Keele Street is a north–south road in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Vaughan Vaughan () (2021 population 323,103) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increas ...

and

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

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 stretches , running from

Bloor Street Bloor Street is a major east–west residential and commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Park ...

in Toronto to the Holland Marsh. South of

, the roadway is today known as Parkside Drive, but was originally part of Keele Street. It was renamed in 1921 by the City of Toronto. Most of Keele Street runs directly along a former

concession road In Upper and Lower Canada, concession roads were laid out by the colonial government through undeveloped Crown land to provide access to rows of newly surveyed lots intended for farming by new settlers. The land that comprised a row of lots that ...

(Third Line West of

Yonge Street Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Once the southernmost leg of provincial H ...

) allowance. Keele Street was named for local businessman and farmer William Conway Keele, who lived in what is West Toronto Junction or Lambton Mills area.

Route

Parkside Drive begins at

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 ...

near Sunnyside Beach, site of the former Sunnyside Amusement Park. It runs north forming the eastern boundary to

High Park High Park is a municipal park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. High Park is a mixed recreational and natural park, with sporting facilities, cultural facilities, educational facilities, gardens, playgrounds and a zoo. One-third of the park remains ...

until Bloor Street. To the east is the Roncesvalles neighbourhood. North of Bloor Street, it becomes Keele Street. It runs through the residential

High Park North High Park North, or often simply High Park, after the park, is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded on the south by Bloor Street, on the west by Runnymede Road, on the north by Annette Street, Quebec Avenue and Humberside Av ...

neighbourhood and into the Junction, which contains a mix of residential and industrial areas around the railway tracks. It passes near the once important

CPR West Toronto Yard West Toronto Yard is a small marshalling yard for Canadian Pacific Railway on the Galt Subdivision in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The yard was built in 1882 to relieve stress at the Parkdale Yard and is located near Keele Street and Dundas Street W ...

. While Keele originally ran straight north, today there is a brief cut-off to deviate around the

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN ...

and

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

corridors, near the former Canada Packers stock yards. It resumes south of

Eglinton Avenue Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the western limits of Mississauga, as a ...

, and connects with Weston Road by Rogers Road. There is a minor jog at Eglinton, via Trethewey Drive and Yore Road. The road servers major arteries for suburban neighbourhoods in York and North York such as Silverthorn,

Amesbury Amesbury () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is known for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is within the parish. The town is claimed to be the oldest occupied settlement in Great Britain, having been first settl ...

, and

Maple Leaf The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is the most widely recognized national symbol of Canada. History of use in Canada By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by the French Canadians along th ...

. North of

Highway 401 King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one, is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provin ...

it passes by

Downsview Airport Downsview Airport was located in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. An air field, then air force base, it had been a testing facility for Bombardier Aerospace from 1994 to 2018. Bombardier has sold the facility and manufactur ...

and forms the border between the residential neighbourhoods to the west and the large Keele-Finch industrial area to the east. Keele also forms the eastern border of

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and sta ...

. At

Steeles Avenue Steeles Avenue is an east–west street that forms the northern city limit of Toronto and the southern limit of York Region in Ontario, Canada. It stretches across the western and central Greater Toronto Area from Appleby Line in Milton in th ...

, the road allowance between the former

North York North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a po ...

and

Townships was connected in the early 1960s. North of Steeles, in Vaughan, Keele continues to pass through industrial areas. It runs to the west of the

MacMillan Yard The MacMillan Yard is the 2nd largest rail classification yard in Canada, after CN's Symington Yard in Winnipeg. It is operated by Canadian National Railway (CN) and is located in Vaughan, Ontario. It was originally opened in 1965 as Toronto Yar ...

, Canada's largest rail yard. North of Rutherford Road, Keele Street is the main street for

Maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since h ...

, once a small town, but today a rapidly growing suburb. North of Maple, Keele Street passes through largely rural areas, but also serves as a major street for

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

and King City.

Intersections

300px, Keele and Dundas in the Junction Major streets in Toronto which intersect with Keele (south to north): *

Dundas Street Dundas Street is a major historic arterial road in Ontario, Canada. The road connects the city of Toronto with its western suburbs and several cities in southwestern Ontario. Three provincial highways— 2, 5, and 99—followed long section ...

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 ...

Lawrence Avenue Lawrence Avenue is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is divided into east and west portions (Lawrence Avenue East and Lawrence Avenue West) by Yonge Street, the dividing line of east-west streets in Toronto. Route d ...

* Wilson Avenue *

Sheppard Avenue Sheppard Avenue is an east–west principal arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The street has two distinct branches near its eastern end, with the original route being a collector road leading to Pickering via a turnoff, and the main ...

* Finch Avenue *

Public transit

A portion of Keele was once a major streetcar route. The Toronto Suburban Railway ran streetcars along Keele from Dundas West to Weston Rd to connect to Lambton,

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * ...

, and Woodbridge. The

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and larges ...

took over the Toronto Suburban Railway routes in the 1920s, and continued to run the northwestern streetcars on behalf of York Township. The streetcar lines were converted to buses in the late 1940s, and since then Keele has been served by buses.James Bow. " he Township of York Railways. http://transittoronto.ca/streetcar/4119.shtml ''Transit Toronto.'' May 30, 2009. Today Keele is served by the TTC 41 Keele bus route, which runs from Keele station, passing

Keelesdale station Keelesdale is an underground light rail transit (LRT) station under construction on Line 5 Eglinton, a new line that will be part of the Toronto subway system. It will be located in the Silverthorn neighbourhood at the intersection of Keele ...

, to Pioneer Village station via

, and its counterpart night route, 341, serving almost the same route, but it terminates at York University station. There is also an express route operating during some periods, the 941 Keele express operating from Keele station to Finch West station. The TTC 107 York University heights operates from Finch West station to Canarctic Drive (just south of

). North of

, the

York Region Transit York Region Transit (YRT) is the public transit operator in York Region, Ontario, Canada. Its headquarters are in Richmond Hill, at 50 High Tech Road. YRT operates 65 full-time, rush hour and limited routes, 35 school services, and six Viva bu ...

107 Keele runs from Pioneer Village station to

Teston Road York Region, located in southcentral Ontario, Canada, assigned approximately 50 regional roads, each with a number ranging from 1 to 99. All expenses of York Regional Roads (for example, snow shovelling, road repairs, traffic lights) are funded ...

. The Parkside Drive part of the street, which is formally Keele Street, is served by the TTC route 80 Queensway running south from Keele station to Lake Shore Blvd, then turning west to

The Queensway The Queensway (or Queensway) is a major street in the municipalities of Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is a western continuation of Queen Street, after it crosses Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in Toronto. The Queensway is ...

. It is also served on weekdays and Saturdays by the YRT 96 Keele-Yonge Route which runs north from Pioneer Village to King Road before turning right on King Road to go to

which leads it to the Newmarket Terminal.

Landmarks

References

External links

Google Maps of Keele Street
North sectionSouth of St. Clair Avenue
{{Roads in Vaughan Roads in Toronto Transport in King, Ontario Transport in Vaughan