Garrison Creek was a short

stream A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams ...

about long that flowed southeast into the west side of

Toronto Harbour Toronto Harbour or Toronto Bay is a bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a natural harbour, protected from Lake Ontario waves by the Toronto Islands. Today, the harbour is used primarily for recreational b ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. It has been largely covered over and filled in, but geographical traces of the creek can still be found, including the natural

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

known as

Christie Pits Christie Pits (officially Willowvale Park until 1983) is a public recreational area in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 750 Bloor Street West at Christie Street, just west of the Toronto Transit Commission's Christie subway station. ...

and the off-leash dog "bowl" of

Trinity Bellwoods Park Trinity Bellwoods Park is a public park located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, bordered by Queen Street West on the south and Dundas Street on the north. The western boundary of the park is Crawford Street, several hundred feet before Crawford in ...

. The name ''"Garrison Creek"'' was used because

Fort York Fort York (french: Fort-York) is an early 19th-century military fortification in the Fort York neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used to house members of the British and Canadian militaries, and to defend the entrance of t ...

was built near the creek mouth. Volunteers lead popular tours of the course of the old watershed.

History

Garrison Creek was one of a number of small natural watercourses on the site of the current city of Toronto. Starting in the 1870s, the stream was diverted into underground sewers under city streets and the original course was filled in with soil. By 1920, the stream was entirely diverted into the sewer system. There are many artifacts of the Creek's existence, including buried bridges along

Harbord Street Harbord may refer to: People * Harbord Harbord (1675?–1742), English landowner and Member of Parliament born Harbord Cropley * Harbord Harbord, 1st Baron Suffield (1734–1810), British landowner and Member of Parliament * Arthur Harbord (1865 ...

and

Crawford Street Crawford Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster, London. The street contains two grade II listed public houses. Location The street runs from the junction of Homer Row and Crawford Place in the west to the ...

south of Dundas Street. The unusual courses of Niagara Street (north of Fort York) and Vaughan Road (St. Clair and Bathurst area) indicate that they were once trails following the banks of the creek. In 2013 particularly strong rainstorms caused the storm sewers that replaced Garrison Creek to flood, at

, and a railway underpass at King Street and Atlantic Avenue. Both Christie Pits and Trinity Bellwoods Park are over the original Garrison Creek Ravine, while the King and Atlantic intersection is over the course of Asylum Stream, a tributary that ran from just northwest of Fort York to Lisgar Street and Queen Street West near the former Provincial Asylum.

Course

The stream had two sources, one north of

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), north of Bloor Street and north of Queen Street. St. Clair Avenue ...

, near Humewood Public School, and the other northwest of the present-day

Dufferin Street Dufferin Street is a major north–south street in Toronto, Vaughan and King, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, two concessions (4 km) west of Yonge Street. The street starts at Exhibition Place, continues north to Toronto's northe ...

and St. Clair Avenue intersection. The main course travels due south to south of King Street, where it turned to the southeast and emptied into Toronto Bay at the present-day intersection of Bathurst Street and

Lake Shore Boulevard Lake Shore Boulevard (often incorrectly compounded as Lakeshore Boulevard) is a major arterial road running along more than half of the Lake Ontario waterfront in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Prior to 1998, two segments of Lake Shore ...

. Tributaries along the creek included: * Springmount Stream * London Stream * Dewson Stream * Asylum Stream * Stafford Stream * Denison Creek (which had its own tributaries): ** Brock Stream ** Havelock Stream ** Moutray Stream

References

External links

Garrison Creek 'Discovery Walk'
{{coord missing, Ontario Rivers of Toronto Subterranean rivers

History

Course

See also

References

External links