york toronto

History of York, Toronto

York Township was incorporated in 1850 by Canada West (which later became Ontario), bounded by the Humber River to the west and Victoria Park Avenue to the east. Etobicoke, Scarborough, Vaughan and Markham townships were located on three other sides of York respectively.

York Township was home to one of the original Black communities in Toronto. The township had the second largest black population after St John's Ward, most of whom lived in York Township West (located west of Yonge Street and north of Bloor). As a result, at 17% today, York has the largest percentage Black among all six municipalties.

The Humewood-Cedarvale neighbourhood was developed in the 1910s to attract developers to the growing township. Oakwood Village was also established during this time. In the 1920s, Ontario began taking on a more urban identity than rural north, with southern reaches abutting Toronto becoming more like an urban culture than a very small town

In 1922, the decision was made to split North York into two. The rural northern half of the township would become North York at this point in time; meanwhile, there were two pockets of unincorporated urban development that remained north of the village of North Toronto.

Within a few years, it became evident that the province's arrangement of having an exclave was impractical and further subdivided York to create the township of East York.

The Township of York contracted with the Toronto Transportation Commission for streetcar and bus services, but remained independent from Toronto. During this time, American novelist and journalist Ernest Hemmingway resided in the Humewood - Cedarvale community and wrote for the Toronto Star.

Update: The corrected version has been updated to more accurately represent the events that occurred during

Bracebridge, Keswick and Stouffville were severed from York County in 1954 to become towns under the new upper-tier government of Metropolitan Toronto. In 1967 it took on the town of Weston which became officially known as York, before changing its name once again to City of York.

York was amalgamated with Toronto in 1998. The old Administration Building for York is at 2700 Eglinton Avenue West, close to Black Creek Drive and Keele Street.

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