Long Branch is a neighbourhood and former municipality in the south-west of
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada. It is located in the south-western corner of the former Township (and later, City) of
Etobicoke
Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Humber River (Ontario), Humber River, on the ...
on the shore of
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...
. The Village of Long Branch was a partially independent municipality from 1930 to 1967. Long Branch is located within a land grant from the government to
Colonel Samuel Smith in the late 18th century. After Smith's death, a small portion of it was developed as a summer resort in the late 1800s.
Character
Long Branch is primarily a residential district, composed mostly of single-family, detached homes. Along Lake Shore Boulevard West, numerous business are located in a low-rise commercial strip. South of Lake Shore Boulevard West, the area of single-family homes extends down to the lake. The area's lakeshore is primarily privately owned, except for Long Branch Park and Marie Curtis Park.
Long Branch's population in 2011 was 9,625, a decline from 10,365 in 2001. The population has a higher proportion of working-age persons and lower proportions of children and seniors compared to the City of Toronto average. 65% of Long Branch persons indicate English as their mother tongue, with 31% having neither English or French to be the mother tongue of the household. The largest non-official language mother tongue is
Polish at 6.3%, or 605 persons. The population has been relatively stable for several decades. The population of the Village of Long Branch was 9,616 in 1955.
Boundaries
Long Branch is bounded by
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...
on the south, with western boundaries of
Etobicoke Creek north of
Lake Shore Blvd. West and the western property line of the Canadian Arsenals Ltd. (Small Arms Ltd., WWII) (now within
Marie Curtis Park
Marie Curtis Park is a public park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the mouth of the Etobicoke Creek on Lake Ontario in the Long Branch, Toronto, Long Branch neighbourhood. Marie Curtis Park was built after the devastating floods of ...
) south of
Lakeshore Road in
Mississauga
Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...
. The northern boundary is the
Canadian National Railway's mainline, with the eastern boundaries being Twenty-Third Street south of Lake Shore Blvd. West, and the midpoint between Twenty-Second and Twenty-Fourth Streets north of Lake Shore Blvd. West.
History
Before Long Branch became a village, it was the home to
Loyalist
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...
Col. Sam Smith, who was one of the earliest settlers in Etobicoke. His cabin was located near Etobicoke Creek and survived into the 1950s.
Col. Smith was granted a large tract of land for his service in the
Queen's Rangers
The Queen's Rangers, also known as the Queen's American Rangers, and later Simcoe's Rangers, were a Loyalists fighting in the American Revolution, Loyalist military unit of the American Revolutionary War that specialized in cavalry tactics, clo ...
in 1797, which eventually extended from what is now
Kipling Avenue to the original course of the Etobicoke River (now Creek), and south of
Bloor Street
Bloor Street is an east–west arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River (Ontario), Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Parkway. East ...
to Lake Ontario after Col. Smith acquired additional parcels of land. The southern portion of this tract would include all of Long Branch and the westernmost portion of
New Toronto
New Toronto is a neighbourhood and former municipality in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the south-west area of Toronto, along Lake Ontario. The Town of New Toronto was established in 1890, and was designed and planned as an industr ...
, south of the railway line.
The property was bought by James Eastwood from Col. Sam Smith's son, Samuel Bois Smith, in 1871. In 1883 Eastwood sold a portion of his land south of Lake Shore Road (now, Boulevard West) to a small group of financiers from Toronto. It was to be developed as a summer resort called 'Sea Breeze Park', and a plan of subdivision was filed in 1884. In 1886, the site was acquired by Thomas Wilkie and his brother and it was renamed 'Long Branch Park', after the seaside summer resort area of
Long Branch, New Jersey where Thomas had vacationed. The central north–south street was originally named 'Sea Breeze Avenue', but was renamed as 'Long Branch Avenue'.
In 1887, the 'Long Branch Hotel' was built, set back from the waterfront near Beach Road (now Lake Promenade) and Long Branch Avenue. It survived until 1958 when it was destroyed by fire.
In 1891, the Long Branch post office was opened to serve the Long Branch Park summer resort. Beginning in 1910,
Colonel
Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
Frederick Burton Robbins bought land from the Newborn, Appleby, Van Every Estates and other lots south of Lake Shore Road around Long Branch Park and began to subdivide The Heathy Home Lots were called 'Pine Beach' 'The Pines' 'Lakeshore Gardens' and 'Lakeshore Gardens Annex'. In the 1920s, the land surrounding the mouth of Etobicoke Creek, known as the "Etobicoke Flats", was sub-divided for cottages and housing.

