Keele Street is a north–south road in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
and
York Region
The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional ...
in
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada. It stretches , running from
Bloor Street
Bloor Street is an east–west arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River (Ontario), Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Parkway. East ...
in Toronto to the
Holland Marsh. It begins at
Bloor Street
Bloor Street is an east–west arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River (Ontario), Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Parkway. East ...
, as a continuation of Parkside Drive, which was originally part of Keele.
[Map of greater Toronto and suburbs (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - 1916](_blank)
Another former section is a short rural road separated from the road's northern terminus by the west branch of the
Holland River
The Holland River is a river in Ontario, Canada, that drains the Holland River watershed into Cook's Bay, the southern extremity of Lake Simcoe. The river flows generally north, and its headwaters lie in the Oak Ridges Moraine. The Holland Ri ...
within
Bradford-West Gwillimbury in
Simcoe County
Simcoe County is a county and census division located in the central region of Ontario, Canada. The county is located north of the Greater Toronto Area, and forms the north western edge of the Golden Horseshoe. The county seat is located in Mi ...
, now named Keele Lane.
Keele runs along a former
concession road
In Upper Canada, Upper and Lower Canada, concession roads were laid out by the colonial government through undeveloped Crown land#Canada, Crown land to provide access to rows of newly surveyed Land lot, lots intended for farming by new settlers. T ...
(Third Line West of
Yonge Street
Yonge Street ( ') 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 Great Lakes#Geography, Upper Great Lakes. Ontario's first colonial administrator, ...
) allowance.
Route
left, Keele and Dundas Streets in ">the Junction
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 of
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, the present Keele Street proper begins. It then runs through the residential
High Park North neighbourhood and into
the Junction
The Junction is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is near the West Toronto Diamond, a junction of four railway lines in the area. The neighbourhood was previously an independent city called West Toronto, that was also its own fe ...
, which contains a mix of residential and industrial areas around the railway tracks. It passes near the once important
CPR West Toronto Yard. While Keele originally ran straight north, today there is a brief cut-off to deviate around the
Canadian National and
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway () , 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 Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
corridors, near the former
Canada Packers
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is a Canadian multinational consumer-packaged meats and food production company. Its head office is in Mississauga, Ontario.
History
Maple Leaf Foods is the result of the 1991 merger between Canada Packers and Maple ...
stockyards.
It resumes south of
Eglinton Avenue
Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west Arterial road, arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Ontario Highway 407, Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the w ...
, intersecting Rogers Road, and entering the
York
York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
district. At Eglinton, there is a minor, but complicated jog: A short stretch of Keele itself is a bypassed side street north of it, with through traffic from the south defaulting onto Trethewey Drive, then shortly after turning at Yore Road which curves sharply left to become the third section of Keele Street after the bypassed section meets it. The street continues through suburban neighbourhoods in the York and then
North York
North York is a former township and city and is now one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the northern area of Toronto, centred around Yonge Street, north of Ontario Highway 401. It is bounded by ...
districts 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 ...
,
Maple Leaf
The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is most widely recognized as the national symbols of Canada, national symbol of Canada.
History of use in Canada
By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by ...
, and
Downsview
Downsview is a neighbourhood in the north end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the district of North York. The area takes its name from the Downs View farm established around 1842 near the present-day intersection of Keele Street and Wils ...
. 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 prov ...
it passes by
Downsview Airport
Downsview Airport, formerly , is a now-closed airport located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. An air field, then air force base, it has been a testing facility for Bombardier Aerospace from 1994. In 2018, Bombardier sold the facility to Northcres ...
and forms the border between the residential neighbourhoods to the west and the large Keele-Finch industrial area to the east. Keele then passes
York University
York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
to the west.
North of
Steeles Avenue
Steeles Avenue is an east–west street that stretches across the western and central Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Running from Appleby Line in Milton in the west to the Scarborough-Pickering Townline in the east, where it continue ...
, Keele enters the City of
Vaughan
Vaughan ( ) (2022 population 344,412) 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 increa ...
in York Region and continues to pass through industrial areas in the
Concord district. It runs to the east of the
MacMillan Yard, Canada's largest rail yard. North of Rutherford Road to north of
Major Mackenzie Drive, 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 soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...
