Tag Archives: TRCA

Exploring Toronto’s Aerial History: Raymore Park Before Hurricane Hazel

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In the City of Toronto Archives there are extensive aerial photos of the city taken between 1947 and 1992. They are black and white images but reasonably detailed. While researching Hurricane Hazel I was able to download an image of what is now Raymore Park to reveal the community that existed just over a year before Hurricane Hazel struck in October 1954. Colourizing and sharpening the photo makes it resemble today’s satellite images (details are unchanged but colours are arbitrary and not historically accurate) from Google and help appreciate the extent of community that existed back then. I have labelled relevant streets.

Raymore Drive extended into what is now the park, hugging the river’s edge before heading south and looping back onto Gilhaven Avenue.

Click to enlarge.

I was surprised at the size of the community with houses occupying much of the flood plain land and stretching a considerable way down Gilhaven Avenue (now the approximate location of the bike path). It looks as if it was an idyllic place to live – riverside dwellings but with city amenities. There was even a beach for the kids. Many of the homes were cottage style on blocks while some had full basements. Most are a lot smaller than our modern dwellings. The homes destroyed seem to have been along the river’s edge at the far right and lower edge of the peninsula. The people who died lived on this stretch of Raymore.

At the top of the image, on the other bank of the river, parts of the (now demolished) water filtration plant can be seen.

Below is a recent satellite image and I have adjusted the size and rotation to match that of the 1953 photo.

From Google. Click to enlarge.

The Bailey Bridge seen in the upper photo was put there in 1950 and both of the old abutments can be seen to this day. The current footbridge was installed in 2005.

Some of the homes along what is now the bike path were undamaged apart from flooded basements but authorities at the time elected to remove all homes in the flood plain leaving only Tilden Crescent intact. Raymore Drive was ended at Tilden and Gilhaven Avenue ceased to exist.

Very few of the buildings on surviving streets from 1953 exist today – I recognize the house that once stood at the east corner of Raymore and what is now Tilden, Westmount Gospel Chapel on Kingdom and some homes on Denison. Readers are welcome to add discoveries of their own.

Old Encampment tough to remove.

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The layers of specialty run deep at City Hall and particularly the various teams of the Parks and Rec. people.

The people who set this up are long gone but the memory lingers on… April 28, 2026.

This collection of garbage from an abandoned encampment has been sitting for what looks like a few months in the middle of the wild area just south of the parking lot. I discovered it while doing research on Hurricane Hazel. One would expect that the city would want it cleaned up quickly.

11 days ago, I submitted a request to 311 to have the area cleaned up. Yesterday I phoned to check on progress and this morning I had a message from Jacqueline at Parks saying that the reason it has taken so long is as follows:

First the site had to be checked by the Encampments Team to make sure it’s not active. Ok, fair enough. This took place on April 20.

Next, Parks Operations checked out the site and determined that it’s too close to the ravine. It’s on flat ground and nowhere near the water but whatever.

A view of the mess from the other direction. April 28, 2026.

The Ravines Team was then assigned. I guess the Encampments Team isn’t able to make such determinations.

Great, so where’s the Ravines Team? Sadly, the Ravines Team cannot do their job because, “Conditions are not great because of all the rain so we don’t send our staff out until things have settled in terms of terrain and stability”. I assume that they worry their truck will get stuck in the soft ground.

By sheer chance, a clean-up crew from TRCA (with a canopy tent) was present in the park today and about a dozen able-bodied people emerged from a huge bus ready to do a park clean-up. There were grabbers galore for ease of pick-up and lots of gloves and garbage bags.

I talked to a lady under the canopy tent and let her know about the old encampment. I offered to guide people to where it was but she insisted she would find it. She told me the park had vey little litter to pick up otherwise.

This story has a happy ending – right?

A bus dropping off a TRCA clean-up team at 10:05 on April 28, 2026.

Wrong!

On returning this afternoon, TRCA and the canopy tent had vanished but sadly the garbage hadn’t. Rain is forecast for the next seven days so conditions will continue to be too wet for the Ravines Team.

In the meantime, this garbage will pollute the park and encourage others to do so. Call me naive but how hard would it be to keep the truck on the path while the team bags and carries the garbage 70 metres to the truck?

Raymore Park: Changes over the years. Part 3.

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My observations regarding changes to Raymore Park over the last 32 years. Click for the first five items in Part 1 and Part 2.

