Figueroa Street in Los Angeles.Zena Cherry, "Big days for Ottawa centre". ''
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 ...
'', September 2, 1977. p. 11.
Myers had sought the designation after writing and publishing a book about the history of the street. Earlier claims that Yonge was the longest street in the world also existed, with '' The Globe'' asserting it about the original Toronto to Lake Simcoe alignment in 1895, at a time when the rest of Highway 11 did not even exist yet, and later claiming in 1953 that Yonge was the longest street in the world because it purportedly extended to
Cochrane Cochrane may refer to: Places Australia *Cochrane railway station, Sydney, a railway station on the closed Ropes Creek railway line Canada * Cochrane, Alberta * Cochrane Lake, Alberta * Cochrane District, Ontario ** Cochrane, Ontario, a town wit ...
, which was then and still is the point at which Highway 11 switches from a north–south alignment to an east–west alignment toward Nipigon. It continued to be listed by Guinness until 1999, when it was dropped in favour of recognizing the Pan-American Highway as the world's longest motorable road. Provincial
downloading In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...
separated Yonge Street from Highway 11 in the late 1990s. As a result, Highway 11 does not start until Crown Hill just outside Barrie, several kilometres north of where the name Yonge Street ends. Although current tourist campaigns do not make much of Yonge Street's length, its status as an urban myth was bolstered by an art installation at the foot of Yonge Street and a map of its purported length laid out into the sidewalk in
bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
at the southwest corner of Yonge and Dundas Streets. However, possibly due to wider recognition of the street's actual length, the map inlay has now been removed.


2000s

In 2008, Toronto's first pedestrian scramble was opened at the intersection of Yonge and
Dundas Street Dundas Street is a major historic arterial road in Ontario, Canada. The road connects the city of Toronto with its western suburbs and several cities in southwestern Ontario. Three provincial highways— 2, 5, and 99—followed long sectio ...
s. On April 23, 2018, a driver intentionally struck numerous pedestrians, killing 11 and injuring 15 others. The attack started at the intersection of Yonge Street and Finch Avenue and proceeded south along the sidewalks of Yonge Street to near Sheppard Avenue.


Cultural significance

As Toronto's main street, Yonge hosts parades, street performances and protests. After major sporting victories thousands of people will gather on the downtown portions of the street, particularly near Dundas Square, to celebrate and the street will be closed to vehicular traffic while those are occurring. Streetcars on routes crossing Yonge in that area (Carlton, Dundas, Queen, King) during those celebrations will often have to cease operations a few hundred metres east or west of Yonge Street due to the crowds. In recent times, these celebrations particularly occurred after the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series of Baseball in 1992 and 1993, when the
Canada men's national ice hockey team The Canada men's national ice hockey team (popularly known as Team Canada; french: Équipe Canada) is the ice hockey team representing Canada inter ...
won the Olympic gold medal in 2002, 2010 and 2014, and when the Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship in 2019. During these celebrations motorists drive up and down the other portions of the street honking their horns and flying flags and during lesser celebrations (when the crowds have not closed down the street) they will do this along the downtown portions of the street as well. Sections of the street are often closed for other events, such as an annual street festival. In 1999 Ricky Martin held an autograph session at Sunrise Records and had a large section of Yonge Street closed for the day. The intersection of Yonge and Dundas Streets, centred on the plaza at Yonge-Dundas Square, has been closed on occasion to host free concerts, including performances by R.E.M. on 17 May 2001, by
Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...
on 15 September 2006 and by
John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...
on 16 September of the same year. Five-pin bowling was invented and first played at the Toronto Bowling Club at Yonge and Temperance Streets. Ken Westerfield and Jim Kenner are credited with introducing ultimate and other disc sports (Frisbee) to Canada. They did nightly
Frisbee A frisbee (pronounced ), also called a flying disc or simply a disc, is a gliding toy or sporting item that is generally made of injection-molded plastic and roughly in diameter with a pronounced lip. It is used recreationally and competitive ...
shows on the Yonge Street Mall between Gerrard and Dundas 1971–1974. Toronto's annual LGBTQ Pride,
Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It also ...
, and
Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...
parades also use Yonge Street for a significant portion of their routes.


