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40-594: During the 1920s, as the new communities surrounding Toronto grew rapidly, several bridges were constructed to overcome the barrier of the Don Valley. Among these were the Vale of Avoca ( St. Clair Avenue east of Yonge Street ) and the East York – Leaside Viaduct. The town of Leaside, built by Canadian Northern Railway in the late teens and early 1920s, sought to attract investors and homebuyers. A connection over

80-605: A joke, Edwin and Albert made street signs using their names and posted them at Yonge and St. Clair. The St. Clair sign survived for a while and the name became adopted as the name for the 3rd Concession Road. The first known printed use of the St. Clair name was in an 1878 publication, Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of York . In 1913, a Roman Catholic church was built in the Earlscourt District, and named after

120-507: A notable figure. Together the place name and general's name likely influenced settlers' naming a proliferation of nearby political jurisdictions: the Michigan county and township of St. Clair, as well as the cities of St. Clair and St. Clair Shores . Some local historians attributed the namesake to Patrick Sinclair , a British officer who purchased land on the St. Clair River at the outlet of

160-595: A similar building style. Although the area has been historically referenced as predominantly Italian, it is no longer populated by any one majority. Many new homebuyers looking to purchase in the City are choosing St. Clair West for its relatively modest home prices, the pride of ownership apparent throughout its neighbourhoods, and the new St. Clair Ave. TTC streetcar right-of-way. St. Clair Avenue holds Toronto's biggest celebration of salsa Latino culture. The two-day street festival attracts an estimate of 250,000–500,000 people,

200-543: Is a freshwater lake that lies between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan . It was named in 1679 by French Catholic explorers after Saint Clare of Assisi , on whose feast day they first saw the lake. It is part of the Great Lakes system (although not considered one of the five Great Lakes), and along with the St. Clair River and Detroit River , Lake St. Clair connects Lake Huron (to

240-402: Is about 430 square miles (1,100 km ). This is a rather shallow lake for its size, with an average depth of about 11 feet (3.4 m), and a maximum natural depth of 23 feet (7.0 m). However, it is 27 feet (8.2 m) deep in the navigation channel which is dredged for lake freighter passage by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers . The lake is fed by the St. Clair River, which flows to

280-469: Is part of the Great Lakes system, but very rarely included as one; the smallest Great Lake, Lake Ontario , is 17 times larger by surface area, and more than 80 times by volume. It is occasionally referred to as "the sixth Great Lake". Scattered proposals have called for it to be officially recognized as a Great Lake, which might enable it to attract greater public funding for scientific research and other projects. First Nations / Native Americans used

320-451: Is the intersection with Yonge Street, which has experienced heavy nodal development since the opening of the St. Clair subway station there in 1954. The buildings there include the world headquarters of George Weston Foods Inc. St. Clair now intersects with two more subway stations, Warden Station in the east and St. Clair West Station near Bathurst Street, as well as Scarborough GO Station . The Toronto Transit Commission decided to upgrade

360-517: Is well known for the high population of Portuguese , Latin American and Italian people. St. Clair is usually where the Italian and Portuguese soccer fans celebrate after a game their nations won. Over the years, the Italian and Portuguese people throughout Toronto have established a rivalry in soccer against each other. One of the largest celebrations on St. Clair Avenue was when Italy won

400-491: The 1982 FIFA World Cup , which involved an estimated 300,000 fans, shutting the street down for nearly 20 blocks between Caledonia and Oakwood. Corso Italia, Toronto's other Italian enclave, is found on St. Clair Avenue West, between Westmount Avenue (just east of Dufferin Street ) and Lansdowne Avenue . St. Clair West is also used as an umbrella term to refer to all neighbourhoods from Old Weston Road to Bathurst as they share

