Davenport - Toronto's Oldest Road

After Toronto was founded in 1793, the British, as you can see, laid out its streets in a very sensible and logical grid pattern.
 

All except for one street - Davenport Road.

What's up with that?

Blame it on the Native Indians!

Okay, okay, cool your jets.   Listen to this.....

At the end of the last Ice Age (about 11,000 years ago, give or take), Lake Ontario was a little bit bigger than it is now.

In fact, it was called a different name - Lake Iroquois.

As you see, it was just a little bit larger than Lake Ontario, due to the receding glaciers backing up water exiting the lake into the St. Lawrence River.

However, once the glaciers were gone and water levels returned to their essentially current levels, what was left above ground was an escarpment all along the Lake Iroquois shoreline.

Running just between Bloor and St. Clair.  Or between Queen and Eglinton, as show on this map.

Ever been to Casa Loma?  Well, it sits on top of it.

The Scarborough Bluffs?  Yup, they're a are part of it, too.

And which is why, I now know, I had such a great view from my former office building, at Avenue Rd and St. Clair.

I'm sure you all think I'm pretty much of a big wheel, but this was not my office.

Mine was on the other side of the building.

Just kidding......this was my office.

Okay, okay, I was crammed in a tiny cubbyhole many floors down.

Anyway.....

Long after the glaciers had receded (I'm eventually getting to the history of Davenport Road, by the way) the local Indians beat a trail along the base of the shoreline, from the Humber River over to the Don River.

They used Davenport as a trading trail.  Davenport is an old Indian word for seating area, or sofa, preferably a rollout type.  Okay, it was the name of one of the first homes built on the top of the escarpment, overlooking.....the Davenport Trail.

It was also used by early European traders.  And once the Brits arrived, even though it wasn't part of their precious grid pattern, they grudgingly started using it, too.

In order to pay to have it paved, they set up a toll road all along it in the early 1800's.

And this is the only remaining "Toll House",  now a museum at the corner of Davenport and Bathurst.

I assume it's had a coat of paint since then, but generally in pretty good shape.

And, of course, the actual toll gate.  No getting by that thing!

(FYI, Yonge St. also was also a toll road at one time.)

And when I say "paved", I mean paved with logs.

In the mid 1800's that's about as good as it got.

So the next time you are meandering along Davenport and think "What's up with this kooky road?"....now you know.

Sincerely, Your Uncle UC

We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging.