We live on Castlefield Avenue, hence the clever name of our blog. I stumbled on a brief history of our street months ago, and did a little more research earlier this week, so I thought I would share.
James Hervey Price was one of the leading pioneers of North Toronto, opening up the first law offices in what is now Toronto. He owned two large tracts of land, including one that ran through from Yonge Street to Bathurst Street. Around 1830, he built a large estate on this land called "Castlefield" (see undated photo below). Price then loaned large sums of money to William Lyon Mackenzie (Toronto's first mayor) during the Upper Canada rebellion, forcing him to sell Castlefield in 1842. Castlefield was sold again for $16,000 in 1883, was torn down in 1918, and is now the site of Castlefield Community Church. There is quite a bit of Toronto history linked to Castlefield (e.g. Mackenzie actually hid from government troops in a large cradle in Castlefield, protected by a cook with a rolling pin daring the troops to "wake the baby"), but I won't get too long-winded as this isn't really a history blog. And that is how our street got its name!
The source for most of this information was Tales of North Toronto, Volumes 1 & 2, by Lyman B. Jackes. Photo courtesy of Toronto Public Library.
