# Keele Street

Keele Street is a north–south road in Toronto and York Region in Ontario, Canada. It stretches 47 kilometres (29 mi), running from Bloor Street in Toronto to the Holland Marsh. It begins at Bloor Street, as a continuation of Parkside Drive, which was originally part of Keele. Another former section is a short rural road separated from the road's northern terminus by the west branch of the Holland River within Bradford-West Gwillimbury in Simcoe County, now named Keele Lane. Keele runs along a former concession road (Third Line West of Yonge Street) allowance.

## Route

Parkside Drive begins at Lake Shore Boulevard near Sunnyside Beach, site of the former Sunnyside Amusement Park. It runs north forming the eastern boundary of High Park until Bloor Street. To the east is the Roncesvalles neighbourhood.
North of Bloor, the present Keele Street proper begins. It then runs through the residential High Park North neighbourhood and into the Junction, which contains a mix of residential and industrial areas around the railway tracks. It passes near the once important CPR West Toronto Yard. While Keele originally ran straight north, today there is a brief cut-off to deviate around the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railway corridors, near the former Canada Packers stock yards.
It resumes south of Eglinton Avenue, intersecting Rogers Road, and entering the York district. At Eglinton, there is a minor, but complicated jog: A short stretch of Keele itself is a bypassed side street north of it, with through traffic from the south defaulting onto Trethewey Drive, then shortly after turning at Yore Road which curves sharply left to become the third section of Keele Street after the bypassed section meets it. The street continues through suburban neighbourhoods in the York and then North York districts such as Silverthorn, Amesbury, Maple Leaf, and Downsview. North of Highway 401 it passes by Downsview Airport and forms the border between the residential neighbourhoods to the west and the large Keele-Finch industrial area to the east. Keele then passes York University to the west.
North of Steeles Avenue, Keele enters the City of Vaughan in York Region and continues to pass through industrial areas in the Concord district. It runs to the east of the MacMillan Yard, Canada's largest rail yard. North of Rutherford Road to north of Major Mackenzie Drive, Keele Street is the main street for Maple, once an independent village, but today a rapidly growing suburban area. North of Maple, Keele Street becomes largely rural and enters King Township, but remains four lanes wide until passing through King City as its main street. North of there, it narrows to two lanes. The road ends as a dead-end gravel road at the Holland River, across from Keele Lane, another former section.

## History

The street is named for local businessman and farmer William Conway Keele, who lived in what is today West Toronto Junction or the Lambton Mills area.
Keele Street's continuation south of Bloor Street, Parkside Drive, was originally part of Keele, but was renamed in 1921 by the City of Toronto. The street originally continued through between St. Clair and Eglinton Avenues, but construction of the aforementioned railyards cut it off from the section farther north, although a 55 metre (180 foot) section north of St. Clair was channelled into a new route of Weston Road. This short stretch of Keele was redesignated as part of Weston Road in 2006.
At Steeles Avenue, a jog in the road at the boundary between the-then North York and Vaughan Townships was connected in the early 1960s.

## Public transit

A portion of Keele was once a major streetcar route. The Toronto Suburban Railway ran streetcars along Keele from Dundas West to Weston Road to connect to Lambton, Weston, and Woodbridge. The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) took over the Toronto Suburban Railway routes in the 1920s and continued to run the northwestern streetcars on behalf of York Township. The streetcar lines were converted to buses in the late 1940s, and since then, Keele has been served by buses.
Keele Street passes two TTC subway stations along its course through the city, with a third under construction: Keele station is situated at Bloor Street on the east-west Line 2 Bloor-Danforth, and Finch West station is located at Finch Avenue on the diagonal western leg of the north-south Line 1 Yonge-University. The third, Keelesdale station is not yet open and is located at Eglinton Avenue on Line 5 Eglinton, which is actually an underground Light rail transit line.
Today, Keele is served by the TTC 41 Keele bus route, which runs from Keele station to Pioneer Village station via York University, and its counterpart night route, 341, serving almost the same route, but it terminates at York University station. There is also an express route operating during some periods, the 941 Keele express operating from Keele station to Finch West station.
The TTC 107 York University Heights operates from Finch West station to Canarctic Drive (just south of Steeles Avenue).
North of Steeles Avenue in York Region, York Region Transit (YRT) 107 Keele runs from Pioneer Village station to Teston Road in Vaughan.
It is also served by the YRT 96 Keele-Yonge Route, which runs north from Pioneer Village to King Road before travelling east on King Road before continuing north along Yonge Street to Newmarket where it terminates at the Newmarket Terminal.

## Landmarks

| Landmark | Cross street | Notes |
| High Park | Bloor Street West | One of the city's oldest parks (opened 1876) and largest park entirely within city limits |
| Keele station | Bloor Street West | |
| CPR West Toronto Yard | Dundas Street West | Yard opened in 1882. |
| George Harvey Collegiate Institute | Rogers Road | |
| York Memorial Collegiate Institute | Eglinton Avenue West | |
| Humber River Regional Hospital, Keele Street Campus | Wilson Avenue | |
| Downsview Park | Sheppard Avenue West | Former airfield, now a park |
| Finch West station | Finch Avenue West | |
| York University | Steeles Avenue West | Toronto's second largest university |
| MacMillan Yard | Highway 7 | Largest rail yard in Canada |
| Keele Valley Landfill | Major Mackenzie Drive West | Once Toronto's main landfill. Closed in 2002. |
| King City GO Station | Station Road | Site of original King Railway Station c. 1852 (moved to King Township Museum 1989) |
| All Saints, King City | King Road (York Regional Road 11) | Original church building opened in 1871. |
| Hogan's Inn (Hogan's Inn At Four Corners) | King Road | Main building built 1851. |
| St. Thomas of Villanova College | 15th Sideroad | |
| Mary Lake Augustinian Monastery | 15th Sideroad | Original summer home of Sir Henry Pellatt |