Industrial heritage property with many sites within it.
Details of Site Location: On both sides of Yonge Street from Rosedale Valley Road to just west of Avenue Road, and from the south side of Davenport Road to near Walker Avenue on top of the escarpment.
Boundary History: The boundaries of this property varied greatly over time. The industry began on a fairly small scale along both sides of Castle Frank Creek, expanded to fill most of the area described above, and ultimately shrank again as clay deposits became exhausted.
Current Use of Property: The most important part of the property, that part in longest use, is now Ramsden Park
Historical Description: Brick-making in Yorkville began around 1835 along the banks of Castle Frank Creek and its large pond. The earliest brick-makers’ names are not known, as was the case with most of the city’s workmen, but it is likely that they were Yorkshiremen who drew others from the old country to work in the area. In total, most of the brick-makers in Yorkville were from Yorkshire, and the earliest brick-makers in the records were John Sheppard and William Townsley. Sheppard and his family worked the clay deposits at the south end of the area, and Townsley’s works were farther to the north. The Yorkville yards produced “white” bricks – actually a soft yellow – distinctive in Toronto’s brick-making history because of their colour and because the earliest examples were made of pugged clay (i.e., processed in a pug mill operated by human or horse power), which made them soft in texture as well. St. James Cathedral is made from recycled Yorkville brick. The clay deposits of “The Blue Hill,” as the area was called, presented major problems for traffic on Yonge Street, especially in the spring and fall; the clay was one of the reasons for many studies and public works aimed at improving the bridge and road in that area. The brick-makers who worked the deposits longer than all others were John Sheppard and his family. They had built a large number of houses on Belmont Street, Hillsboro Avenue, and Davenport Road, and their final construction was done as the brickyards closed forever in the 1890s. For a brief period, the city installed a weigh station at Yonge and made some use of the area as a garbage dump. Owing to the efforts of Alderman John Ramsden, the city took over the dump site, added to it the Aura Lee Playing Fields of the University of Toronto, and landscaped most of the area as Ramsden Park. In the 1970s, a huge battle was waged with the city to save some of the area from being built with high-rise towers. The match ended in a compromise, with a large building constructed on the north side of Hillsboro.
Relative Importance: The Yorkville Brickyards were the largest employers in the old village, and sustained a number of related businesses and industrial concerns ranging from mould-makers and livery stables to hotels where many brickyard employees lived. The special character of their bricks may still be seen in older buildings around the city. These yards trained brick-makers who went on to establish brickyards elsewhere, including Quebec and the U.S.A. The yards rank very high in importance: to Yorkville, to industrial history in Canada, and to the regional economy.
Planning Implications: Planning must include preservation of the edges of the park, which help to define the size of the extracted area. The section of Pears Avenue (named for one of the brick-makers) that was closed some years ago should remain closed to help preserve the park in a neighbourhood short of parkland. The City Works Yard should be relocated away from the residential areas surrounding the park. Traffic should be rerouted away from Belmont Street in order to protect the Sheppard buildings. In April 1999, a Heritage Conservation District was proposed for Belmont Street (both sides of the street), Hillsboro’s south side, the north side of Roden Place, and the Works Yard, and was approved by the former Toronto Historical Board, but has not yet reached City Council. Section 37 funds from the GentraTridel development on Bloor Street West were to pay for this and the approved study for Hazelton Avenue and its side streets. The Bloor Street developers are now seeking exemption from this payment.
Reference Sources: Sheppard Heritage Conservation District brief, Community History Project, 1999; Miles’ Atlas (1878); Goad’s Atlas (1884, 1890, 1910).
Acknowledgements: James Orr collections; Ed Freeman, geologist; Sheppard family descendants.