In 1895, the
Toronto & Mimico Electric Railway and Light Company radial railway's single-track service was completed along Lake Shore Road from New Toronto through Long Branch to the current location of
Long Branch Loop. In 1927, this line was amalgamated by the
Toronto Transportation Commission
Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) was the public transit operator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, beginning in 1921. It operated buses, streetcars and the island ferries. The system was renamed the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1954.
H ...
(TTC) and double-tracked in 1928.
In 1915, the
Long Branch Aerodrome was established to the west of the village in
Toronto Township, today's Mississauga. The aerodrome was Canada's first and was operated by the Curtiss Flying School until 1917.
In 1924, the
Long Branch Racetrack
Long Branch Racetrack was a horse-racing facility in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. It was situated in Etobicoke, then a township, just north of the village of Long Branch, Toronto, Long Branch and just west of the city of Toronto. It operated from ...
was inaugurated just north of the town at Horner Avenue at Kipling. It was operated by the Orpen family until 1955 when it was sold. The track was closed and racing moved north to
Woodbine Racetrack
Woodbine Racetrack is a race track for Thoroughbred horse racing in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group, Woodbine Racetrack manages and hosts Canada's most famous race, the King's Plate. The track ...
. Today's
Canadian International Stakes was initially called the Long Branch championship and run at Long Branch. The
Cup and Saucer Stakes also originated at Long Branch.
The Village of Long Branch was incorporated in 1930, after the other lakeshore municipalities of
Mimico
Mimico (, ) is a neighbourhood (and a former municipality) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, being located in the south-west area of Toronto on Lake Ontario. It is in the south-east corner of the former Township (and later, City) of Etobicoke, and was ...
(1917) and New Toronto (1920) were incorporated as towns. After the incorporation, some of its streets were given new names. In 1931, north–south street names were standardized by continuing the ordinal numbers of New Toronto's streets, picking-up at Twenty-Third Street in the east through to Forty-Third Street in the west. For example;
Lansdowne Avenue became Thirty-Third Street and Lake View Avenue became Thirty-Fifth Street. Long Branch Avenue has remained the same (it could have been Thirty-Fourth St.). Thirty-Seventh St. was formerly called Robert Street, after Robert Eastwood. Today, a drugstore is located at the corner of Thirty-Seventh St. and Lake Shore Blvd. West on the site of the former Eastwood Park Hotel, which originally was the homestead built by Robert Eastwood on the occasion of his marriage to Elizabeth McGregor in 1911. Robert Eastwood died in 1925, and his widow, "Lizzie" sold the property and homestead to Paul and May Laurent of Church Street (now Royal Road) Mimico. Following the abolition of Prohibition, Paul and May obtained a liquor licence from the province of Ontario and opened what would become a 25-room hotel with dining room and beverage rooms which would serve the people of Long Branch for 60 years until the Laurent family sold the business and property in 1987. Today, other local streets such as James Street still bear names of members of the Eastwood family. Twenty-third Street was called Government Road even after the 1931 incorporation.
A cenotaph was raised on Long Branch Avenue south of Lake Shore in 1933 to commemorate the village's contributions during the First (and later, Second) World War. During the Second World War, many industries were opened between Lake Shore Road and the railway to the north as part of the Commonwealth war effort. The
Small Arms Limited Long Branch Arsenal munitions factory was established during World War II to the west of the village, just north of the Aerodrome's location.
In October 1954,
Hurricane Hazel
Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest, second-costliest, and most intense hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed at least 469 people in Haiti before it struck the United States near the border between North and Sou ...
was particularly destructive in Toronto, as a result of a combination of a lack of experience in dealing with tropical storms and the storm's unexpected retention of power. Hazel had travelled 1,100 km (680 mi) over land, but while approaching Canada, it had merged with an existing powerful cold front. The storm stalled over the Greater Toronto Area, and although it was now extratropical, it remained as powerful as a category 1 hurricane. To help with the cleanup, 800 members of the military were summoned, and a Hurricane Relief Fund was established that distributed $5.1 million (2009: $41.7 million) in aid.

More than forty homes in Long Branch were lost at the mouth of the Etobicoke Creek due to flooding caused by Hurricane Hazel. Long Branch's dead from the hurricane were: Mr and Mrs Ed Crymble and their daughter Clifford; Patricia and Robert Thorpe; and Mrs. Thorpe's mother, Mrs. Robert Johnston. The Thorpe's baby daughter Nancy survived. The baby had been handed to 17-year-old Sylvia Jones while the area was being abandoned. Jones climbed onto a nearby roof and the two were later saved by fire fighters. The Thorpe's house was one of the ones washed away into Lake Ontario. Nancy Thorpe was later adopted by her aunt and uncle. The O'Farrell family escaped when their house floated down the river, by climbing onto trees that their house crashed into. Thirty-five persons survived on the roof of one house that was held back from Lake Ontario by two trees the house had crashed into. According to Long Branch Reeve Marie Curtis, "if it hadn't been for the trees, which held the houses back, half of them would have been swept out into the lake."
