Many of Toronto’s best-known street names go back to the 1790s and the colonial administration of Upper Canada. Yonge Street was named for Sir George Yonge, the British Secretary for War. The Ontario Heritage Trust plaque says the road was completed on February 16, 1796, while the Canadian Encyclopedia says completion was announced on February 20, 1796. Spadina comes from an Anishinaabemowin word, Dundas honors a British politician, Bloor a local brewer, King the monarch George III, and Queen the young Queen Victoria.
Yonge Street
The Ontario Heritage Trust plaque says Yonge Street was named after the British Secretary for War Sir George Yonge, an expert on Roman roads, and gives February 16, 1796 as the completion date. J. Ross Robertson’s Landmarks of Toronto (1894) describes him as Secretary of War in 1791 and member of Parliament for Honiton. The Canadian Encyclopedia says Simcoe named the road after Yonge, a cabinet official and family friend, and that he proposed the route in 1793. In a letter of October 19, 1793, to Henry Dundas, Simcoe wrote of hoping to complete the “Military Street or Road” that autumn.
The road ran from York north to Holland Landing, which connected to the Holland River and a possible route to Georgian Bay. Augustus Jones, a United Empire Loyalist, was assigned to survey and clear the way, and the survey began at Holland Landing and worked south toward York. The two sources differ on the end date: the plaque says the road was completed on February 16, 1796, and the Canadian Encyclopedia says its completion was announced on February 20, 1796.
Dundas Street
Dundas Street was a separate road, planned by Simcoe to run from the Head of the Lake toward the Thames. Heritage Mississauga, in a series by Omar El Sharkawy, reports that the earliest reference to the name is the diary of Elizabeth Simcoe, in an entry for September 23, 1793, which describes a road “to be called Dundas Street.” The series states that Simcoe named it for Henry Dundas, the British Home Secretary, in 1793, before Dundas’s later impeachment and controversies, among them his part in obstructing abolitionist legislation. Robertson (1894) calls him Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1794 and adds that the name was first given to what is now Queen Street, then moved to the modern Dundas Street. Scadding’s Toronto of Old (1873) says the same first plan marked the future Queen Street “Dundas Street,” as a section of the great military way projected by the first governor to cross the whole province.
The Heritage Mississauga series describes the naming as part of a colonial project that overlaid older Indigenous trails and roads with British names, and notes that some Indigenous place names, such as Toronto, Mississauga, and Etobicoke, survived. The name has been contested in recent years, and the author does not examine the Mississauga people’s own view in detail.
King and Queen streets
Robertson (1894) says King Street was originally Duke Street, named for the Duke of York, and was renamed in honor of his father, George III. Scadding (1873) describes the earlier layout: at the laying out of York, the name King Street went first to the town’s Front Street, the modern King Street was Duke Street, and the modern Duke Street was Duchess Street. He calls these names loyal compliments to George III, to his son the Duke of York, from whom the town was named, and to the Duchess of York. Robertson adds that the eastern part of Front Street was first King Street, named for George III, and was then called Palace Street. Neither author dates the switch of names.
Queen Street was first Lot Street. Robertson says Simcoe’s plan named it Dundas Street, that it was afterwards called Lot Street because it was the southern boundary of the tier of park lots, and that it was later changed to Queen Street in honor of Queen Victoria. Scadding notes that a commercial directory of 1833 still called it Lot Street. The City of Toronto’s Queen Street West Heritage Conservation District Plan says Lot Street was renamed Queen Street in the 1840s in honor of Queen Victoria. Scadding’s 1833 evidence is consistent with that date, though neither source gives the exact year.
Bloor Street
Scadding (1873) says the First Concession Road took the name Bloor Street from a former resident on its southern side, east of Yonge Street. Mr. Bloor had been landlord of the Farmers’ Arms, an inn near the market place of York, and later set up a large brewery in the ravine north of the concession road. Robertson (1894) says the road had been known as St. Paul’s Road and then Sydenham Road, and that Bloor and Sheriff W. B. Jarvis projected and laid out the village of Yorkville. The Toronto Public Library blog by Barbara Myrvold dates that layout to about 1836.
A City of Toronto council document of 2016, which proposed plaques for Joseph Bloor, adds that the road that separated Toronto from Yorkville was earlier called Second Concession, St. Paul’s, Sydenham, and Tollgate, and that in 1854 the concession road was renamed Bloor Street. The same document describes Bloor as an influential local brewer and land developer. He was born in Staffordshire, England, emigrated to York in 1819 with his wife and three children, farmed, and kept an inn. Between 1827 and 1831 he acquired just under 30 acres (about 12 hectares) along the north side of the present street between Yonge and Sherbourne streets, and built a home there and a brewery in the Rosedale Valley. The brewery was sold in 1843. Bloor died in Toronto in 1862.
