In partnership with the Aurora Historical Society and Town of Aurora Museum & Archives, AuroraToday brings you a regular series of columns aimed at creating awareness about the rich history and heritage of our community.
Yonge Street. The famous arterial road greatly impacted the development of southern Ontario, including Aurora. But have you ever wondered how or why Yonge Street came to be? Let’s take a look back in time.
It is essential to start this discussion with the First Nations. Indigenous people have lived and travelled over the area for tens of thousands of years. They used their extensive knowledge of the land to create efficient travel routes and temporary and permanent settlements. Within these systems, the Toronto Carrying Place Trail plays a vital role.
This portage led from the mouth of the Humber River on Lake Ontario to the Holland River near Lake Simcoe and was part of a network of trade routes that connected the St. Lawrence Valley to the Upper Great Lakes and beyond. Some of the first settlements along the Toronto Carrying Place Trail were established about 12,000 years ago, and it was used by Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Anishinaabe people, showcasing its prominence and importance over time. It is this trail that marks the beginning of what we now know as Yonge Street.
When Europeans arrived in about 1615 and began exploring and trading, they used this well-known Indigenous route. By the late 1700s, the British had taken control of and settled in the region they claimed as the British colony of Upper Canada (Ontario).
In the early 1790s, the capital of Upper Canada was Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake); however, it was very close to the border with the newly formed United States of America. Upper Canada’s first lieutenant-governor, John Graves Simcoe, was concerned over possible threats from the U.S. and looked to the shores of Lake Ontario as an advantageous place for settlement. The area offered lake harbour access, passages inland through a vast system of rivers and trails, and was relatively flat, making it ideal for a naval and military base. Thus, the town of York (Toronto) was established and made the capital of Upper Canada in 1793.
Once York was established, Simcoe set out to create major roads with military, communication, and further settlement potential. Anxious to find a route to access important trading posts on Lake Huron if American troops blocked the traditional waterway access at the Detroit River or Lake Sinclair, Simcoe turned to the north.
On Sept. 25, 1793, he left York with a small group of soldiers and Indigenous guides, headed north along the Carrying Place Trail. While travelling the shores of Georgian Bay, he scouted Penetanguishene as a suitable location for a military base and vital link between York and trading posts farther north.
Simcoe found the western branch of the Carrying Place Trail challenging, so on his way back to York, his Indigenous guides led him to a portage along the eastern branch of the Holland River, which was less marshy. This trail would end up being the baseline for Yonge Street.
Back in York, Simcoe instructed surveyor Augustus Jones to clear the route of trees and debris wide enough for a horse and cart. Jones and a small group from the Queen’s Rangers made good progress until the officers were recalled for duty, halting the work.
Simcoe then brokered a deal with William Berczy, who would use a group of German immigrants to finish clearing Yonge Street to Holland Landing in exchange for land for a settlement (future Markham Township). The road was completed on Feb. 16, 1796, and was named after Sir George Yonge, British secretary for war.
Yonge Street was used as a main artery for Simcoe’s settlement grid system. Roads and concessions criss-crossed the land to make counties, which were subdivided into townships, and further subdivided into 200-acre farming lots. The first farming lots in Aurora were granted in 1797 and, by 1801, every lot on either side of Yonge Street through Aurora had been claimed.
It was the settlers’ responsibility to maintain the road along their frontages, but an early report from surveyor John Steggman noted only three landowners had fulfilled these obligations and the road remained neglected and difficult to navigate. Despite these challenges, it wasn’t long before a hamlet was formed and, by 1850, the downtown area at Yonge and Wellington streets was established with a population of 175 people.
When we look around our community today, it is hard to imagine Aurora as a vast, dense forest. Yonge Street, while it looks vastly different today from thousands of years ago, is still a hub of trade, transit, and community.
For more information, check out the books The Toronto Carrying Place by Glenn Turner and 200 Years Yonge by Ralph Magel.
Kathleen Vahey is the curator/manager, Hillary House National Historic Site, Aurora Historical Society, [email protected]
