08/25/2026
Yonge St looking south at Sherwood in 1912 vs 2026. Just incase it might be a bit difficult to place I've included a Google maps aerial and a 1912 Goad's Fire Insurance Map.
Public transit through North York began in 1828 with stage coaches from Toronto up to Lake Simcoe. Heated, electric streetcars with a smoking section and a speed of 12 miles per hour took over in 1890. The single-track line, used by both northbound and southbound streetcars, ran along the west side of Yonge Street to York Mills, where it crossed to the east side. A switch enabled one or the other to move onto a siding to prevent collisions.
They were known as radials because they radiated from a central point to points within the community, then to suburban and rural areas. They were prevalent in Canada and the U.S. between 1900 and 1925.
The streetcars carried mail, newspapers and freight as well as people. There was a “motorman” and a conductor. They obligingly stopped en route to pick up parcels for people farther along the line, mailed letters and watched over young schoolchildren.
The motormen usually didn’t apply the brake as the car gained momentum going down the hill to Hogg’s Hollow in the York Mills area. According to folklore, a passenger nervously once asked, “If this car should leave the rails, where would we be?” The driver’s quick response was, “I’d be in heaven in a minute. I don’t know where you would be.”
The Toronto Transit Commission was established in 1921, taking over all the privately-owned lines by various rail companies throughout the city, including North York’s.
In March 1930, streetcars were replaced by buses on the Yonge Street route. This service was unpopular and was replaced four months later by the North Yonge Radial Line — eight lightweight double-ended cars operating from the North Toronto city limits at Hogg’s Hollow to Richmond Hill.
On Sunday, Oct. 10, 1948, the last radial car rattled along Yonge Street. It was replaced by the modern diesel bus.
Written by Susan Goldenberg. - North York Historical Society
(Credits: Toronto Public Library).
