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The Esplanade 1907

thecharioteer

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es·pla·nade

/ˈespləˌnäd,-ˌnād/

noun

a long, open, level area, typically beside the sea, along which people may walk for pleasure.


As we all know, Toronto's Esplanade did not quite turn out as originally envisioned. The 1852 Plan by John Howard described the area south of Front Street as "A design for laying out the north shore of the Toronto Harbour in pleasure drives walks and shrubbery for the recreation of the citizens."



That plan was doomed by the arrival of the railways, as can be seen in this 1884 map:



By 1903, The Esplanade was essentially a railway corridor between Front Street and the Harbour:





in 1912, the Toronto Harbour Commission produced plans remarkably similar to the waterfront we know today:



However, before that transformation (which occurred decades later), an extraordinary series of photographs were produced which documented The Esplanade in 1907, block by block (views north and south), east of Yonge, including views along Mill Street, Water Street and Eastern Avenue. The complete set is in the Toronto Public Library.

At Scott:





At Church:





At Market:





At Jarvis:





At George:





At Frederick:





At Sherbourne:





At Princess:





At Berkeley:





At Parliament & Mill:





At Trinity:



At Cherry:





At Water Street:



At Front Street East and Cypress:





At Eastern Avenue:





At the Don:



 
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Fascinating...imagine today waiting for potentially 6 trains to cross at those intersections!

Good point, EVCco! Presumably was not an issue in the pre-automobile era. Afterwards, a typically Toronto low-tech solution was found:

1922:

yongeesplanade1922.jpg


One presumably walked briskly:

Crossing The Esplanade on Yonge, 1914:

yongeesplanade1914.jpg


At Bay Street:

 

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Delightful photo titled "Toronto Esplanade Street waterfront characters" in the Ontario Archives (1896). Backdrop looks like the Great Western Railway Station:

 
This site is fabulous, I have been lurking for ages.

The Esplanade, Grand Trunk garage, Board Of Trade Building are some of my favorites
Honorable mention to The Armouries and the old Registry Office.
 
Another view of Church and Esplanade looking south at the Conger Lehigh Coal Company complex:

churchesplanade.jpg
 

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This crowd is surely headed for the ferry docks and an event on the Islands. All in their Sunday-best!

Quite so! One imagines that dealing with the trains on The Esplanade was a daily occurrence when going to the harbour (which obviously led to the building of the railway viaduct). 1907 panorama of the Bay crossing:

 
1860 copy of an 1839 map which lays out The Esplanade, titled:

"Copy of part of the "Plan of improvements" to be made in front of the City of Toronto shewing the water lots granted to the City Corporation in terms of a Minute in Council bearing date the 17th day of August 1837".





Note the label O. O. in the index:



 
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The level crossings at The Esplanade were clearly not sustainable as the City grew. As described on www.trainweb.org, the idea of creating a grade-separated railway viaduct along the waterfront was first proposed in 1888, and became the major infrastructure project in Toronto in the 1920's :

Level Crossings

The growing population of Toronto resulted in greatly increased railway traffic. The location of all of the railway lines entering Toronto along the waterfront created conjestion for rail as well as public use. The large number of level crossings presented considerable hazards to pedrestrians and road users. To overcome this the city sought grade separations of the crossings.

Like anything owned by more than one entity as well as the involvement of the city, disputes quickly arose. The GTR wanted the tracks to be elevated over York, Bay and Yonge Streets, while the CPR did not. The squabbling went on between them and the City year after year over the extent of the work to be done and the cost sharing involved. Contracts for the 12 track station were finally let in 1914 but the bickering wasn’t over yet.

Waterfront Viaduct

A viaduct was first proposed by Toronto mayor E.F.Clarke to council March 12,1888 along with a central union station as a means to aleviate the dangers of level crossings. It wasn't to be. At least not for a long time.
Agreement was finally reached in November of 1924 for a $28.5 million project. Changes to the final version of the viaduct from those originally proposed saved $6 million and included a reduction in the number of subway grade separations by closing Scott, George, Frederick and Princess Streets. John Street bridge was also eliminated. A further cost reduction was had by eliminating the planned trestles from the high level into the fruit markets, one of which was in the old Great Western station. This was accomplished by simply allowing tracks to remain along the Esplanade beyond Church Street, west to Yonge Street. It also eliminated a very dangerous way of switching freight cars along with a reduction in ongoing maintenance.

Construction began June 17, 1925 on the Toronto Grade Separation project (a.k.a. Waterfront Viaduct); it wasn’t until January 31, 1930 that it was completed. Known to CPR employees as the "High Level" it required a massive filling of land, not only to a height of 18 feet but extending some distance into Lake Ontario. Some 2.6 million cubic yards of earth fill were required. So massive was the work that a narrow gauge (2 foot) construction railway was built by the contractor. The Viaduct extended between John, York, Bay, Yonge, Jarvis, Parliament, Sherbourne and Cherry Streets a distance of over 2 miles with approaches reaching farther beyond at both ends. The eastern approach, beyond the TTR limit was used by the CNR on its approach from Montreal passing by CNR Riverdale station and above Queen Street East eliminating a very dangerous level crossing and meeting the CPR line at the Don as they both entered Union Station. A CNR freight bypass known as the "High Line" passed to the south of the CPR John St. coach yard and roundhouse extending past John Street down to normal level just before Bathurst Street. This double track High Line is not part of the TTR. It still exists but has been relocated and now runs immediately south of Union Station. The TTR extended over this area and slightly beyond, its limits being at Don (Mile 107.1 CPR Oshawa Sub., presently known as Mile 209.4 Belleville Sub.; and Mile 2.0 CNR Bala Sub.) on the east and on the west near Cabin D on the CNR and at Tecumseh Street Mile 1.3 CPR Galt Sub. In later years extended to its present limit on the west side of Strachan Avenue at Mile 1.45 which came about with installation of CTC on the Galt Sub. which was required for the Milton GO train service and elimination of Tecumseh Street tower and the TTR Cabin D. Note that the CPR employee time table spells Tecumseh Street (and pronouncing it "Ta come see") differently that its street map name which is Tecumseth Street. Switchtenders were also eliminated. As part of this expansion, CPR insisted upon separation of trackage near Spadina Avenue which required a flyunder.


http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/TTR/history_1.htm

1913 map of the proposed railway viaduct:





(more to follow....)
 
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