Discover Toronto's history as told through its plaques

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The Baldwin Steps

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted September, 2006

Photo Source - Toronto Archives

These stairs, at the intersection of Spadina Road and Davenport Road, have a plaque at the bottom on the east side which says:

Coordinates: 43.677552 -79.408211

Click here for a larger map

Directly below you are the 12,000-year-old shorecliffs of the great glacial Lake Iroquois, formed during the last ice age. Twenty-three metres high, this is the steepest part of the old bluffs running through the city just below St. Clair Avenue. All of Toronto below this point was once under water. An Indian trail connecting the Don and Humber Rivers wound its way along the foot of the hill. This shore line eventually became Davenport Road. These steep bluffs hampered the northward movement of early settlers. But as settlement progressed, much of the shorecliff was tamed and re-graded. A string of fine homes was built along its crest. In spite of these changes, the bluffs retained much of their imposing beauty. In 1913 a stairway was built on the Spadina Road alignment replacing an earlier wooden stairs. In recent times, this site was threatened by a proposal for a Spadina Expressway, with a tunnel beginning just below St. Clair Avenue, and exiting out of this hillside into a sweeping interchange. In 1971, the expressway was halted by the organized efforts of local residents. The Toronto Transit Commission's Spadina subway line was built deep beneath this site in 1980. The land on which the Baldwin Steps are located is now owned by the Province of Ontario and was leased back to the City of Toronto in 1984 for 99 years. The present steps were constructed by the City of Toronto in 1987 and were named to commemorate the Baldwin Family, whose land this once was.

Other plaques on the Baldwin Steps
The Baldwin Family
Casa Loma and the Pellatts
Spadina and the Austins

More
Transportation

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