147 cottages at the mouth were declared unfit for habitation after the flooding when sanitation facilities broke down.
To prevent any future
flood
A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...
s from having similar disastrous results, cottages and houses from the floodplain, the sand bar and around the mouth of the river were removed and the area was turned into parkland. In 1959, the park was named for village Reeve
Marie Curtis
Ann Marie Curtis (1911/12 – March 12, 2006), née McCarthy, was a Canadian politician, who served as the reeve of the Toronto suburb of Long Branch, Toronto, Long Branch, Ontario from 1953 to her retirement in 1962. She was the first, and only ...
in recognition for her longstanding municipal service and her efforts to have the park built. A trailer park north of Lakeshore Road, Pleasant Valley Trailer Park, was also destroyed when flooding caused a dike to break.
The trailer park is now the site of Maurice J. Breen Park.
Forty-Third Street, along the eastern bank of Etobicoke Creek, was closed up and only a stub north of Lake Shore Boulevard exists. West of Etobicoke Creek and south of Lakeshore Road is Island Road, which today is an access road for parking and a boat launch for Marie Curtis Park. It was built in the early 20th century to serve the sub-division built on the banks of the Etobicoke Creek and an island within the channel of the creek. As part of the park development, the island of Island Road became part of the west bank of Etobicoke Creek, as the western channel was filled in. At the same time, a sand bar at the mouth was connected to shore by fill. The sand bar is Marie Curtis Beach today. Etobicoke Creek originally turned at a right-angle to the west at the shore, but now is channelled straight out to the lake. A new section of Island Road was built to connect to Lakeshore Road to the north, as its prior connection to Forty-Third Street on the eastern bank was closed.

After World War II, an influx of immigrants from Europe came to Toronto. One of the largest Orthodox churches in Canada, St. Demetrius Ukrainian Orthodox Church (not to be confused with St Demetrius Byzantine Rite Catholic church, also in Etobicoke), was built on Lake Shore Road (now Blvd. West) opposite 27th Street in 1958.
In 1967, the Village of Long Branch was amalgamated with the Township of
Etobicoke
Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Humber River (Ontario), Humber River, on the ...
to form the Borough of Etobicoke. That year, the new
GO Transit
GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...
commuter train service was established and the
Long Branch GO Station was built next to Long Branch Loop, connecting Long Branch west to Oakville and east to downtown Toronto. The Borough became the City of Etobicoke in 1984. In 1998, Etobicoke was
merged
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
with five other municipalities and the
Metropolitan Toronto
The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, whic ...
government to form the new City of Toronto.
In the late 1980s, some industry started to relocate out of Long Branch. Lake Shore Boulevard West today is a major thoroughfare and business strip in transition, with plans, some controversial, to change its character from a low-density industrial-commercial corridor to higher-density residential uses including some limited commercial space.
Historical sites
These sites are located on the former Federal Government lands, located south of Lakeview and west of Long Branch, in Mississauga.
Small Arms Limited, Long Branch Arsenal
Adjacent to the western boundary of Marie Curtis Park (now Marie Curtis Park West) in Toronto Township is the former Small Arms Limited Long Branch Arsenal site. The Federal Government had owned the lands south of Lake Shore Road, between the Etobicoke River to just west of Cawthra Road, from the late 1800s into the early 20th century.
The Ordnance Branch of the Department of National Defense authorized the construction of the factory in 1940. After transfer to the Department of Munitions and Supply, a Crown Corporation, Small Arms Ltd. was formed to operate the facility. By June 1941, the first five rifles had been produced. Huge quantities of British-pattern military
small arms
A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions).
The first firearms originate ...
were manufactured there during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, including the No.4 MkI*
Lee–Enfield
The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the standard service rifle of th ...
bolt-action rifle, and the
Sten
The STEN (or Sten gun) is a British submachine gun chambered in 9×19mm which was used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and during the Korean War. The Sten paired a simple design with a low production co ...
submachine-gun (or machine-carbine). Small Arms Ltd. ceased operations at the end of December 1945. Beginning January 1, 1946, operations continued as the Small Arms Division, Canadian Arsenals Limited. The factory was closed June 30, 1976. The property was later used by Canada Post as a distribution centre.
