Beach Memories: Learn about Kingston Road during historic walking tour on Saturday, July 12

By GENE DOMAGALA

Kingston Road is one of the most historic streets, highways and trails in the Province of Ontario.

It dates back to Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe in the early 1790s, and even prior to that time.

Before French and English settlements and the building of roads, First Nations peoples had carved out their own trails through the forests and along the shores of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. During the French period, it was the road to Quebec.

However, we will start our historical examination of Kingston Road from the 1890s to the present.

I’ll be doing that at an historic walk I will be hosting on Saturday, July 12, along Kingston Road from Victoria Park Avenue westwards. We will start the walk at 1 p.m. and meet at the southeast corner of Victoria Park Avenue and Kingston Road.

We’ll explore many different topics on the walking tour.

For example, did you know that in the Kingston Road and Victoria Park Avenue area there was once the largest reform school for young girls in the province? On the same topic, there was a reform school for boys around the same corner.

In the sports world, especially for those interested in golf, the first municipal golf course was located near Main Street and Kingston Road. It later became a private golf course.

We also used to have some bowling alleys along Kingston Road, but now there is only one. Do you know where it is located?

There are also many other features of interest along Kingston Road including a “heaven” for bird watchers and field naturalists.

Along Kingston Road there are now some fine licensed drinking establishments and restaurants, but in the old days (as far back as 1875) it was home to a number of “taverns” at which the riders of stagecoaches would stop along what was then a corduroy road made of logs.

There were also some other “drinking houses” along Kingston Road in the more recent past that perhaps the parents or grandparents of some of younger readers might remember.

Churches along Kingston Road are also “architectural marvels” including Kingston Road United Church and St. John’s Catholic Church.

More modern buildings including the Steve & Sally Stavro Family YMCA at Kingston Road and Beech Avenue also feature marvellous architecture.

Now in the days before television, local residents would be able to go and see motion picture shows at theatres and movie houses on Kingston Road.

How many residents remember where the movies were shown on Kingston Road?

We certainly still have many schools connected to the Kingston Road area including St. John’s Catholic School, Notre Dame Catholic High School, Neil McNeil Catholic High School and Malvern Collegiate. It seems like some of those schools have been around forever.

Also, dear Beachers, some of the city’s oldest funeral parlours have links to Kingston Road. One of the oldest is now gone but not forgotten.

Those are just some of the historic features of interest along Kingston Road, which is now known to some as The Silver Mile because of the many eclectic shops and businesses that line both sides of the street.

There’s no other street in Toronto like Kingston Road, and I look forward to seeing you at the July 12 walk.

Historically yours!