Читать книгу Toronto Sketches 11 - Mike Filey - Страница 17

The year 1939 was special for our country and for virtually every one of its 11,267,000 citizens. In the spring of that year, King George VI and his consort, Queen Elizabeth, came for a visit. Arriving aboard the Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Australia at Quebec City on May 17, the royal couple spent the next month touring the nation from coast to coast, departing Halifax on June 15.

Torontonians were particularly eager to welcome their king and queen. Huge crowds turned out see Their Majesties during their public appearances at Exhibition Park, Riverdale Park, and at the Woodbine Race Track, where they watched the eightieth running of the King’s Plate. Thousands more viewed the royal couple and waved from vantage points along the miles of city streets traversed by their maroon McLaughlin Buick touring car during their day-long visit on May 22.

In honour of the royal visit, Toronto’s new municipal aerodrome located across the Western Channel at the foot and Bathurst Street and just west of the Hanlan’s Point ferry dock and picnic grounds was officially given the title Port George VI Island Airport. However, not long after the couple returned to England, the name was simplified to Toronto Island Airport. After another name change in 1994 it became Toronto City Centre Airport. A further change was recommended in 2009, and it officially became the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. Haven’t checked its name lately, but it’s quite likely that it’s still “Billy’s Field.”

There’s another name in the west end of town that perpetuates memories of that long-ago visit, despite what some of our young citizens may think. Today’s modern multi-lane Queen Elizabeth Highway does not recognize the present Queen of Canada (nor do the initials ER along the way stand for Eleanor Roosevelt). The highway does, in fact, honour her mother, the same lady who accompanied the king on that royal visit back in 1939. Of course, provincial officials had to get the queen’s approval to so designate the new highway, which, it is reported, she gave with great pleasure.

While today we refer to the entire eighty-six-mile stretch from Highway 427 (on Toronto’s western outskirts) to Fort Erie as the QEW, the original Queen Elizabeth Way was only that portion between St. Catharines and Niagara Falls. This stretch (and only this stretch) was so dedicated by Queen Elizabeth on June 7, 1939.

Originally known as the Middle Road, so named because it was located between the Lakeshore Road and the Dundas Highway (#5), the routing of this pioneer thoroughfare would become the right-of-way for the Toronto–Hamilton section of the new Queen Elizabeth Highway. This 1923 photo is from the Ontario Archives.

During their visit to Canada in 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth spent some time in Toronto. On May 22 they visited Woodbine Park (Queen Street East) to watch the eightieth running of the King’s Plate. Two weeks later, the queen dedicated the St. Catharines–Niagara Falls section of new Queen Elizabeth Way.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the lake, the new Toronto–Burlington/Hamilton Highway (they hadn’t yet decided on its final name) was still being referred to as the New Middle Road Highway.

This highway was merely an upgraded version of the existing Middle Road that had started life as an extension of Toronto’s Queen Street and was given the name the Middle Road because it was located midway between the ancient Lake Shore Road and the Dundas Highway.

It wasn’t until August 23, 1940, that provincial officials declared the stretch of highway that ran between Toronto and Niagara Falls open. The entire stretch would be known as the Queen Elizabeth Highway. Another year would pass before extensions to the Rainbow Bridge and to Fort Erie opened to traffic.

June 6, 2010