The factory complex was demolished and the "Arsenal Lands" are now slated to become part of Marie Curtis Park West. The buildings of the office complex at the foot of Dixie Road have been saved for public use, while only the water tower remains from the factory complex.
Long Branch Aerodrome

The Long Branch Aerodrome was located west of Long Branch on the Federal Government lands in Toronto Township (today's Mississauga). The aerodrome was situated on a 100-acre property on Lakeshore Road just west of Dixie Road. The Long Branch Aerodrome has the distinction of being the first airport in Canada and home to Canada's first aviator training school. It opened on May 20, 1915, by Curtiss Aeroplanes and Motors Company for the
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...
. Aircraft such as the
JN-4 (Canadian) "Canuck" soon became a common sight at the airfield, which included three aircraft hangars.
In January 1917, the newly designated
Royal Flying Corps, Canada, a forerunner to the Royal Canadian Air Force, opened the RFC Training Centre at Long Branch. The Long Branch training centre also provided instruction on flying boats at nearby Hanlon's Point in Toronto Harbour, the first seaplane base in Canada. By July 1917, the flight school re-located to the
Armour Heights Aerodrome. Long Branch became the Cadet Ground Training School for the Royal Flying Corps. Both the school and the aerodrome closed in 1919. During World War II, the former aerodrome served initially as 21 Non-permanent Active Militia Training centre and then as an army small arms training centre. After the war, the Lakeview Armoury was established on the site, but was demolished in the 1950s.
Not the slightest trace remains of the airfield today. From 1958 to 2005, the waterfront portion of the property was the location of Ontario Power Generation's Lakeview Generating Station. In September 1969, a plaque was erected at the site to commemorate Canada's first Aerodrome.
Education

Two
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
school board
A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution.
The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...
operates schools in Long Branch, the English
first language
A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...
Toronto District School Board
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), formerly known as English-language Public District School Board No. 12 prior to 1999, is the English-language public-secular school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The minority public-secular franco ...
, and the French first language
Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CVS). Both school boards operate one institution in Long Branch, which provides
primary education
Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...
. They include:
* École élémentaire Micheline-Saint-Cyr (CSV)
*
James S. Bell Junior Middle School (TDSB)
Vincent Massey Public School was formerly another elementary school operated by TDSB. Operating from 1929 to 1983, the building is presently used as a daycare and Nursery.
Long Branch was previously home to one public school operated by the
Toronto Catholic District School Board
The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB, known as English-language Separate District School Board No. 40 prior to 1999) is an English-language public-separate school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada, headquartered in North York. ...
(TCDSB), Christ the King Catholic School. However, in February 2018, the school was amalgamated along with St Theresa Catholic School into a new school in neighbouring New Toronto, known as The Holy Trinity Catholic School. The school is located east of
Father John Redmond Catholic Secondary School, a
secondary school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
adjacent to Long Branch's eastern boundary.
Transportation

The Long Branch Loop is the western terminus for the
501 Queen and
508 Lake Shore TTC streetcar lines, connecting Long Branch to downtown Toronto. The Loop is also the terminus for the ''110 Islington South'' and ''123 Shorncliffe'' TTC bus lines. The
MiWay
MiWay (; stylized MiWay), also known as Mississauga Transit and originally as Mississauga Transit Systems, is the municipal public transport agency serving Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and is responsible to the city's Transportation and Wor ...
Mississauga transit agency operates the 5 Dixie and 23 Lakeshore from the Loop west into Mississauga. Next to the loop is the Long Branch GO Station on the GO Transit Lakeshore West line.
The major east–west arterial road in Long Branch is Lake Shore Boulevard, which connects to the east to downtown Toronto. Lake Shore Boulevard West continues to the west as Lakeshore Road in Mississauga. The generally used north–south arterial roads are Brown's Line and Kipling Avenue, neither of which is within Long Branch (except a few metres at the southern end of Brown's Line, south of the railway tracks). Since there are no major north–south roads in Long Branch, these exterior roads are used to reach the
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 exten ...
,
Ontario Highway 427
King's Highway 427 (pronounced "four twenty-seven"), also known as Highway 427 and colloquially as the 427, is a 400-series highways, 400-series highway in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario that runs from the Q ...
and the
Queen Elizabeth Way
The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is a 400-series highways, 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario linking Toronto with the Niagara Peninsula and Buffalo, New York. The highway begins at the Canada–United States border on the Pea ...
highways to the north.
