Toronto was an unincorporated rural community located in Woodside Township,

Sangamon County Sangamon County is located in the center of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 197,465. Its county seat and largest city is Springfield, the state capital. Sangamon County is included in the S ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

. It was located adjacent to what is now the ''Toronto Road'' exit at Mile 90 of the Illinois section of

Interstate 55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...

. Today, the Toronto neighborhood of Springfield is roughly defined as the region bordering

Lake Springfield Lake Springfield is a reservoir on the southeast edge of the city of Springfield, Illinois. It is above sea level. The lake was formed in 1931–1935 by building Spaulding Dam across Sugar Creek, a tributary of the Sangamon River. The lake wa ...

south of Interstate 72 and east of

History

Toronto was originally built in the 1800s as a rural station stop on the

Illinois Central The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also c ...

line six miles south of

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest ...

, the state capital. Farmers would bring fresh vegetables and milk to the now-vanished railroad station for transportation into nearby cities. The

whistle stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a stop or station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, s ...

may have been named after the Canadian city of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. In the late 1960s, Illinois planners built a new

greenfield Greenfield or Greenfields may refer to: Engineering and Business * Greenfield agreement, an employment agreement for a new organisation * Greenfield investment, the investment in a structure in an area where no previous facilities exist * Greenf ...

state university adjacent to the former Toronto. The university campus, located 1.5 miles northeast of Toronto, is now the

University of Illinois at Springfield The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) is a public university in Springfield, Illinois. The university was established in 1969 as Sangamon State University by the Illinois General Assembly and became a part of the University of Illinoi ...

(UIS). Almost all of the land area of the former Toronto has since been annexed into Springfield, and the former rural hamlet has become an urban campustown neighborhood. ''Toronto Road'' continues to commemorate the former rural hamlet and current community.

Economy

Despite its formal incorporation into the boundaries of Springfield, the Toronto area maintains a distinct local economy influenced by the

UIS UIS may refer to: * Uis, a village in Erongo Region, Namibia * Underwater Inspection System, a component of the Underwater Port Security System developed for the United States Coast Guard *Universal Interactive Studios (now Vivendi Games) *Universi ...

campus, including the Capital Area Career Center and

Lincoln Land Community College Lincoln Land Community College is a public community college in Springfield, Illinois. It has extended branches in different locations, including Beardstown, Jacksonville, Litchfield and Taylorville, Illinois. The main campus is less than ha ...

, parks along the lakefront, the campus-area Lake Pointe apartment complex, and the campus-area bars of Mowie's Cue, Pier 55 Lounge, and Crows Mill Pub.

References

{{authority control Populated places in Sangamon County, Illinois Springfield metropolitan area, Illinois Unincorporated communities in Illinois