User:Geo Swan/Adelaide Street, Toronto



What is now Adelaide Street was originally Duke Street, the northernmost street in the townplan laid out by John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, when he founded York, and made it his capital.

Adelaide Street was named after Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (wife of King William IV) by Peter Russell, the second Lieutenant Governor, in his 1797 plan of Toronto. The original section of Adelaide was only a portion of the present street. In 1844, Little Adelaide Street, Adelaide Street and Newgate Street were amalgamated to form Adelaide Street. The street was split into east and west sections in 1884. In 1926, at the request of property owners, Adelaide Street West was extended from Bathurst Street to Shaw Street, incorporating the entirety of Defoe Street and McDonnell Square. The most recent extension came in 1965, when Adelaide Street East was routed onto Duke Street, which crossed between Jarvis Street and Parliament Street. This was done in advance of the opening of the lower section of the Don Valley Parkway and eastern section of the Gardiner Expressway. Newgate and Duke Streets were amalgamated into Adelaide Street East. Between the Eastern Avenue ramp and Bathurst Street, Adelaide Street serves as the eastbound member of a one-way pair, together with Richmond Street as the westbound member.