Stretching along the east side of the Don Valley, the community of Riverdale has been an integral part of Toronto since being annexed in the late 19th Century. Bound by the Don River, Danforth Avenue, Pape Avenue and Queen Street, the area has maintained its residential character and general low-rise nature, in large part due to the continued activism of its neighbourhood associations. This weekend Heritage Toronto will award the Riverdale Heritage Conservation District and the Riverdale Railway Station each with its own Heritage Toronto plaques, recognizing their importance in preserving the neighbourhood’s historic fabric.

Unlike the majority of commemorations, often dedicated to existing buildings, sites of events or people, these two plaques are unique in that they will honour a building that no longer exists, and a Heritage Conservation District. The Riverdale HCD was established in 2008 in order to protect 224 properties built between the 1880s and World War One, a period of rapid development within Riverdale. The district encompasses parts of First, Tiverton and West Avenues, streets which contain dozens of bay-and-gable row houses, a style synonymous with our city’s late 19th Century housing boom.

Boulton Avenue Public School at First Avenue and Boulton, 1920s

The Riverdale Railway Station was built in 1896 as part of the Grand Trunk Railway, located at Queen Street East and De Grassi. While the railroad crossing is now raised, it used to be level with Queen Street, and was a particularly dangerous crossing, the site of a number of deadly accidents. The station was relocated in 1927 and closed in 1932 after a decline in passengers; the building was unfortunately demolished in 1974.

Former level crossing of the Grand Trunk Railway at Queen Street

The commemoration will take place this Saturday, August 25 at 2:30 PM following a walking tour led by the Riverdale Historical Society. The commemoration will take place at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, near Broadview and Gerrard.