Toronto’s downtown creeks were not lost to nature. They were put into brick sewers, mostly from the 1880s onward, and their ravines were later filled and built over. Garrison Creek, which ran about 7.7 kilometers (4.8 miles) from north of St. Clair Avenue West to Fort York, was completely buried by the mid-1920s. Taddle Creek, which crossed what is now the University of Toronto, was covered in stages before 1886. The two large rivers, the Humber and the Don, stayed open, though the Don’s mouth was heavily reshaped.
The glacial origin of these valleys, the old lake shoreline and the flood of 1954 are covered in the article on Toronto’s elevation and topography. This article deals with what happened to the creeks after settlement began.
Why the creeks were buried
A City of Toronto council report on the Garrison Creek ravine states that by the 1880s the creek was contained in a brick sewer “for civic health reasons.” Factories and houses along the banks had polluted the water. The Canadian Encyclopedia records that burial work began in 1884 and that Mayor Arthur Boswell called it a necessary work. The Lost Rivers project adds that dense settlement in the early 1900s made sewers unavoidable, and that the combined storm and sanitary sewers laid from the late 1800s became the pipes that carried the former creeks.
Burial was gradual. Open sections were enclosed first, then the ravine walls were filled with earth, and the land was sold or turned into parks and streets.
Garrison Creek
Garrison Creek rose from two small streams north of St. Clair Avenue West, joined just north of Davenport Road, and flowed south through the sites of Christie Pits, Bickford Park, Fred Hamilton Park, and Trinity Bellwoods Park before reaching Toronto Bay at Fort York. The Lost Rivers project lists nine tributaries and gives the creek’s length as 7.7 kilometers. The City’s Discovery Walk page says that when Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe established Fort York in 1793, the creek ran through a deep ravine, with clear water known for salmon fishing. The Lost Rivers project says the creek was named because it entered the lake just east of Fort York, the garrison.
The City bought what is now Roxton Road Parkette in 1893 for building the Garrison Creek sewer, and acquired Christie Pits, a former sand and gravel pit, in 1907. In the early 1950s it allowed publicly owned ravine lands to be filled and sold, which removed sections of the ravine and its bridges. The Crawford Street bridge was buried intact in that decade, and the Harbord Street bridge was also filled in. According to the same report, the former City Council acted on the ravine system on August 12 and 13, 1996, authorizing a working committee, and on September 22 and 23, 1997 it endorsed the plan’s objectives and the status report on the Garrison Creek linkage project.
Taddle Creek
Taddle Creek is harder to see than Garrison Creek because little of its valley survives. The Lost Rivers project records several names for it: the Little Don River in the early days, Brewery Creek near Enoch Turner’s brewery, and Wolz Creek east of Jarvis Street. It was buried east of Church Street before 1860, between Elizabeth Street and Church Street as early as 1866, and through the University of Toronto grounds by 1886. The same source says it is uncertain whether Wychwood Creek was the true source of Taddle Creek, and that Taddle Creek may have been a tributary of Garrison Creek. The City’s Uptown Toronto Discovery Walk visits the remains of a ravine where Taddle Creek once flowed.
Burial dates at a glance
| Watercourse | What the sources record | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Garrison Creek | About 7.7 km (4.8 mi) long; sewer work from 1884; completely buried by the mid-1920s | Lost Rivers project; Canadian Encyclopedia |
| Taddle Creek | Covered east of Church Street before 1860; through the University of Toronto grounds by 1886 | Lost Rivers project |
| Humber River | Open; 100 km (62 mi) long; Canadian Heritage River since 1999 | Canadian Heritage Rivers System |
| Don River mouth | Open but engineered for transport and land; new river outlet opened with Biidaasige Park on July 18, 2025 | Government of Ontario; City of Toronto news release, July 18, 2025 |
Rivers that stayed open
The Humber was designated a Canadian Heritage River in 1999 and the system lists it as 100 kilometers (62 miles) long. The Canadian Heritage Rivers System page describes the Carrying Place Trail, developed by First Nations peoples, which linked Lake Ontario to the upper Great Lakes and later drew European traders and explorers in the 17th century. The page gives two figures for human presence in the valley: at least 12,000 years in the plaque text and almost 10,000 years in the body text, and does not reconcile them.
