Metropolitan Toronto in the context of "York, Toronto"

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⭐ Core Definition: Metropolitan Toronto

The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, which were starting to urbanize rapidly after World War II. It was commonly referred to as "Metro Toronto" or "Metro".

Passage of the 1997 City of Toronto Act caused the 1998 amalgamation of Metropolitan Toronto and its constituents into the current City of Toronto. The boundaries of present-day Toronto are the same as those of Metropolitan Toronto upon its dissolution: Lake Ontario to the south, Etobicoke Creek and Highway 427 to the west, Steeles Avenue to the north, and the Rouge River to the east.

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👉 Metropolitan Toronto in the context of York, Toronto

York is a district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located northwest of Old Toronto, southwest of North York and east of the Humber River.

Originally formed as York Township, it encompassed the southern section of York County. It was split several times, creating East York and North York. In 1953, it became part of the Metropolitan Toronto federation. It absorbed several municipalities, including Lambton Mills and Weston and was eventually known as the City of York. In 1998, it was dissolved along with Metro Toronto and its constituent municipalities, amalgamated to form the current City of Toronto.

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Metropolitan Toronto in the context of 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 York Region to the north at Steeles Avenue, (where it borders Vaughan) on the west by the Humber River, on the east by Victoria Park Avenue. Its southern boundary is erratic and corresponds to the northern boundaries of the former municipalities of Toronto: York, Old Toronto and East York. As of the 2016 Census, the district has a population of 644,685.

North York was created as a township in 1922 out of the northern part of the former township of York, a municipality that was located along the western border of the-then City of Toronto. Following its inclusion in Metropolitan Toronto in 1953, it was one of the fastest-growing parts of Greater Toronto due to its proximity to Toronto. It was declared a borough in 1967, and later became a city in 1979, attracting high-density residences, rapid transit, and a number of corporate headquarters in North York City Centre, its planned central business district. In 1998, North York was dissolved as part of the amalgamation which created the new City of Toronto. It has since become a secondary economic hub of the city outside Downtown Toronto.

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Metropolitan Toronto in the context of Amalgamation of Toronto

The amalgamation of Toronto was the creation of the city limits of Toronto, Ontario, Canada after amalgamating, annexing, and merging with surrounding municipalities since the 18th century. The most recent occurrence of amalgamation was in 1998, which dissolved the federation of Metropolitan Toronto and its constituent municipalities, and created the current "megacity" of Toronto.

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Metropolitan Toronto in the context of Spadina Expressway

Allen Road, formally known as William R. Allen Road, is a short municipal expressway and arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It starts as a controlled-access expressway at Eglinton Avenue West, heading north to just south of Transit Road, then continues as an arterial road north to Kennard Avenue, where it continues as Dufferin Street. Allen Road is named after Metro Toronto chairman William R. Allen and is maintained by the City of Toronto. Landmarks along the road include the Lawrence Heights housing project, Yorkdale Shopping Centre and Downsview Park, and Downsview Airport. A section of the Line 1 Yonge–University subway is located within the median of the expressway from Eglinton Avenue to north of Wilson Avenue.

The portion south of Transit Road was originally constructed as part of the Spadina Expressway project. The Spadina was proposed in the 1950s as a north–south freeway, intended to connect downtown Toronto to the suburbs of North York and to serve the Yorkdale Shopping Centre project; it was only partially built before being cancelled in 1971 due to public opposition. Initially proposed in the 1950s as part of a network of freeways surrounding Toronto, its cancellation in 1971 ended proposals for other proposed expressways into and around Metro Toronto. Despite this, extensions were opened south to Eglinton in 1976 and north to Kennard Avenue in 1982.

