Riverdale

Dateline: Saturday, August 25, 2012.

Today was a particularly interesting Heritage Toronto Walk through the neighbourhood of Riverdale. I was not aware that there once was a railway station on DeGrassi Street, near Queen Street East. 
The Riverdale Railway Station was built in 1896, as part of the Grand Trunk Railway Line between Toronto and Montreal. 

In those days, the train tracks were level with the roadways throughout thecity, and there were so many accidents that the "Viaduct Project" was established to increase the grade of the tracks and build an underpass for Queen Street.
As a result of this project, the station was moved further up Degrassi (north) in 1927.

Here, in this picture, you can see that the station is lower than the train tracks, and a ramp has been built ot accommodate travelers.

With the decline in passenger use (folks were now using Union Station), the little station was closed in 1932, and eventually demolished in 1974.

The post that you see here, in Bruce Mackey Park  is situated at the end of the fence line that marked the station's entrance. These two items are all that's left of the Riverdale Railway Station. The north end of the park ends at Dundas Street East, where you will see another under pass for the tracks. This one dips because this section of Dundas was non-existent at the time when the tracks were being laid. 

The original street that extended from Broadview, was named South Street, and ended at the tracks. You can still see and walk on the original sidewalk, if you climb a small set of stairs. The walking tour crossed Dundas (at the lights) and went down Tiverton Avenue.
As we walked along this street, our walk leader, Gerald Whyte told us that numbers 15, 17, 19, and 21 Tiverton were actually built by non other than E.J. Lennox.

Here, I have taken a picture of number 17 - 19 Tiverton Avenue.

We continued walking along this street until we reached First Avenue. Here we could see some fine examples of Second Empire homes.

We continued along First Avenue until we came to St Mathew's Church at #135. Here we were treated to an unveiling of two plaques by the Toronto Heritage. One was dedicated to the Riverdale Railway Station, while the other was commemorating the Riverdale Heritage Conservation District.

This picture shows the plaques, a Scotia Bank representative, Councillor Paula Fletcher, Gerald Whyte and a board member from Toronto Heritage.

It should be noted here that the Riverdale Heritage Conservation District was established, primarily to protect some 224 properties  in Riverdale; and Councillor Fletcher was instrumental in the establishment of this important heritage conservation project.

The B&W photos are courtesy Toronto Archives, and the rest are my own.