Beach Memories: Historic walk along Kingston Road set for Saturday, May 25

By GENE DOMAGALA

I will be leading an historic walk in Kingston Road Village on Saturday, May 25, starting at 1 p.m. We will meet at Victoria Park Avenue and Kingston Road to start the walk.

What will this walk be about? It will be about a village that started more than 100 years ago, and we will trace the history from its start as an Indigenous trail through to the modern-day road it is today.

Here are some of the features of the walk, in no chronological order:

While we now have some fabulous drinking establishments along Kingston Road between Victoria Park Avenue and Main Street, there is a long history of them in the area. One of them goes back 175 years.

There were also the Alexandra Industrial School for Girls and the St. John’s Training School for Boys in the Victoria Park and Kingston area going back nearly 130 years ago.

Kingston Road Village even had its own saddle-making shop in an old building.

There was also the first municipal golf course in the city in the area.

But how many people can tell me about Kingston Road and its French Connection?

There are also a number of religious establishments along Kingston Road with long histories, some of them still around and some that have gone.

And what about more modern times in Kingston Road Village?

Well, just recently we had a great addition called The Big Carrot on the ground floor of the building on the southeast corner of Kingston Road and Southwood Drive.

We have banks on Kingston Road with 100 years of history that are still in operation.

And where else could you find a bookstore called The Great Escape? That location has been the home of a bookstore for decades.

There were and still are long-serving dentists including Dr. Shnall who wrote a book called Saving Jackson’s Tooth to teach kids about dental health.

We have had roller rinks, theatres, wood planing mills, furniture stores, great restaurants (then and now) in Kingston Road Village.

Kingston Road also had its own transportation system, going back to the old radial railway to the present-day streetcars as well.

There is also one of the great nature trails in the city that starts in the Kingston Road area and heads into the Glen Stewart Ravine.

There are so many historic and modern places that make up our Kingston Road Village, and I look forward to seeing you on May 25.