This is a humorous student piece combining historical research and informal writing style. “The Origins of…” writing prompt is a great way to introduce research based writing.
Recently, an American friend asked me why Bay street is called Bay street. The question caught me off guard. I mean, sure, I knew that Americans generally number their streets, but I never thought why Bay Street is Bay Street, or why Dundas is called Dundas. So my curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to find out why some major Toronto streets are named what they are.
1. Bay Street.
Wikipedia, the most reliable source ever, informed me that before 1797 Bay Street had a way cooler name, Bear Street, due to the number of bear sightings in the area. Yet in 1797 it was renamed Bay Street because it connected Lot Street to a bay on the Toronto Harbour.
2. Bloor Street.
Unlike Bay Street, Bloor has a slightly more complicated history. The street’s name changed very often from Tollgate to St. Paul Street until it finally settled on Bloor St. in honour of the terrifying looking brewer, Joseph Bloor, who also established the Village of Yorkville.
3. Dundas St.
Dundas’ history is about as straightforward as the street itself. Before the establishment of the street, there were a bunch of unconnected roads scattered throughout downton; so from 1812 until the latter half of the 20th century, Dundas street grew, swallowing up and connecting all the miscellaneous roads in Toronto. Lord Simcoe named it after Right Honourable Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville, the British secretary of state for the home department. Henry Dundas never visited Canada, and I hear, neither did Sir George Yonge.
4. Queen St.
You would think that since Canada is a part of the British Commonwealth, the name of this street would be straight forward, yet it’s not. Back when Toronto was called York, what is now known as Queen St. was known as Lot Street because of the lots of land that were cleared and given to British soldiers to establish a life in Canada. In 1837 someone must have thought it disrespectful to have nothing honouring the Queen, so they promptly re-christened it Queen St after Queen Victoria.
5. Finally Danforth
Danforth was named after an American. His name was Asa Danforth Jr., and he built portions of what would become Queen Street and Kingston Road. Surprisingly he was the one who also built parts of Danforth, and it was his humble idea to name it after himself.
It turns out the origins of street names are actually pretty interesting. While the Canadian way of naming streets instead of numbering them makes it harder to remember their names and easier to get lost, it’s way more fun to know that you’re walking on a street that used to host bears, or a street named after a humble American.
Lina Patrick
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