HISTORY
Todmorden Village grew up around a complex of mills and a brewery that operated
near the banks of the Don River beginning in 1795. Many of Todmorden's original
families, including the Helliwells and Eastwoods came from Todmorden Village in
Yorkshire England. It is this English Village that Todmorden is named after. The
Todmorden Mills Heritage Museum situated at the foot of Pottery Road and a small
number of workers houses east of Broadview Avenue are vivid reminders of this
pioneer community. The history of the Todmorden area north of O'Connor is dominated
by the Taylor family who came to the Don Valley in 1834. The Taylors owned all
of the land north of O'Connor between Broadview and Woodbine Avenues. The Taylors'
business empire in the Don Valley included paper mills, saw mills, grist mills,
and the Don Valley Pressed Brick Works which supplied the bricks for many of Toronto's
houses and commercial buildings.
The Taylor estates
were subdivided in the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's, which led to the residential
development of the north end of Todmorden Village.
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