Exploring Broadview Avenue

One Saturday in September, Heritage Toronto, in conjunction with the Riverdale Historical Society, conducted a tour of a Broadview Avenue with some history.
We assembled behind the Dairy Queen at the corner of Broadview and Pottery Road./Mortimer Avenue.

 

Here, the tour leader spoke about the surrounding area, and what it was like around the turn of the century. Nearby, (where Sobeys is now located) was the Todmorden Hotel.
One could have a pint, while the blacksmith (across the road) worked on your horse.

At the bottom of Pottery Road is Todmorden Mills, which is now a heritage site.

• It started out as a lumber mill in a small settlement around 1795.
• The Skinner family operated this mill that produced construction materials
• In 1820, a brewery was built next to the mill and was operated by Thomas Helliwell

BTW, the Helliwell House (which still stands on the site) is believed to be haunted.
To read further about this, you can go here.


Have a look at his picture of a ghost-like vapor hovering around the chair in the house.

But, I digress....on with the tour!
We left the parking lot and walked south along Broadview (originally named Don Mills Road).
We then turned onto Chester Hill Road and proceeded down to the end of the street, where there is a lookout. 

If you get a chance stop by the lookout and catch the view.
It is especially grand during the fall when the leaves have turned.
There is also a zodiac painting  that was done by Victor Fraser.
You can check his works out by logging into "whatsvictorupto" on Instagram
                                                      Here are a couple of views:

From this street, we moved along to Cambridge Avenue, and pass by a few "workers cottages" that were built by the local businesses for their employees.

Back to Danforth Avenue and continuing south on Broadview, we pass by Riverdale Park East.
This is a 18 - hectare park that is popular for winter tobogganing, and has 3 softball diamonds as well as a ice rink.
Further south near Langley Avenue, is the St. Matthew's Lawn Bowling Clubhouse.
It was moved from its original location on Gerrard Street in 2009, so that the land could be used for the expansion of the Bridgepoint Health facility.

Here we watched the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the clubhouse history.

    
                                                          Photo by Alan Brown 2015.