Long Branch, Toronto
| Long Branch | |
|---|---|
| — Neighbourhood — | |
 |
|
  |
|
| Coordinates: 43°35′29″N 79°31′57″W / 43.59139°N 79.5325°WCoordinates: 43°35′29″N 79°31′57″W / 43.59139°N 79.5325°W | |
| Country |  Canada |
| Province |  Ontario |
| City |  Toronto |
| Community | Etobicoke-York |
| Established | 1884 planned (Subdivision) 'Sea Breeze Park' 1891 (Postal village) |
| Incorporated | 1930 (Village) |
| Changed Municipality | 1954  Metropolitan Toronto from York County1998 Toronto from Etobicoke |
| Annexed | 1967 into Etobicoke |
| Government | |
| • MP | Bernard Trottier (Etobicoke-Lakeshore) |
| • MPP | Laurel Broten (Etobicoke-Lakeshore) |
| • Councillor | Mark Grimes (Ward 6 Etobicoke-Lakeshore) |
The former Village of Long Branch is a neighbourhood in the south-west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the south-west corner of the former Township (and later, City) of Etobicoke and was a partially independent municipality from 1930 to 1967. It was the westernmost of the former 'Lakeshore Municipalities'.
Long Branch is bounded by Lake Ontario on the south, with western boundaries of Etobicoke Creek north of Lake Shore Blvd. West and the property line of the Canadian Arsenals Ltd. (Small Arms Ltd., WWII) south of Lake Shore Road, the Canadian National Railway's mainline to the north, and eastern boundaries being Twenty-Third Street south of Lake Shore Blvd. West, and the mid-point between Twenty-Second and Twenty-Fourth Streets north of Lake Shore Blvd. West.
Contents |
[edit] History
Before Long Branch became a village, it was the home to Loyalist Col. Sam Smith, one of the first settlers in Etobicoke in the late 18th century, whose early cabin survived into the 1950s.[1] Col. Smith's tract of land extended from what is now Kipling Avenue to the original course of the Etobicoke River (now Creek), south of Bloor Street to Lake Ontario. The southern portion of this tract would include all of Long Branch and the westernmost portion of New Toronto, south of the railway line.
[edit] Sea Breeze Park and Long Branch Park
The property was bought by the Eastwood family from Col Sam Smith's son, Samuel Bois Smith in 1871. In 1883 James Eastwood sold a portion of his land south of Lake Shore Road (now, Boulevard West). It was to be developed as a summer resort called 'Sea Breeze Park', and a plan of subdivision was filed in 1884. With new owners, Thomas Wilkie renamed it as 'Long Branch Park' in 1886, after the summer resort area of Long Branch, New Jersey. The central north-south street was originally 'Sea Breeze Avenue', but was renamed 'Long Branch Avenue'.[2]
The 'Long Branch Hotel' was set back from the waterfront near Beach Road (now Lake Promenade) and Long Branch Avenue in 1887.
In 1891, the Long Branch post office was opened to serve the Long Branch Park summer resort. It is now located in a drugstore at Lake Shore Boulevard West and Thirty-Seventh St., which was formerly called Robert Street after Robert Eastwood. Other local streets such as James Street still bear names of members of the family. The drugstore is on the site of the former Eastwood Hotel, which Robert Eastwood constructed in 1910.
Beginning in 1910, other lots south of Lake Shore Road around Long Branch Park began to be subdivided. The original north-south streets in Long Branch were named: Lansdowne Avenue (now Thirty-Third Street) and Lake View Avenue (now Thirty-Fifth Street), Long Branch Avenue remained the same (it could have be Thirty-Fourth St.). [3] In 1931 north-south street names were standardized by continuing the ordinal numbers given to New Toronto's streets, picking-up at Twenty-Third Street in the east (bordering the former Mimico Asylum) through to Forty-Third Street in the west.
[edit] Transportation services
In 1895 the Toronto & Mimico Electric Railway and Light Company radial railway's single-track interurban service was completed along Lake Shore Road from New Toronto through Long Branch to the Long Branch Loop. [4] In 1927, this line was amalgamated by the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) and double-tracked in 1928. The streetcar line along Lake Shore Road became the 507 Long Branch route. Nowadays, most streetcars from Long Branch run through the Humber Bay loop along The Queensway and Queen Street into downtown Toronto, with some branching to other lines at Roncesvalles Avenue and beyond. The Long Branch Loop has become a local transportation hub. It is adjacent to the Long Branch GO Station, which is a stop for GO Transit commuter trains travelling between downtown Toronto and points further west, and is also served by buses operated by the TTC and by MiWay, the transportation agency of the adjoining City of Mississauga. The destination signs of all buses and streetcars that are going to the Long Branch loop read 'Long Branch'.
[edit] Incorporation and challenges
Long Branch was incorporated as a Village in 1930, after the other Lake Shore municipalities, Mimico (1917) and New Toronto (1920) were incorporated as Towns. A cenotaph was raised on Long Branch Avenue south of Lake Shore in 1933 to commemorate the village's contributions during the First (and later, Second) World War[5] During the Second World War many industries were opened between Lake Shore Road and the railway to the north as part of the war effort.
In 1954, more than forty homes in Long Branch were lost at the mouth of the Etobicoke Creek by Hurricane Hazel. Long Branch's dead from the Hurricane were:[6]
- Mr & Mrs Ed. Crymble and their daughter; Clifford, Patricia & Robert Thorpe; and Mrs. Thorpe's mother, Mrs. Robert Johnston.
