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HISTORY
The Kingsway is situated on former Clergy Reserve lands that were deeded to the
Church of England in the early 1800's. The church leased this property to farmers
until 1908 when it was acquired by Robert Home Smith, the visionary who planned
The Kingsway neighbourhood.
Home
Smith and Company began marketing this subdivision in 1912.
However the sale of homes in The Kingsway was stalled by the
outbreak of World War I, as well as inadequate transportation
routes across the Humber River Valley. It wasn't until 1924
when the Bloor Street bridge was built that the sale of houses
in The Kingsway began.
Many of the first
Kingsway residents were Northern Ontario mining executives and Toronto businessman
who were personally acquainted with Robert Home Smith and were encouraged by him
to purchase houses here. Home Smith's motto for The Kingsway was "a little
bit of England far from England". His lofty ideal was to establish an English
style garden suburb of the highest integrity and beauty. It is Robert Home Smith's
legacy that The Kingsway endures today as one Toronto's finest neighbourhoods.

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