Читать книгу Toronto Sketches 12 - Mike Filey - Страница 16

August 19, 2012

Motorists who dare to use the lower portion of Yonge Street between Richmond and Gerrard over the next few weeks will come across a number of traffic restrictions that, it is hoped, will encourage greater pedestrian use and appreciation of what many regard as “Canada’s Main Street.” The Celebrate Yonge festival will continue until September 16.

Historically, most of the Richmond to Gerrard stretch of today’s modern Yonge Street was a latecomer in the evolution of the thoroughfare that some still mistakenly describe as the longest street in the world. In fact, this one-time Guinness World Record holder was recently replaced when the title was given to the 29,800-mile-long Pan-American Highway, which is described as “the world’s longest motorable road.”

But I digress.… The idea of creating a Yonge Street originated soon after John Simcoe was appointed the first lieutenant governor of the newly established Province of Upper Canada (after 1867 renamed Ontario) back in 1791. Concerned about the vulnerability of his new province, he proposed that a military trail be constructed by his Queen’s Rangers. This road (it was hardly that, more of a pathway) would serve as a relatively quick route to be taken by British troops stationed in forts located along the upper lakes to come the defence of the communities scattered along the southern border of the young province if and when troops from south of that border decided it was time to invade the province. (Actually, in Simcoe’s mind it wasn’t if an attack would come, but rather when.)

Yonge Street looking north over Queen Street, 1941. The numerous American flags on the old Eaton’s store would indicate a special welcome to visitors from south of the border. Note also that right turns were permitted at this busy corner, as was parking on Yonge Street north of Queen. The Peter Witt “trains” would be replaced by the country’s first subway in 1954.

To this end, Simcoe’s Rangers were ordered to cut a path through the forest and dense brush north of York, the site he had selected on the north shore of Lake Ontario to be the site of a naval shipyard. The plan was to have this pathway connect with watercourses not far from today’s Holland Landing. Then, by using navigable lakes and rivers and Simcoe’s new road, troops and weapons could get from the north down to the scene of any trouble with relative speed.

While that helps explain one of the reasons Yonge Street was laid out the way it was (another was its importance as a trading route for furs and other necessities), the road didn’t originally penetrate into the downtown part of the city that we know today and incorporate the stretch that’s part of the ongoing Celebrate Yonge festival. In fact, for many years swamps and other hindrances to the south of the Second Concession (now Bloor Street) forced travellers to veer east of the projected line of Yonge and enter the young community closer to its main business area near the King and Church street intersection. The name given to Toronto Street demonstrates that fact.

Sir George Yonge (1731–1812) was a colleague of John Graves Simcoe before the latter was appointed our province’s first lieutenant governor. Yonge was serving as the Secretary for War in King George III’s cabinet when Simcoe honoured him with the name of what would become his new community’s main street.

When the section south of Bloor was finally opened up there was another problem. South of today’s Yonge and Queen intersection, the rambling tannery yard of pioneer industrialist Jesse Ketchum straddled Yonge Street’s future right-of-way. Many more years would pass before Yonge Street would make its way to the water’s edge.