To prevent any future floods from having similar disastrous results, cottages and houses from around the mouth of the creek were relocated, and the area was turned into a park. In 1959, the park was named for Long Branch Reeve Marie Curtis in recognition for her longstanding municipal service and her efforts to have it built. [7] The Long Branch Park Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1958.[1]
Adjacent to the west side of Marie Curtis Park (now Marie Curtis Park West) is the former site of the Small Arms Limited Long Branch Arsenal. The Ordnance Branch of the Department of National Defense authorized the construction of the factory in 1940. After transfer to the Department of Munitions and Supply, a Crown Corporation, Small Arms Ltd. was formed to operate the facility. By June 1941, the first five rifles had been produced. Huge quantities of British-pattern military small arms were manufactured there during the Second World War, including such weapons as the Short-magazine Lee-Enfield bolt-action rifle, the Bren light machine-gun, and the Sten submachine-gun (or machine-carbine).
Small Arms Ltd. ceased operations at the end of December 1945. Beginning January 1, 1946, operations continued as the Small Arms Division, Canadian Arsenals Limited. The factory was closed June 30, 1976.
There are plans to incorporate the former "Arsenal Lands" into the Marie Curtis Park West park extension; Marie Curtis Park West being located in Toronto, while the 'Arsenal Lands' are in Mississauga, Peel Region. The Federal Government had owned all lands south of Lake Shore Road, between the Etobicoke River to just west of Cawthra Road, from the late 1800s.
[edit] Modern transition
After WWII, Long Branch became home to many immigrant Canadians from Eastern Europe; and one of the largest Orthodox churches in Canada, St. Demetrius Ukrainian Orthodox Church (not to be confused with St Demetrius Byzantine Rite Catholic church, also in Etobicoke), was built on Lake Shore Road (now Blvd. West) opposite 27th Street in 1958.[8] During Long Branch's last years as a village, more immigrants moved to the area and many low-rise apartments were built to house the growing population.
In 1967, the Village of Long Branch along with the Towns of New Toronto and Mimico were amalgamated with the Township of Etobicoke to form the Borough of Etobicoke. The Borough became the City of Etobicoke in 1984. In 1998, Etobicoke was merged with five other municipalities and the Metropolitan Toronto government to form the new City of Toronto.
Although Long Branch had originally started as a summer resort with a seasonal population, the area today is increasingly centred along Lake Shore Boulevard West. It was originally developed as a commercial strip in the 1930s, with an industrial section added during WWII. Lake Shore Boulevard West today is a major thoroughfare and business strip in transition, with plans, some controversial, to ease its transformation from a low density industrial corridor to a commercial centre mixed with medium density residential blocks .
[edit] Notable residents
- Marie Curtis (1954–1962)
- Leonard E. Ford (1963–1964)
- Thomas Berry (1965–1966)
- Other
- Col. Sam Smith, British Loyalist military officer and administrator of Upper Canada
- Terry Grier, former NDP M.P. and educator
- Ruth Grier, former NDP M.P.P., Minister of the Environment & Minister of Health
- Laurel Broten, Liberal M.P.P., Minister of the Environment
[edit] Institutions
- Long Branch Park Hotel (demolished)
- Long Branch Library
- Long Branch Centennial Arena
- Long Branch Streetcar Loop
- Churches
- Long Branch Baptist Church
- St Agnes Anglican Church (founded 1924, closed 2005, building remains,[9] now used as a Polish church)
- St Paul's United Church (founded 1924)
- St James Presbyterian (founded 1914, closed 2001)
- Christ the King Roman Catholic Church
- St. Demetrius Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- Polish Full Gospel Church[10]
- Schools
- James S. Bell Junior Middle School
- Vincent Massey Public School (now a Daycare and Nursery) 1929-1983
- Christ the King Separate School (established 1947)
[edit] Gallery
-
A family card game at a cottage in Long Branch in 1893.
-
Factory worker posing with a Sten Mk II submachine gun at Long Branch on May 26, 1942.
-
Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk I* rifle, manufactured at Long Branch circa 1942
-
The Long Branch Village BIA uses local livery on street signs.
-
Lake Shore Blvd. West in Long Branch
-
Christ the King Roman Catholic Church on Lake Shore Blvd. West
-
former Vincent Massey Public School
-
Surviving cottage in Long Branch
-
ALRV 4214, CLRV 4165, ARLV 4238 and ALRV 4247 rest at Long Branch Loop.
.jpg)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Etobicoke Remembered" by Robert A Given, Pro Familia Publishing, Toronto, Ont., Canada, 2007; ISBN 978-1-896596-14-3
- ^ http://www.toronto.ca/bia/long_branch.htm
- ^ http://rightinniagara.blogspot.com/2008/08/then-and-now-old-long-branch.html
- ^ http://www.etobicokehistorical.com/Stories/Long_Branch/body_long_branch.html
- ^ http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/monuments/on/longbran.htm[dead link]
- ^ http://www.atl.ec.gc.ca/weather/hurricane/hazel/en/casualty.html
- ^ http://www.toronto.ca/parks/parks_gardens/mariecurtis2.htm
- ^ http://www.ukrainians.ca/immigration-news/2451-the-ukrainian-community-in-toronto.html
- ^ http://www.bigchurchdirectory.com/By-Denomination/Anglican/Ontario/1-5-1039-15088-0-St.-Agnes'-Anglican-Church-Long-Branch,-Toronto.html
- ^ http://www.poloniacanada.ca/toronto/parishes/p_en3.htm
[edit] External links
- [1]
- Long Branch neighbourhood profile
- Various photos of the Long Branch munitions factory
- The Village of Long Branch - Reeves
- [2]
 |
Alderwood | |
||
| Mississauga |  |
New Toronto | ||
 Long Branch  |
||||
 |
||||
| Lake Ontario |
|
|||||||||||