, once an independent village, but today a rapidly growing suburban area. North of Maple, Keele Street becomes largely rural and enters
King
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
Township, but remains four lanes wide until passing through
King City as its main street. North of there, it narrows to two lanes. The road ends as a dead-end gravel road at the Holland River, across from Keele Lane, another former section.
History

The street is named for local businessman and farmer
William Conway Keele, who lived in what is today West Toronto Junction or the Lambton Mills area.
Keele Street's continuation south of Bloor Street, Parkside Drive, was originally part of Keele, but was renamed in 1921 by the City of Toronto.
The street originally continued through between St. Clair and Eglinton Avenues, but construction of the aforementioned railyards cut it off from the section farther north, although a 55 metre (180 foot) section north of St. Clair was channelled into a new route of
Weston Road
Weston Road is both a contour street and a north–south street in western Toronto and western York Region in Ontario, Canada. The road is named for the neighbourhood and former Town of Weston, which is located near Weston Road and Lawrence Ave ...
. This short stretch of Keele was redesignated as part of Weston Road in 2006.
At Steeles Avenue, a jog in the road at the boundary between the-then North York and Vaughan Townships was connected in the early 1960s.
Public transit
A portion of Keele was once a major streetcar route. The
Toronto Suburban Railway
The Toronto Suburban Railway was a Canadian electric railway operator with local routes in west Toronto, and a radial (interurban) route to Guelph.
History
Corporate timeline
The Weston, High Park and Toronto Street Railway Company was incor ...
ran streetcars along Keele from Dundas West to Weston Road 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
* W ...
, and
Woodbridge. The
Toronto Transit Commission
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the primary public transport agency in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operating the majority of the city's transit bus, bus and rail services. It is the oldest and largest of the urban transit service providers ...
(TTC) 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.]
Keele Street passes two
TTC subway stations along its course through the city, with a third under construction:
Keele station
Keele is a subway station on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth of the Toronto subway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located just north of Bloor Street West on the east side of Keele Street. The station opened in 1966 and was the western terminus of th ...
is situated at Bloor Street on the east-west
Line 2 Bloor-Danforth, and
Finch West station
Finch West is a List of Toronto subway stations, rapid transit and future light rail station on the Line 1 Yonge–University of the Toronto subway. It is located under Keele Street, north of Finch Avenue, Finch Avenue West. When Line 6 Finch Wes ...
is located at Finch Avenue on the diagonal western leg of the north-south
Line 1 Yonge-University. The third,
Keelesdale station
Keelesdale is an underground light rail transit
Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportatio ...
is not yet open and is located at Eglinton Avenue on
Line 5 Eglinton
Line 5 Eglinton, also known as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT or the Crosstown, is a light rail transit line that is under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that will be part of the Toronto subway system. Owned by Metrolinx and operated by t ...
, which is actually an underground
Light rail transit
Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...
line.
Today, Keele is served by the TTC 41 Keele bus route, which runs from Keele station to
Pioneer Village station
Pioneer Village is a List of Toronto subway stations, subway station on the Line 1 Yonge–University of the Toronto subway. It is located under the intersection of Northwest Gate and Steeles Avenue, at the city boundaries of Toronto and Vaughan, ...
via
York University
York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
, and its counterpart night route, 341, serving almost the same route, but it terminates at
York University station
York University is a List of Toronto TTC stations, subway station on Line 1 Yonge–University of the Toronto subway. It is located on the main Keele Campus of York University, near Ian Macdonald and York Boulevards in the former city of North Y ...
. 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 Steeles Avenue).
North of
Steeles Avenue
Steeles Avenue is an east–west street that stretches across the western and central Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Running from Appleby Line in Milton in the west to the Scarborough-Pickering Townline in the east, where it continue ...
in
York Region
The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional ...
,
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 ...
(YRT) 107 Keele runs from Pioneer Village station to Teston Road in Vaughan.
It is also served by the YRT 96 Keele-Yonge Route, which runs north from Pioneer Village to King Road before travelling east on King Road before continuing north along
Yonge Street
Yonge Street ( ') 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 Great Lakes#Geography, Upper Great Lakes. Ontario's first colonial administrator, ...
to
Newmarket where it terminates at 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