Vaughan Road is a road in
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
,
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is a contour
collector roadA collector road is a low or moderate-capacity road which is below a highway or arterial road functional class. Collector roads tend to lead traffic from local roads or sections of neighbourhoods to activity areas within communities, arterial roads or directly to expressways or freeways.Collector...
that is parallel to a buried
creekA stream is a flowing body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, kill, lick, rill, river syke, bayou, rivulet, or run...
to the north called
Castle Frank BrookCastle Frank Brook is a buried creek in Toronto, Canada, that has its source in the Lawrence Avenue and Dufferin Street area. It flows through Cedarvale Park and the Nordheimer Ravine and eventually through the Rosedale Ravine. However, a short section of the creek is exposed in the Cedarvale...
. Vaughan Road begins on Bathurst Street south of
St. Clair Avenue WestSt. Clair Avenue is a major east-west street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was laid out in the late eighteenth century by the British as a concession road , 2 km north of Bloor Street and 4 km north of Queen Street....
, then it becomes a north-south street, hence its address numbering system, then it becomes a northwest-southeast street. Finally, Vaughan Road ends in a
dead-endA cul-de-sac is a french word for dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...
near the intersection of
Eglinton AvenueEglinton Avenue is an east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and in Mississauga to the west. The Toronto portion of the road runs from Kingston Road in the east to the western city limits of Mississauga, west of Highway 427....
and
Dufferin StreetDufferin Street is a major north-south street in Toronto and York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, 2 concessions west of Yonge Street. The street starts at the foot of Lake Ontario and continues north to Toronto's northern boundary with some discontinuities...
.
Vaughan Road AcademyVaughan Road Academy is an International Baccalaureate school in the Oakwood-Vaughan neighbourhood of Toronto, Canada. Vaughan Road is situated at the Vaughan Road and Winona Drive intersection close to Oakwood Avenue and southwest of Forest Hill. It works in partnership with Arlington Middle...
is named after this road.
Vaughan Road was built as early as 1850.
Vaughan Road is a road in
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
,
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is a contour
collector roadA collector road is a low or moderate-capacity road which is below a highway or arterial road functional class. Collector roads tend to lead traffic from local roads or sections of neighbourhoods to activity areas within communities, arterial roads or directly to expressways or freeways.Collector...
that is parallel to a buried
creekA stream is a flowing body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, kill, lick, rill, river syke, bayou, rivulet, or run...
to the north called
Castle Frank BrookCastle Frank Brook is a buried creek in Toronto, Canada, that has its source in the Lawrence Avenue and Dufferin Street area. It flows through Cedarvale Park and the Nordheimer Ravine and eventually through the Rosedale Ravine. However, a short section of the creek is exposed in the Cedarvale...
. Vaughan Road begins on Bathurst Street south of
St. Clair Avenue WestSt. Clair Avenue is a major east-west street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was laid out in the late eighteenth century by the British as a concession road , 2 km north of Bloor Street and 4 km north of Queen Street....
, then it becomes a north-south street, hence its address numbering system, then it becomes a northwest-southeast street. Finally, Vaughan Road ends in a
dead-endA cul-de-sac is a french word for dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...
near the intersection of
Eglinton AvenueEglinton Avenue is an east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and in Mississauga to the west. The Toronto portion of the road runs from Kingston Road in the east to the western city limits of Mississauga, west of Highway 427....
and
Dufferin StreetDufferin Street is a major north-south street in Toronto and York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, 2 concessions west of Yonge Street. The street starts at the foot of Lake Ontario and continues north to Toronto's northern boundary with some discontinuities...
.
Vaughan Road AcademyVaughan Road Academy is an International Baccalaureate school in the Oakwood-Vaughan neighbourhood of Toronto, Canada. Vaughan Road is situated at the Vaughan Road and Winona Drive intersection close to Oakwood Avenue and southwest of Forest Hill. It works in partnership with Arlington Middle...
is named after this road.
