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below: 1908-10 - bucolic view of kids playing on a raft on the Gwynne Estate. This great stand of trees surrounding the little pond was located in the block bounded by Dufferin St., Springhurst Ave., Tyndall Ave. and Thorburn Ave. This shot must have been taken from the Tyndall Ave. side, looking eastwards towards Dufferin, when it was still a vacant lot. In the distance are seen the factory buildings which were on the east side of Dufferin Ave.; there is a tractor and what appears to be grading work along Dufferin; at the far right are the billboard signs which were by the Dufferin Loop.
This is one of my favourite evocative photos of Parkdale's forgotten past.

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below: 189? - looking south-east along Dufferin St. from just from south of where today's Springhurst Ave. is. The Grand Trunk railroad tracks are in the centre, at a level crossing over Dufferin. At the far left distance is the "Agricultural Hall" of the Exhibition. There doesn't appear to be any formal gate to the fairground.

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below: Jul.15, 1937 - looking south at a closer view of the Dufferin bridge over the railway tracks, with the second Dufferin Gates (built 1910) seen in the distance. Note the power lines running in the area just north of the gates: the right of way under these lines was where the future Gardiner expressway would be built - that area between the south-end of the curved steel girder of the Dufferin bridge, and the Dufferin Gate, was where the separate bridge would be built in 1959 at the time of the Gardiner construction.

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below: a 1912 view of the second Dufferin Gates from the track-level below, looking towards the south-east. As can be seen, the gates butted right to the south edge of the south stairwall; the stairs led to the south Parkdale eastbound railroad station platform below. Note that the part of the gate, right over the entrance at the top of the stairs, seems as if it is still under construction. Note that the second Dufferin Gate was built in a semi-circle-U-shape: the smaller towers with the cupolas, seen at the upper right, were located on both the east and west side of Dufferin St., at the north-end of the U-shape, while the actual gates were a bit farther south (to the right) at the 'top' of the U-shape.

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below: Apr.10, 2008 - Looking west from the eastbound-track stairs. The train platform stretched westward almost to Tyndall Ave. The CNE is at the far left, the Gardiner is seen below left. In the whole far distance, from Lake Ontario at the far left to the tracks at the right, was where the neighbourhood of south Parkdale had once been. The track right of way was excavated and dropped lower in 1911-12; the area where the Gardiner now is, remained at its original higher grade, until being excavated for the new expressway. The reason the Grand Trunk Railway lowered the tracks was because the existing grade at the time was an onerous 0.7%, in the stretch from Sunnyside to Dowling Ave.; the grade reduction would bring the tracks down to 0.4%. The cut went as deep as 27 feet. The new bridges, which were built over the rail corridor after the grade-separation, were of the same distinctive standard design, with round-ended riveted girders, and with diamond-shaped iron-lattice railings by the walkway. The Dufferin Bridge is vintage in this regard, as are the neighbouring Dunn Ave. and the Dowling Ave. bridges, all from the same era. The Jameson Ave. and the Strachan Ave. bridges were also the same, but have since been rebuilt. The now-demolished old bridge which once carried Queen St. W. down into Sunnyside (near the old Sunnyside station) was also the same design.

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below: Apr.27, 1931 - the Dufferin Loop, as seen from across Dufferin St., looking west. Ft. Rouille St. is in the distance; the railroad tracks are immediately to the left (south). At right are a series of billboards, the one at right is for "Pussyfoot Toilet Tanks, by the Aristocrat Manufacturing Co. Ltd."


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below: first set of Dufferin Gates, at the Canadian National Exhibition, 1908.



Farther in the left distance are seen the fronts of houses which are on the north side of Springhurst Ave., just west of Dufferin St.
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below: Troops march north through the Dufferin Gates, WWI, pos.1914. In the view below, the lead troops are on solid ground, about to approach the original Dufferin Bridge over the tracks. Looking at the left of the photo shows the curve of the U-shaped layout of the 2nd Dufferin Gates.
above: Apr.10, 2008 - this is the same view as above, where the troops had once marched; the 2nd Gate had been in the foreground, a little closer to the camera and closer to the railroad bridge; so today, the exact location where the troops had once marched is now on this bridge over the Gardiner.
[On Jun.1, 2013, it was suddenly announced that as of Jun.15, the city of Toronto was closing the Dufferin St. bridge to vehicular (but not pedestrian) traffic, for some 18 months, while a temporary, and then a new bridge are to be built!! The traffic chaos resulting from this long closure will be interesting, to say the least. Where is the southbound Dufferin St. traffic going to go - over to the equally-rickety Dunn Ave. sister bridge?!
Also, I was baffled this Jun.13, 2013 National Post story post story by Kim Brown:
"The bridge was originally built from 1911-1912, making it over 100 years old, but just because something is an antique doesn’t mean it’s charming to look at. Originally designed to carry streetcars and one lane of traffic north and southbound, the streetcar tracks were removed as part of a partial bridge reconstruction in 1973. Today the bridge accommodates vehicles, bikes and pedestrians, and has spacious 3.9 metre-wide sidewalks on each side."
Originally designed to carry which streetcars/going where?!! What reconstruction in 1973? There were no TTC streetcar tracks on the 1911 Dufferin Bridge, or on the 1958 Gardiner overpass!!]

above: Mar.23, 2009 - same view, looking north-east from the south-side of the 3rd Dufferin Gate. (The old 2nd Gate, of course, was a little bit closer to the railroad, because the highway hadn't been yet built) Note, the chimney in far centre above (which is in the Liberty St. factory area north of the tracks), is the same chimney seen in the previous above photo, at the far left .
Older photos in this study are from the Toronto City Archives; the recent photos are by R. Bobak.
[On Jun.1, 2013, it was suddenly announced that as of Jun.15, the city of Toronto was closing the Dufferin St. bridge to vehicular (but not pedestrian) traffic, for some 18 months, while a temporary, and then a new bridge are to be built!! The traffic chaos resulting from this long closure will be interesting, to say the least. Where is the southbound Dufferin St. traffic going to go - over to the equally-rickety Dunn Ave. sister bridge?!
Also, I was baffled this Jun.13, 2013 National Post story post story by Kim Brown:
"The bridge was originally built from 1911-1912, making it over 100 years old, but just because something is an antique doesn’t mean it’s charming to look at. Originally designed to carry streetcars and one lane of traffic north and southbound, the streetcar tracks were removed as part of a partial bridge reconstruction in 1973. Today the bridge accommodates vehicles, bikes and pedestrians, and has spacious 3.9 metre-wide sidewalks on each side."
Originally designed to carry which streetcars/going where?!! What reconstruction in 1973? There were no TTC streetcar tracks on the 1911 Dufferin Bridge, or on the 1958 Gardiner overpass!!]
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below: 1958 - the second Dufferin Gate under demolition; this view is taken from a position standing south of the gate, west of Dufferin, looking in a north-easterly direction.

Older photos in this study are from the Toronto City Archives; the recent photos are by R. Bobak.
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