Islington Avenue is a north–south arterial road in the Cities of Toronto (passing through the major districts of Etobicoke and North York) and Vaughan, the latter being within York Region. It runs from Lake Shore Boulevard West at Seventh Street in the New Toronto neighbourhood to Highway 27 north of the historic village of Kleinburg. The street is 30.6 kilometres (19.1 mi) long.]]
The street was first surveyed in 1799 as the Middle Road. At the time, the northernmost part of the road in what was then Etobicoke Township was part of the same surveyed concession road as present-day Pine Valley Drive in Vaughan, with a jog at what is now Steeles Avenue. Later, in the 19th Century, a northwesterly diversion was built to connect the villages of Woodbridge and Kleinburg, with the bypassed portion today a residential street named Plunkett Road. in the mid-20th Century, Pine Valley was also realigned eastwards to tie into a new industrial street named Fenmar Drive (See map).
In combination with Albion Road, Islington was historically part of a route connecting the former villages of Woodbridge and Weston. Originally, the later divergent route did not pass uninterrupted through Woodbridge, but had a break between what is now Highway 7 and Woodbridge Avenue (originally Pine Street), with the resumption being a continuation of Pine. The gap was closed in the early 1960s to create the present continuous road.
The southernmost section of Islington Avenue between Lake Shore Blvd. West and Birmingham Street in New Toronto, once an independent town, was originally Seventh Street until 1980 (the continuation south of Lake Shore is still designated as such), when Islington Avenue was extended south of Horner Avenue. This connection required a new alignment north of Birmingham Street, which crossed over to the top of Sixth Street before continuing north over a Canadian National Railway yard, now the Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility.
In York Region, Islington Avenue was formerly designated as York Regional Road 7, but when Highway 7 was downloaded to the Region in 1997, Islington Avenue was changed to York Regional Road 17 so Highway 7 could retain its number.
Public transit
Islington subway station opened on Bloor St in 1968. Today the 110 Islington South serves the street south of the station, while the 37 Islington runs along the street from the station to Steeles.
Landmarks
Landmarks and notable sites along Islington from south to north
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:lightblue;"
!Landmark
!Cross street
!Notes
!Image
|-
|GO Transit Willowbrook Yard
|Evans Ave
|Crossed by an overpass
|100px
|-
|Islington subway station
|Bloor St
|
|100px
|-
|Montgomery's Inn
|Dundas St
|Historic structure
|100px
|-
|St. George's Golf and Country Club
|The Kingsway
|
|100px
|-
|Richview Collegiate Institute
|Eglinton Ave
|
|100px
|-
|Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School
|Dixon Rd
|Former Keiller Mackay Collegiate Institute
|100px
|-
|Rexdale Presbyterian Church
|Rexdale Blvd
|
|100px
|-
|Thistletown Collegiate Institute
|Elmhurst Dr
|
|100px
|-
|St. Roch's Roman Catholic Church
|Finch Ave
|
|100px
|-
|Pine Ridge Cemetery
|Finch Ave
|
|100px
|-
|Humber Summit Library
|Steeles Ave
|
|100px
|-
|Boyd Conservation Area
|Rutherford Rd
|
|100px
|-
|McMichael Canadian Art Collection
|
|
|100px
|}
References
Sources
External links
- Google Maps of Islington Avenue