440-603: The Pine River . There, in 1764, he built Fort Sinclair, which was in use for nearly twenty years before being abandoned. Unlike most smaller lakes in the region—but like the Great Lakes— Lake comes at the front of its proper name, rather than the end; this is reflective of its French origins. The Crawford Knoll Site located on the eastern branch of the St. Clair River delta uncovered bone and projectile points dating back to 1500 to 1000 BCE which suggest seasonal usage by

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480-563: The Canadian and American governments closed the commercial fishery over concerns of bio-accumulation of mercury. The industry responsible for this contamination was the Dow Chemical Chlor-Alkali Plant in Sarnia, Ontario. Since 1949, Dow Chemical had been operating mercury cell plants for the production of chlorine and other chemicals. Through its production process, it discharged mercury into the river and contaminated

520-458: The City of Toronto. To stimulate development along what was then largely a rural road, the city's Toronto Civic Railways built a streetcar line from Yonge Street to Caledonia Road by 1912. This included the construction of a bridge across Nordheimer Ravine (after an earth berm collapsed) as well as what was termed the Lauder Fill : the burying of the western branch of Garrison Creek ,

560-549: The Don Valley to the town of Todmorden Mills and on to Toronto would provide this. Sod was turned in mid-December and active construction began in January 1927 under the direction of bridge designer Frank Barber. The bridge was rapidly assembled throughout the spring and summer, and inaugurated on October 29 as the Confederation Bridge, in honour of the sixtieth anniversary of that event. The tiled mosaic handrail

600-645: The Dutch identified it in Latin as Mare Dulce . On August 12, 1679, the French explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle arrived with an expedition. He named the body of water Lac Sainte-Claire, as the expedition sighted it on the feast day of Saint Clare of Assisi . The historian on the voyage, Louis Hennepin , recorded that the Iroquoian tribes referred to the lake as Otseketa . As early as 1710,

640-739: The English adopted the French name, identifying the lake on their maps as Saint Clare. By the Mitchell Map in 1755, the spelling appeared as the shorter "St. Clair," the form that became most widely used. Some scholars credit the name as honoring the American Revolutionary War General Arthur St. Clair , later Governor of the Northwest Territory , but the name Lake St. Clair was in use with this current spelling long before St. Clair became

680-481: The Line 1 Yonge-University subway. The eastern section of St. Clair Avenue East is serviced by the 8 Broadview and 102 Markham Road bus routes. St. Clair Avenue takes its name from Augustine St. Clare , a character from the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin . The Grainger family, who rented a farm near the present-day intersection of Avenue Road and St. Clair, had viewed a stage production of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Two members of

720-493: The St. Clair streetcar to a dedicated right-of-way to increase service reliability when the streetcar tracks were approaching the end of their lifespan in the early 2000s. In October 2006, construction started on the right-of-way in the centre of St. Clair. St. Clair Avenue was one of the few streets in Toronto wide enough to accommodate a dedicated right-of-way without significantly reducing the width of traffic lanes. The project

760-465: The actual Saint Clare . St. Clare's Church is at 1118 St. Clair Avenue West, on the north side of the street, east of Dufferin. The parish opened the St. Clare's Catholic School, an elementary school, next door in 1910. The first settlement on St. Clair was at Yonge Street, where the Heath family bought land in 1837. A thriving neighbourhood, Deer Park , was established by the 1850s. The next settlement

800-428: The bridge to widen the deck to either side and the piers were reinforced on the corners to carry the additional weight. The expanded bridge had guardrail consisting of a concrete barrier topped with a double tubular railing, considerably plainer than the original decorative parapets. Between 2004 and 2006, the bridge was rehabilitated. The second of two contracts to rehabilitate the bridge was awarded in 2005 and included

840-458: The congestion of Bloor Street . By 1952, St. Clair was developed enough that it no longer served a provincial role; a new Toronto Bypass road under construction between Weston and Highway 11 would instead serve to divert highway traffic off local surface streets. Much of the development from this era survives. St. Clair West is one of many streets in Toronto which has experienced little development since an initial building boom. The exception