History
Vaughan Road was built as early as 1850. Before then, it was a trail used by the
First NationsFirst Nations is a term of ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada, who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 600 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread all across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia...
. Its original alignment began at
Yonge StreetYonge Street is a major arterial street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and its northern suburbs. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at 1896 km, and is a national historic site....
, followed Davenport Road to Bathurst Street, then along the current alignment of Vaughan Road into Dufferin Street, in fact, there is still a curve in Dufferin Street at the intersection with Eglinton Avenue, where Vaughan Road connected before the
EssoEsso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1973, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...
gas station was built at that intersection. Vaughan Road was then extended north along what is now Dufferin Street into Vaughan Township, which later became the
City of VaughanVaughan is a city in Ontario, Canada.Vaughan may also refer to:* Vaughan's Identity* Vaughan , list of people with this name* Vaughan , in Ontario, Canada* Vaughan, Mississippi, US* Vaughan Springs, Victoria, Australia...
. Therefore, Vaughan Road is named after the township, which itself is named after Benjamin Vaughan, a
BritishThe Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801...
commissioner who signed a peace treaty with the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1783. This road was popular with
street racersStreet racing is a form of unsanctioned and illegal motor racing which takes place on public roads. Street racing can either be spontaneous or well-planned and coordinated...
in the 1950s due to its many curves from being parallel to a creek. Since 2000, Vaughan Road had undergone the early stages of
gentrificationGentrification and urban gentrification denote the socio-economic, commercial, and demographic change in an urban area resulting from wealthier people buying housing property in a poor community...
, especially at the corner of Oakwood and Vaughan, as well as the former City of Toronto stretch of Vaughan Road.
Public transit
The road passes through the communities of
Humewood-CedarvaleHumewood-Cedarvale is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, historically part of York. The neighbourhood is bordered by Bathurst Street to the east, Eglinton Avenue to the north, Winnett Avenue to the west and St. Clair Avenue to the south...
and Oakwood-Vaughan. The
Toronto Transit CommissionThe Toronto Transit Commission is a public transport authority that operates buses, streetcars, subways, and rapid transit lines in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
bus routeBus service in Toronto, Canada, started in 1921. There were a few independent bus operators that continued to provide inter-urban bus services:* Hollinger Bus Lines * Danforth Bus Lines...
90 Vaughan serves these communities. The terminus of the 90A branch is the Jesmond loop, which uses the streets Jesmond-Oakwood-Vaughan, thus named for one of the streets. The terminus of the main branch is the Eglinton loop, which is active during
rush hourA rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest...
only. Both branches of the route feed into
St. Clair West stationSt. Clair West is a station on the Yonge-University Spadina line of the subway system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is at 370 St. Clair Avenue West between Bathurst Street and Tweedsmuir Avenue. The sports field of St...
. There is also a stop at Vaughan Road on the
St. Clair West LRTThe 512 St. Clair streetcar is an east-west streetcar route in Toronto, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission.-History:The streetcar route along St. Clair Avenue was created by the Toronto Civic Railways in 1911 in a successful attempt to promote development in a newly annexed section...
.
Landmarks
- Doors painted by Nikki Abraham on the west side of Vaughan Road south of St. Clair Avenue; the artwork is named Broadway Boogie Woogie
- Albert's Real Jamaican Foods
Albert's Real Jamaican Foods is a restaurant at 542 St. Clair Avenue West at the corner of Vaughan Road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by Albert Wiggan, a recipient of the Harry Jerome Award.-Albert Wiggan:...
- St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic Church
- Dutch Dreams (established in 1985 by Theo Aben, it is among Toronto's best known independent ice cream parlours and competes with Albert's Real Jamaican Foods)
- Vaughan Road Academy
Vaughan Road Academy is an International Baccalaureate school in the Oakwood-Vaughan neighbourhood of Toronto, Canada. Vaughan Road is situated at the Vaughan Road and Winona Drive intersection close to Oakwood Avenue and southwest of Forest Hill. It works in partnership with Arlington Middle...
External links