Institutions
Churches
* Christ the King Roman Catholic Church
* Long Branch Baptist Church
* St Agnes Anglican Church (founded 1924, closed 2005, building remains, now used as a Polish church)
* St Paul's United Church (founded 1924)
* St James Presbyterian (founded 1914, closed 2001)
* St. Demetrius Ukrainian Orthodox Church (1956)
* Polish Full Gospel Church
Notable local businesses, current and historical
*
Castrol
Castrol Limited is a British oil company that markets industrial and automotive lubricants, offering a wide range of oil, greases and similar products for most lubrication applications. The company was originally named CC Wakefield; the nam ...
Oils
*
Chrysler Canada Etobicoke casting
* Neptune Meters (closed)
* Gabriel Shock Absorbers, later Arvin Industries (closed)
*
Pittsburgh Paints (closed)
Points of interest

* Long Branch Centennial Arena
* Long Branch Public Library
*
Marie Curtis Park
Marie Curtis Park is a public park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the mouth of the Etobicoke Creek on Lake Ontario in the Long Branch, Toronto, Long Branch neighbourhood. Marie Curtis Park was built after the devastating floods of ...
Notable persons
Politicians
*
Laurel Broten, former Liberal M.P.P., Minister of the Environment & Minister of Education
*
Ruth Grier, former NDP M.P.P., Minister of the Environment & Minister of Health
*
Terry Grier, former NDP M.P. and educator
*
Doug Holyday, former Progressive Conservative M.P.P., former deputy mayor of City of Toronto, former mayor of City of Etobicoke
*
Michael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff ( ; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a historian, Ignatieff has ...
, former Liberal M.P. & leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
*
Col. Sam Smith, British Loyalist military officer and administrator of Upper Canada
Reeves
* 1931–1932, 1934-1936 John Shannon
* 1933 Robert A. Westbrook
* 1937 Joseph C. Deyman
* 1938–1941, 1944
Samuel Thomas Wright, previously Conservative MPP for Dovercourt (1926–1934)
* 1942-1943 John Ord (Jack) Elton - general manager for a supermarket chain
* 1945–1947, 1951-1953 Thomas F. Carter - In 1954, ran for the federal Progressive Conservative nomination for
York West
York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
but was defeated by
John Borden Hamilton who went on to win the by-election
* 1948-1950 Lawrence Iles - owned a butcher shop
* 1954-1962
Marie Curtis
Ann Marie Curtis (1911/12 – March 12, 2006), née McCarthy, was a Canadian politician, who served as the reeve of the Toronto suburb of Long Branch, Toronto, Long Branch, Ontario from 1953 to her retirement in 1962. She was the first, and only ...
- only woman to become reeve of Long Branch. She and
Dorothy Hague were the first women reeves or mayors in the Toronto area.
* 1963-1964 Leonard E. Ford - advocated the merger of Long Branch with Mimico and New Toronto rather than amalgamation of Metro Toronto.
[Long Branch: 3 Vie to Succeed Mrs. Curtis
The Globe and Mail (1936-2016); Toronto, Ont. oronto, Ont8 Nov 1962: 9.]
* 1965-1966 Thomas Berry - grew up in a
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
orphanage as his
merchant seaman father was unable to care for him. Berry, himself, joined the
British Merchant Navy
The British Merchant Navy is the collective name given to British civilian ships and their associated crews, including officers and ratings. In the UK, it is simply referred to as the Merchant Navy or MN. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensi ...
when he was 15 and was
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
ed three times during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. After the war he trained as a
steamfitter and then moved to Canada with his wife and child, settling in Long Branch in 1947. He also crusaded to save a local school from demolition, it reopened in 1970 as the Thomas Berry Daycare Centre. On
Metro Toronto Council, he successfully fought against plans to tear down Toronto's
Old City Hall.
[Thomas Berry last reeve of Long Branch, Toronto Star (1971-2009); Toronto, Ontario oronto, Ontario1 Nov 1997: E5.]
Artists
*
Barbara Howard
See also
*
List of neighbourhoods in Toronto
The strength and vitality of the many neighbourhoods that make up Toronto, Ontario, Canada has earned the city its unofficial nickname of "the city of neighbourhoods." There are 158 neighbourhoods officially recognized by the City of Toronto (in ...
References and notes
External links
Long Branch neighbourhood profileVarious photos of the Long Branch munitions factory
{{authority control
Neighbourhoods in Toronto
Etobicoke
Streetcar suburbs
Metropolitan Toronto
Former municipalities in Toronto
Populated places disestablished in 1967