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880-557: The downtown areas of Detroit, Michigan , and Windsor, Ontario . Along with the St. Clair River and Detroit River , Lake St. Clair connects Lake Huron (to its north) with Lake Erie (to its south). The area is notable for the fact that the Canadian territory around the lake (Windsor metropolitan area) lies south of the adjacent United States territory. Lake St. Clair measures about 22.5 nautical miles (42 km; 26 mi) from north to south and about 21 nautical miles (39 km; 24 mi) from east to west. Its total surface area

920-587: The east to Scarlett Road in the west, a distance of approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi). An eastern section picks up on the far side of the Don Valley at Taylor Creek Park, extending for 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) to Kingston Road . Like all streets in Toronto which cross Yonge Street , St. Clair is divided into separate East and West sections, each with its own street numbers beginning at Yonge Street. Unlike most other concession-road streets in Toronto, St. Clair does not extend west into Etobicoke , due to

960-472: The family, Albert and Edwin, adopted names of two characters as their middle names as each boy had no given middle name. Edwin added Norton to his name, and Albert chose St. Clare, although he used the incorrect spelling of St. Clair, as it was used in the theatre program. ( Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River use the same spelling, though they are named for the actual Saint Clare of Assisi , on whose feast day they were encountered by Sieur de La Salle .) As

1000-488: The final section to be routed into the city's stormwater system. The growth of the inner suburbs of Leaside, Rosedale and Moore Park prompted the city of Toronto to approach the operators of Mount Pleasant Cemetery in 1912 with the goal of extending the short Mount Pleasant Road south through the cemetery to connect with St. Clair. Though the operators initially refused, they later accepted the city's offer of $ 100,000 ($ 2,095,000, adjusted for inflation) in 1915. The muddy road

1040-797: The lake as part of their extensive navigation of the Great Lakes. The Mississauga called it Waawiyaataan(ong) , meaning "(at) the whirlpool". The Wea derived their name from a Miami cognate: Waayaahtanonki . In the latter part of the 17th century, the Mississauga established a village near the lake. Early French mapmakers had identified the lake by a variety of French and Iroquoian-language names, including Lac des Eaux de Mer [Seawater Lake]; Lac Ganatchio ("kettle," for its shape), in French Lac de la Chaudière . A variety of Native names were associated with sweetness, as

1080-565: The lake was freshwater as opposed to saltwater. These included Otsiketa (sugar or candy), Kandequio or Kandekio (possibly candy), Oiatinatchiketo (probably a form of Otsiketa), and Oiatinonchikebo . Similarly, the Iroquois nations called present-day Lake Huron a term meaning "The Grand Lake of the Sweet Sea" (fresh water as opposed to salt water.) The French expressed this association on their maps as Mer Douce (sweet sea) and

1120-411: The local Indigenous population. Lake St Clair's location, downstream from the largest freshwater delta in the Great Lakes, has a large effect on its turbidity (clarity). Current water quality is quite good despite past incidents and a history of chemical bio-accumulation. A number of cities source drinking water from or just downstream of the lake and quality is closely monitored. In the early 1970s,

1160-762: The majority of them being from Latinos living in Toronto and all over Ontario come together to dance, eat, shop and celebrate the culture of Latin America. The festival is always held in July on the week, which it has been traditionally recognized as Latino Week in Toronto, in honour of the festival. "Jane St. Clair", in the Barenaked Ladies ' song " Jane ", is named for the intersection of Jane Street and St. Clair Avenue. [REDACTED] Media related to St. Clair Avenue at Wikimedia Commons Lake St. Clair Lake St. Clair ( French : Lac Sainte-Claire )

1200-500: The new designer transit shelters. Trees were added, as well as ornamental pedestrian lighting along certain stretches, with the most extravagant in terms of design being in Corso Italia . The thorough redesign and reconstruction of the street was extended even to the streetcar loops. The streetcar right-of-way project upgraded the aesthetics of the public realm dramatically, though sidewalks had to be narrowed in places to accommodate