Spadina Avenue
The City of Toronto’s Spadina Museum states that the name comes from the Anishinaabemowin word ishpadina, which it translates as “highland” or “ridge.” The Canadian Encyclopedia gives the Ojibwe form as ishpadinaa and translates it as “high hill” or “ridge,” and reports that in 2016 Toronto changed Spadina’s signs, along with many others, to add the original Indigenous place name. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography says William Warren Baldwin built a country house, which he named Spadina, around 1818, about three miles (five kilometers) from York, on land given to him by his father-in-law, and that the name is an Indigenous word meaning hill or mountain. Robertson (1894) says the avenue takes its name from Spadina House, the residence of Dr. W. W. Baldwin, who laid out the street, and renders the word as an elevation of land. Other references give 1815 for the house, so the year is not settled. The biography says the house was destroyed by fire in 1835 and a smaller one built later.
Summary of origins
| Street | Named for | Key date |
|---|---|---|
| Yonge | Sir George Yonge | Completed February 16, 1796 (plaque) or announced February 20, 1796 (Canadian Encyclopedia) |
| Dundas | Henry Dundas | Name recorded September 23, 1793 |
| King | George III (via Duke Street, per Robertson) | Not dated in the sources read |
| Queen | Queen Victoria (renamed from Lot Street) | 1840s per the City plan; still Lot Street in 1833 |
| Bloor | Joseph Bloor | 1854 per the City council document |
| Spadina | Anishinaabemowin ishpadina, via Baldwin’s estate | House around 1818 (some references: 1815) |
Frequently asked questions
Who was Yonge Street named after?
Sir George Yonge, the British Secretary for War, according to the Ontario Heritage Trust plaque. The Canadian Encyclopedia adds that he was a family friend of Lieutenant Governor Simcoe.
What does Spadina mean?
It comes from the Anishinaabemowin word ishpadina or ishpadinaa. The City of Toronto translates it as “highland” or “ridge,” and the Canadian Encyclopedia as “high hill” or “ridge.”
Was Queen Street always called Queen Street?
No. It was first Lot Street, because it ran along the south edge of the park lots, and a directory of 1833 still used that name. The City of Toronto says it was renamed for Queen Victoria in the 1840s.
Which king is King Street named for?
Robertson’s Landmarks of Toronto says it honors George III. The street was first Duke Street, for the Duke of York, and took the name King Street later.
Who was Bloor Street named for?
Joseph Bloor, a brewer and land developer who died in 1862, according to a City of Toronto council document. Scadding and Robertson both name Mr. Bloor as the namesake. The road had earlier been called Second Concession, St. Paul’s, Sydenham, and Tollgate.
Last verified: October 2026
Sources
- Ontario Heritage Trust, Yonge Street provincial plaque
- The Canadian Encyclopedia, Yonge Street: Governor Simcoe’s military road
- J. Ross Robertson, Robertson’s Landmarks of Toronto, vol. 1 (Toronto, 1894), chapter 177, Street Nomenclature full text
- Henry Scadding, Toronto of Old (Toronto: Adam, Stevenson, 1873)
- Heritage Mississauga, Colonial Connections and Naming Mississauga, part four (Dundas Street)
- City of Toronto, Queen Street West Heritage Conservation District Plan
- City of Toronto, council member motion MM19.38 on plaques for Joseph Bloor, 2016
- Barbara Myrvold, Toronto Reference Library at 40: The Evolution of Its Site, Part 1, Toronto Public Library blog, October 27, 2017
- City of Toronto, Spadina Museum
- Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Baldwin, William Warren
- The Canadian Encyclopedia, Indigenous Names of Streets in Canada
Related reading
- Toronto history hub: how the town of York grew
- Where the name Toronto itself comes from
- Indigenous history and treaties of the Toronto area
- Historic buildings along these streets
- Further history links about Toronto and Ontario
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 23). Origins of Toronto Street Names: Yonge, Queen, Bloor, Spadina. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/the-fascinating-evolution-of-toronto-street-names-revealed-from-indigenous-roots-to-modern-landmarks
MLA: “Origins of Toronto Street Names: Yonge, Queen, Bloor, Spadina.” History of Toronto, 23 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/the-fascinating-evolution-of-toronto-street-names-revealed-from-indigenous-roots-to-modern-landmarks. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “Origins of Toronto Street Names: Yonge, Queen, Bloor, Spadina.” Last modified October 23, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/the-fascinating-evolution-of-toronto-street-names-revealed-from-indigenous-roots-to-modern-landmarks.
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