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Metropolitan Toronto in the context of Cancelled expressways in Toronto

The cancelled expressways in Toronto were a planned series of municipal expressways in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that were only partially built or cancelled due to public opposition. Metropolitan Toronto's system of superhighways or freeways were intended to spur or handle growth in the suburbs while also connecting to the downtown core, in conjunction with the province's developing 400-Series Highways which would connect to municipalities outside of Metro. However these expressways were opposed by citizens within the city of Toronto downtown core, citing the demolition of homes and park lands, air pollution, noise and the high cost of construction. The Spadina Expressway, planned since the 1940s, was cancelled in 1971 after being only partially constructed. After the Spadina cancellation, other expressway plans, intended to create a 'ring' around the central core, were abandoned.

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Metropolitan Toronto in the context of Name of Toronto

The name of Toronto has a history distinct from that of the city itself. Originally, the term "Tkaronto" referred to a channel of water between Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching, at what is now the city of Orillia, on maps as early as 1675 but in time the name passed southward, and was eventually applied to a new fort at the mouth of the Humber River. Fort Toronto was the first European settlement in the area, and lent its name to what became the city of Toronto.

John Graves Simcoe identified the area as a strategic location to base a new capital for Upper Canada, believing Newark to be susceptible to American invasion. A garrison was established at Garrison Creek, on the western entrance to the docks of Toronto Harbour, in 1793; this later became Fort York. The settlement it defended was renamed York on August 26, 1793, as Simcoe favoured English names over those of First Nations languages, in honour of Prince Frederick, Duke of York. Residents petitioned to change the name back to Toronto, and in 1834 the city was incorporated with its original name. The name York lived on through the name of York County (which was later split into Metropolitan Toronto and York Region), and continues to live on through the names of several districts within the city, including Yorkville, East York, North York, and York the last three being suburbs that were formally amalgamated into the "megacity" of Toronto on January 1, 1998.

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Metropolitan Toronto in the context of Scarborough, Ontario

Scarborough (/ˈskɑːrbʌr/; 2021 Census 629,941) is a district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is situated in the eastern part of the City of Toronto. Its borders are Victoria Park Avenue to the west, Steeles Avenue and the city of Markham to the north, Rouge River and the city of Pickering to the east, and Lake Ontario to the south. Scarborough was named after the English town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire, inspired by its cliffs.

Scarborough, which was settled by Europeans in the 1790s, has grown from a collection of small rural villages and farms to become fully urbanized and diverse cultural community. Incorporated in 1850 as a township, the district became part of Metropolitan Toronto in 1953 and was reconstituted as a borough in 1967. The borough rapidly developed as a suburb of Toronto over the next decade and became a city in 1983. In 1998, the city and the rest of Metropolitan Toronto were amalgamated into the present city of Toronto. The Scarborough Civic Centre – the former city's last seat of government – now houses offices of the municipal government of Toronto.

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Metropolitan Toronto in the context of Old Toronto

Old Toronto is the part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that corresponds to the boundaries of the City of Toronto prior to 1998. It was incorporated as a city in 1834, after being known as the town of York, and being part of York County. Toronto periodically grew in size by annexing adjacent land and municipalities.

In 1954, the City of Toronto and the surrounding suburban towns and townships of York County were joined in a federation known as the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (Metro). Later, the lower-tier city annexed two towns until it reached its final boundaries in 1967. In 1998, the municipalities of Metro Toronto were amalgamated into the present-day single-tier City of Toronto, which continues legally from the predecessor City of Toronto, although the by-laws of each municipality remained in force.

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Metropolitan Toronto in the context of East York

East York is a district and former municipality within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1967 to 1998, it was officially the Borough of East York, a borough within the upper-tier municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. The borough was dissolved in 1998 when it was amalgamated with the other lower-tier municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto to form the new "megacity" of Toronto. Prior to its amalgamation, East York was Ontario's last remaining borough.

It is separated by the Don River from the former City of Toronto. Traditional East York is southeast of the river, and the neighbourhoods of Leaside, Bennington Heights and densely populated Thorncliffe Park – which were amalgamated with the then-township of East York in 1967, to form the new borough – are northwest of the river. The heart of East York is filled with middle-class and working-class homes, built for returning WWII veterans and, later, the early baby boomers.

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