Leslie Street

Leslie Street

York Regional Road 12
Route of Leslie Street through Toronto and York Region (blue line)
Maintained by	City of Toronto Region of York
Length	46 km (29 mi)
Location	Toronto Markham Richmond Hill Aurora Newmarket East Gwillimbury Georgina
South end	Leslie Street Spit in Toronto
Major junctions	Lake Shore Boulevard Queen Street Dundas Street Gerrard Street —Road breaks— (Intervening minor segment) —Road breaks— Eglinton Avenue Lawrence Avenue   Highway 401 Sheppard Avenue Finch Avenue Steeles Avenue —Road breaks— John Street   Highway 407 Highway 7 16th Avenue Major Mackenzie Drive Stouffville Road Bloomington Road Wellington Street St. John’s Sideroad Mulock Drive Davis Drive Green Lane Mount Albert Road Queensville Sideroad
North end	Ravenshoe Road in Georgina (continues as The Queensway South)
Nearby arterial roads ← Pape Avenue Bayview Avenue Greenwood Avenue Don Valley Parkway / Highway 404 →

Looking south along the third segment of Leslie Street, in North York

Leslie Street is a north-south route in Toronto and York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is distinctive because of its four unconnected segments. In the early 20th century, however, it existed as a continuous street from the lake to O'Connor Drive.

History

The road has a long history and dates back to 1850s Toronto Nursery that was run by George Leslie. Leslie was one of the first settlers in the area, at the time a community named Leslieville, located two miles east of the-then city limits of Toronto. There were two Leslies mentioned in the city directory of 1869, G. Leslie and Sons of the nursery fame and George Leslie Jr. who ran the post office and, by 1899, the telegraph station. ^[1]

The concession road that passed close to the nursery was later named after the Leslies', running as far north as the Grand Trunk Railway (now Canadian National Railway) tracks, with an unopened road allowance continuing north to Danforth Avenue. North of Danforth, the open concession resumed to end at the Don River Valley (near present-day O'Connor Drive), but that section is named Donlands Avenue today. ^[2]

The section north of Eglinton Avenue originally terminated near Lawrence Avenue in the south, but was extended to meet Eglinton in the 1950s through a more northerly area of the Don valley. This was done in tandem to connect two separate sections of Eglinton across the valley to meet the Leslie extension. ^{[3] [4]}

Route Description

In Toronto, it begins at Lake Ontario at the foot of the Leslie Street Spit, so named because this is the most southerly point of Leslie Street. Just north at Lake Shore Blvd. East was the former eastern terminus of the Gardiner Expressway. Leslie Street continues north to railway tracks north of Gerrard Street East, where the first segment ends. Donlands Avenue, which runs from the north side of the railway tracks to north of O'Connor Drive, follows Leslie's alignment and was originally another segment of it. ^[5]

The second segment is a side street running only a single block from Wicksteed Avenue, then curving west to become Vanderhoof Avenue in the Leaside Business Park. It is separated from the third segment by the Ernest Thompson Seton parklands.

The third segment begins as a principal arterial road at Eglinton Avenue at the E.T. Seton/Wilket Creek Park area and continues north through residential neighbourhoods in Don Mills and the Don Valley. A proposed extension from Eglinton Avenue south to Bayview Avenue (north of Pottery Road) never came to fruition. ^{[6] [7]} The street numbers change erratically near Highway 401, going from the 4400 block at Sheppard Avenue to the 2000 block under the Canadian National Railway tracks in a short distance. It exits Toronto and enters York Region at Steeles Avenue, west of Don Mills Road. Leslie is reduced to a local road at Steeles Avenue and ends shortly thereafter in Wycliffe Park.

Leslie's fourth segment continues and resumes as an arterial road north of John Street, where the parallel Don Mills Road ends and turns into said segment. After a short curved realignment connecting to the end of Don Mills, this section rejoins the same alignment as the more southerly sections. There is a small jog in the road at Stouffville Road in Richmond Hill, and two sets of lights were installed in the summer of 2006 to ease the morning traffic congestion. Leslie extends many kilometres northward to the town of Keswick where it becomes The Queensway South. ^[8]

The stretch of Leslie Street in York Region is also designated as York Regional Road 12. ^[9]

Landmarks

Leslie Street Spit

• Leslie Street Spit (Tommy Thompson Park)
• Sunnybrook Park
• Inn on the Park
• Edwards Gardens
• Leslie Station (Sheppard Subway) and Oriole GO Station
• North York General Hospital (North of Highway 401)
• Historic Zion Schoolhouse
• Old Cummer GO Station

References

1. Muir 2014, p. 42.
2. "York Township map (centre of map, east of Leslieville)". The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project. McGill University.
3. "Aerial photo of the future site of the Leslie St. and Eglinton Ave. extensions along/across the Don in 1953". City of Toronto Archives (via Eloquent Systems Inc.). Retrieved February 25, 2025.
4. "Aerial photo of completed Leslie St. and Eglinton Ave. extensions in 1959". City of Toronto Archives (via Eloquent Systems Inc.). Retrieved February 25, 2025.
5. "Southern section on Google maps".
6. "Northern section on Google maps".
7. McCormick Rankin (July 1990). Leslie Street Extension and Bayview Avenue Widening Environmental and Needs Assessment Study (Report). Metropolitan Toronto Transportation Department.
8. "Fourth section on Google maps".
9. "Regional Roads". March 2021.

Sources

• Muir, E.G. (2014). Riverdale: East of the Don. Dundurn. ISBN   978-1-4597-2872-1 . Retrieved 2024-07-16.