20 Facts About Yonge Street

1.

Yonge Street is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes.

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2.

Construction of Yonge Street is designated as an Event of National Historic Significance in Canada.

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3.

Yonge Street was integral to the original planning and settlement of western Upper Canada in the 1790s, forming the basis of the concession roads in Ontario today.

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4.

In Toronto and York Region, Yonge Street is the north–south baseline from which street numbering is reckoned east and west.

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5.

Yonge Street is a commercial main thoroughfare rather than a ceremonial one, with the Downtown Yonge shopping and entertainment district containing landmarks such as the Eaton Centre and Yonge-Dundas Square.

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6.

Between Front Street and Queen Street, Yonge Street is bounded by historic and commercial buildings, many serving the large weekday workforce concentrated here.

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7.

From College Street north to Bloor Street, Yonge Street serves smaller street-level retail, mostly in two- to three-storey buildings of a hundred years' vintage.

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8.

Intersection of Yonge and Bloor streets is a major crossroads of Toronto, informally considered the northern edge of the downtown core.

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9.

The intersection of Yonge and Bloor streets is a "scramble"-type intersection, which allows pedestrians to cross from any corner to any other corner.

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10.

From approximately St Clair Avenue to Yonge Boulevard, Yonge Street is central to the former suburb municipality of North Toronto, now widely referred to as Midtown.

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11.

From Finch Avenue to Stouffville Road, Yonge Street is a suburban commercial strip, passing Highway 407 two kilometres north of Steeles.

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12.

Yonge Street passes through the core of Aurora, and in the regional seat of Newmarket, Yonge Street serves as the town's main suburban artery, passing through low-density residential and commercial areas, bypassing its core to the west.

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13.

Certain seasons saw the muddy sidewalks of York in deplorable condition, and Yonge Street was renowned as being particularly bad, making it difficult to transport loads along it.

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14.

The arrival of the Canadian Northern Railway in 1906 lessened traffic on the Radial, but it was not until Yonge Street became a major route for automobiles that the Radial truly fell into disuse.

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15.

The line was then purchased by the townships north of the city and re-incorporated as North Yonge Street Railways, running service for another eighteen years before operations ended, along with service on numerous other portions of the Radial lines, in 1948.

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16.

The Yonge Street Subway was opened in 1954 as Canada's first subway line at a cost of $59m.

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17.

Yonge Street was formerly a part of Highway 11, which led to claims that Yonge Street was the longest street in the world.

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18.

Original historic alignment of Yonge Street diverges from Highway 11 at the Newmarket Inn in East Gwillimbury, one kilometre north of Green Lane; at this junction, the Highway 11 route begins to divert west, while Yonge Street turns right at the intersection and then loops back onto the historic alignment.

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19.

In Toronto, Yonge St is served by the eastern half of the Line 1 Yonge–University subway, which runs north from Union Station at Front Street to Finch Avenue.

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20.

The first section of the "Yonge Street subway" opened in 1954 as Canada's first subway line, and is the busiest rapid transit route in Canada, and one of the busiest in North America.

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