
For all the changes it's undergone over the last century, Corktown remains one of those Toronto neighbourhoods that shows off its historical character well. That is, if you know where to look.
Along with landmarks like the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse and St. Paul's Basilica, short streets like Bright, Ashby Place and Wilkins Avenue offer some of the best examples of 19th century row-housing in the city.
The general consensus is that Corktown got its name from the famine-fleeing Irish immigrants who took up residence here near breweries. But some speculate the abundance of cork from nearby distilleries influenced the name.
While the remaining historical homes look quaint today, the area was once dotted with slum housing occupied by poverty-stricken residents. The bulk of the photographs from the time, in fact, were taken by Toronto's public health department, which was tasked with documenting the poor conditions in the neighbourhood.
One of the busiest gathering spots in Corktown was the House of Providence, which was demolished along with hundreds of historic buildings in 1962 to make way for the Richmond off-ramp of the Don Valley Parkway.
There's a certain lazy quality to King Street between Parliament and River streets, which always gets me in a historical state of mind, but this latest influx of residents to the area might very well serve to make the streetscape more vibrant—and that's nothing to complain about.
Here are some photos from the history of Corktown.
Goad's Atlas, 1903
House of Providence, opened 1857
Trinity Church, 1900s
Gilead Place, 1912
512-516 King East, 1913
487 King Street, 1917
Queen and Tracy streets, 1919
Sumach Street looking south to King, 1932
Above 9-15 Power Street (House of Providence to the left), 1936
38-44 Bright Street, 1936
Gilead Place, 1936
King looking west at Sackville, 1936
King looking east at Sackville, 1936
480-482 King Street East, 1936
Percy Street, 1936
22-26 Sackville Street, 1936
King and Sumach, 1936
531 King Street East, 1937
Former Consumers' Gas Co, Station A, now 51 Division (shot ca. 1990s)
What is now the Canadian Opera Company (227 Front Street East)
by Staff via blogTO
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