1240-419: The north) with Lake Erie (to the south). It has a total surface area of about 430 square miles (1,100 km ) and an average depth of just 11 feet (3.4 m); to ensure an uninterrupted waterway, government agencies in both countries have maintained a 30-foot-deep (9.1 m) shipping channel through the shallow lake for more than a century. This lake is situated about six miles (10 km) northeast of

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1280-503: The northern arc of Dundas Street crossing the Humber River near its western terminus, forming a link to Burnhamthorpe Road , its approximate equivalent arterial. St. Clair Avenue West has heavy automotive and public transit traffic. Over half the commuters in rush hour traffic travel by the 512 St. Clair streetcar line which connects with St. Clair subway station on Line 1 Yonge–University and St. Clair West station also on

1320-654: The restoration of the decorative handrail from the original 1927 design. St. Clair Avenue St. Clair Avenue is a major east-west street in Toronto , Ontario , Canada. It was laid out in the late 18th century by the British as a concession road (the Third Concession), 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north of Bloor Street and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of Queen Street . St. Clair Avenue has two sections. The western section extends from Moore Park in

1360-720: The right-of-way and two lanes of traffic in each direction. The traffic lanes themselves were narrowed slightly. From east to west, the main section of St. Clair passes through several prominent neighbourhoods starting with Moore Park and Deer Park . West of Avenue Road are Forest Hill , the South Hill , Hillcrest , Wychwood , Oakwood , Earlscourt (including Corso Italia ), and The Junction . The eastern section of St. Clair passes eastward starting in Parkview Hills , through Woodbine Gardens, Clairlea , Birchmount Park, and Kennedy Park to Cliffcrest . St. Clair Avenue

1400-785: The south from Lake Huron and has an extensive river delta where it enters Lake St. Clair. This is the largest delta of the Great Lakes System. Other rivers which feed Lake St. Clair are the Thames and Sydenham rivers which originate in Southwestern Ontario , and the Clinton River , which originates in Michigan. The outflow from Lake St. Clair travels from its southwestern end into the Detroit River, and then into Lake Erie . The tarry time (i.e.,

1440-458: The time between entering and leaving) of the water in Lake St. Clair averages about seven days, but this can vary from as little as two to as many as thirty days, depending on the direction of the winds, the water circulation patterns, and the amount of water that is flowing out of Lake Huron. For water flowing through the navigation channel, the time period is only about two days. Lake St. Clair

1480-446: Was about 5.5 km (3.4 mi) west, at Old Weston Road (then Weston Road), where settlement of Carlton Village began in the late 1840s. The western end of St. Clair experienced substantial development, with the municipalities of West Toronto, Earlscourt, Dovercourt, and Oakwood established there. These municipalities were annexed by Toronto between 1908 and 1911, and the western section of St. Clair Avenue became entirely managed by

1520-408: Was designed by New York architect Calude Bragdon with tiles supplied by Italian Mosaic and Tile Company. In the late 1960s, as the first of numerous plans appeared to extend Leslie Street south of Eglinton , plans were initiated to widen the bridge to support six lanes of traffic. The bridge was closed beginning September 16, 1968, and reopened February 8, 1969. Girders were attached to the sides of

1560-421: Was important for St. Clair West not only for the transit upgrades, but because it involved a near-total reconstruction of the street. Water mains were replaced. Overhead wires along the side of street and large wooden poles holding them up were phased out in favour of buried utilities, leaving only the single electric wires for streetcars. Unique poles and white streetlights were installed, coordinated in design with

1600-409: Was opened to traffic in 1918. The construction of the Vale of Avoca through the first half of the 1920s prompted the new Toronto Transit Commission to extend the St. Clair streetcar line east to Mount Pleasant Road and then north to Eglinton Avenue. From 1937 to 1952, St. Clair West formed part of provincial Highway 5A , providing an alternate route between Islington and Yonge Street that avoided

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