Cultural references

The early works of Canadian singer-songwriters such as
Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...
and Gordon Lightfoot were featured at the Yonge Street location of Sam the Record Man, just north of Dundas Street, at a time when records by Canadian musicians were not widely available. Lightfoot has a song about Yonge Street, titled "On Yonge Street", on his album ''
A Painter Passing Through ''A Painter Passing Through'' is the eighteenth studio album by Canada, Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot, released in 1998 on Reprise Records. It was his first album of original music in five years after ''Waiting for You (Gordon Lightfoot album), ...
''. Yonge Street was also the subject or setting for an SCTV comedy sketch featuring John Candy,
Joe Flaherty Joseph Flaherty (born June 21, 1941) is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his work on the Canadian sketch comedy '' SCTV'' from 1976 to 1984 (on which he also served as a writer), and as Harold Weir on ''Freaks and G ...
, Andrea Martin & Jayne Eastwood. The sketch, ''Garth & Gord & Fiona & Alice'', was a parody of the Canadian film '' Goin' Down the Road,'' about young men from the provinces discovering the bright lights of Yonge Street. The Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn makes this reference in his song "Coldest Night of the Year," from his 1981 album ''
Mummy Dust A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furth ...
'': "I took in Yonge Street at a glance / Heard the punkers playing / Watched the bikers dance / Everybody wishing they could go to the south of France / And you're not here / On the coldest night of the year." Singer and rapper
K-os Kevin Brereton (born February 20, 1972), better known by his stage name k-os (; "chaos"), is a Canadian alternative rapper, singer, songwriter and producer. His given name may also be cited as Kheaven, a spelling he later adopted. The alias "k ...
also references the street in the lyrics to his 2004 single " Crabbuckit": "Walking down Yonge Street on a Friday / Can't follow them, gotta do it my way / No fast lane, still on a highway".


Public transit

In Toronto, Yonge St. is served by the eastern half of the Line 1 Yonge–University subway, which runs north from Union Station at Front Street to Finch Avenue. The first section of the "Yonge subway" opened in 1954 as Canada's first subway line, and is now the busiest rapid transit route in Canada, and one of the busiest in North America. There is also a supplementary bus route running along the street, as well as an overnight Blue Night route which operates after the subway closes. In York Region, it is served by Viva Blue, a
bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
route which connects with
Finch station Finch is the northern terminus subway station of the eastern section of Line 1 Yonge–University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located under Yonge Street, north of Finch Avenue. Finch is the busiest TTC bus terminal and the sixth-busiest ...
at the northern terminus of the subway. The subway is proposed to be extended north to Highway 7 in Richmond Hill, and the construction of dedicated bus lanes called ''rapidways'' for the Viva buses is underway as of 2017 from Highway 7 to Major Mackenzie Drive. Viva Blue is also supplemented by two local-service routes. In
Holland Landing Holland Landing is a community in the town of East Gwillimbury, located in the northern part of the Regional Municipality of York, in south-central Ontario, Canada. Its major road is Yonge Street (bypassed by the former Highway 11) and the commun ...
, there are transit services as well. In Simcoe County, GO Transit runs a bus route along Yonge from Newmarket to Barrie. Barrie Transit operates Route 8 (8A RVH/Yonge and 8B Crosstown/Essa) a circular route with directional branches that serve Yonge for a portion of their respective routes. The trunk routes serving the street are: Toronto ( TTC): York Region ( YRT): Simcoe County ( GO Transit): Barrie ( Barrie Transit):


Major junctions


See also

* Penetanguishene Road


References

;Bibliography * *


References to old Toronto

(a) Berczy's Draft letter in the Public Archives of Canada. Among the William Berczy Papers (M.G.23, H ii, Vol.2, p. 419 and Vol. 3, p. 527). As well as agreement of the German Company reproduced in The Simcoe correspondence, I, p. 191, 192 (b) Baby collection, University of Montreal. Salso Berczy Papers National Archive. (c) John Andre the Berczy Study Infant Toronto as Simcoe's Folly p. 137. Also see Table II that shows comparison by yearly averaged growth from 1802 to 1825 p. 138 (d) Firth, p. 10 p. 10 P.Russell to Elizabeth Russell, Sep. 1, 1793 Also in Eric ArthurToronto No Mean City" Toronto, 1964 p. 138


External links


A page which argues against Yonge Street's claim as the world's longest street




* ttp://www.ontarioplaques.com/Plaques_Toronto/Plaque_Toronto24.html Ontarioplaques.com
Blog series on the southern section of Yonge Street

Google Maps of Yonge Street
{{Authority control Events of National Historic Significance (Canada) York Regional Roads Shopping districts and streets in Canada Roads in Markham, Ontario Roads in Toronto Transport in Aurora, Ontario Transport in Newmarket, Ontario Transport in Richmond Hill, Ontario Transport in Vaughan 1794 establishments in Canada