The Don stayed above ground but was altered. The Government of Ontario’s environmental assessment page (last updated in 2021, when the project was still planned) says the present layout of the Don mouth was engineered primarily for transportation efficiency and to create land for port and urban uses, which left flood-prone land. The assessment was approved on January 28, 2015, and the City of Toronto announced on July 18, 2025 that Biidaasige Park, about 50 acres (20 hectares) in its first phase, had opened beside the rebuilt, naturalized mouth of the Don. The harbor side of that story is told in Toronto Harbour and waterfront history.
Sewers, storms and the buried creeks today
By the 1980s and 1990s the old combined sewers in the Garrison Creek area were too small for modern development, according to the Lost Rivers project, and in heavy storms sewage sometimes overflowed untreated into the lake. On July 8, 2013, Pearson airport recorded more than 90 millimeters (3.5 inches) of rain in two hours, according to a Toronto Public Library account citing the Toronto Star. The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimated insured damage at more than $850 million CAD, and the City committed $3.1 billion CAD over ten years, starting in 2014, to upgrade stormwater and wastewater systems. None of the sources reviewed ties that storm to specific buried creeks, so no such link is claimed here.
For walkers, the City publishes the Garrison Creek Discovery Walk, which starts at Christie Pits Park and follows the former valley to Lake Ontario, passing Trinity Bellwoods and Fort York. Lost River Walks, run by Toronto Green Community and the Toronto Field Naturalists, offers guided and self-guided tours of other creeks. Both operators should be checked for current routes and dates.
Frequently asked questions
Can Garrison Creek still be seen?
Only its valley can be seen. The water runs in a sewer, and the ravine survives as parkland in places such as Christie Pits and Trinity Bellwoods Park.
When was Garrison Creek buried?
Sources give different dates. The Canadian Encyclopedia says sewer work began in 1884 and that the last major open section was filled shortly before the First World War. The Lost Rivers project says the creek was completely buried by the mid-1920s. A City of Toronto report dates the brick sewer to the 1880s.
Is Taddle Creek still flowing?
Its water is carried underground. According to the Lost Rivers project, sections were covered at different times from before 1860 to 1886.
Did the Humber and Don rivers also disappear?
No. Both remain open. The Humber is a Canadian Heritage River, and the Don’s mouth was rebuilt as a new river outlet that opened with Biidaasige Park in July 2025.
Related reading
- Elevation, ravines and the lake shore in Toronto
- How the harbor and waterfront were built
- Toronto’s weather and climate records
- Fort York at the mouth of Garrison Creek
- An overview of Toronto’s history
Last verified: October 2026
Sources
- Lost Rivers project (Toronto Green Community and Toronto Field Naturalists), “Garrison Creek”
- Lost Rivers project, “Taddle Creek”
- City of Toronto, Garrison Creek Open Space Linkage Plan, council report, 1998
- City of Toronto, Discovery Walks: Garrison Creek route map and text
- The Canadian Encyclopedia, “Toronto Feature: Trinity-Bellwoods Park,” Historica Canada
- Canadian Heritage Rivers System, “Humber River”
- Government of Ontario, “Don Mouth Naturalization and Port Lands Flood Protection Project”
- City of Toronto, news release on the opening of Biidaasige Park, July 18, 2025
- Toronto Public Library, Local History and Genealogy blog, “Remembering the Toronto Flood of 2013,” July 2017
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 23). Toronto’s Lost Rivers and Buried Ravines. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/lost-rivers-and-ravines-toronto
MLA: “Toronto’s Lost Rivers and Buried Ravines.” History of Toronto, 23 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/lost-rivers-and-ravines-toronto. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “Toronto’s Lost Rivers and Buried Ravines.” Last modified October 23, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/lost-rivers-and-ravines-toronto.
The pages have no named author, so the site is given as the author. Add the date you read the page if your style asks for it.