6. Vehicles using the Humber Trail.

There’s a constant variety of vehicles using the Humber Trail through Raymore Park. The rules say no motorized vehicles and this is largely obeyed. There are occasions when police fire or ambulance crews have to bring vehicles down the trail to assist someone in difficulties but generally the worst offenders are noisy, gas powered mini bikes. In recent years, a variety of battery-powered devices have become more common. When the Humber Trail closes the ‘Weston Gap‘ it will be possible to cycle from Lake Ontario to Humber College on quiet streets or a dedicated trail. This will be great for cyclists but will increase traffic on the trail which at the moment ends in a huge set of steps in Weston.

The trail ends at Weston and St Phillips and continues after a dangerous trip north along Weston Road.
A teacher leads a class trip southwards on the Humber Trail through Raymore Park in May 2013.

7. Wildlife

A groundhog feasts on Raymore Park’s dandelions in April 2010.

Wildlife in the park has a constant battle with other species in order to survive and retain habitat. Add the pressures of an urban park and life can become even more difficult. Threats to wildlife can come in the form of non-native species, off-leash dogs, over-zealous mowing of grass and human incursions into the undergrowth.

An American oil beetle has an amazing life cycle. From 2013.

Over the years, areas being mowed are smaller as the city, TRCA and and volunteers have added native plants to create more undergrowth where wildlife can thrive.

The Humber River Citizens’ Alliance and the City of Toronto held a planting day in June 2023.

The latest planting came in June near the largely unused baseball diamond and despite some prolonged dry spells, the plants are doing well. Essential wildlife corridors are slowly being formed.

The new naturalized area in late August 2025.

8. A Private School is using the Park.

For the last few years, a private elementary school has been operating out of a home on Tilden and more recently from the Weston Gospel Chapel at 59 Kingdom. The school makes extensive weekday use of the park in lengthy, seemingly unstructured sessions, often on the swings and slide. This extra noise and foot traffic adds pressure on the park’s wildlife and reduces the tranquility that visitors might expect from a park.

9. Homeless / Unhoused people.

In recent years, some people have set up tents in the middle of the ‘wild area’ and have lived there for weeks at a time. The city doesn’t move them on but does wellness checks and tries to persuade them to go to a shelter. When they move out, the city does its best to clean up the site. Currently there are no people living in Raymore Park. Here are Toronto’s protocols for homeless / unhoused people.

An encampment in the wild area in April 2023.

Part 4 coming soon.

Hazel: 70 years on.

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Hurricane Hazel began its trail of devastation as a category 2 hurricane in the Caribbean, killing more than a thousand people in Haiti. It moved northwards hitting the Carolinas as a category 3 thanks to warm waters off Florida. As it passed over land, it weakened to a tropical storm and then became a depression but thanks to a merger with a cold front, Hazel was re-energized and the resulting system started dumping water on the GTA on the 15th and 16th of October 1954.

High pressure pushed Hazel over Toronto where it combined with a low-pressure area and cold front.

Local historian Madeleine McDowell correctly points out that the Humber River has the sharpest drop from source to mouth of any river in North America. As a result, when heavy rains fall, the river becomes fills up quickly. Events similar to Hazel have occurred in the past. In fact, in the 19th Century, Weston was moved to the east bank of the Humber after several catastrophic floods. Weston Golf and Country Club now occupies the site of the old settlement.

Raymore Park was one of many created after Hazel as part of an effort to clear flood plain lands and give rivers space where excess water can be absorbed.

Read more about Hazel’s legacy here.

The old location of Raymore Drive. Present day Tilden Crescent begins below the square in the top left. Gilhaven Avenue (running from bottom left) is now occupied by Raymore Park’s parking lot.

Topologically, the Humber catchment area is relatively unchanged since the glaciers left about ten thousand years ago. The valleys are the same width, and the drainage area is the same. Rare events like Hazel will continue to happen. The problem is that since 1954, a good portion of the Humber watershed has been paved over.

Click to enlarge.

In 2002, urban land occupied 20.7% of the watershed. By 2020 that amount was 26.7%, a significant increase. Natural cover is also decreasing although forest canopy is relatively stable at 29%. Because there is less land and vegetation to absorb rainfall, water enters the Humber faster causing river levels to rise quicker and higher than in the past. In addition runoff from paved land is dirtier affecting animal habitats and our drinking water. When the next Hazel type storm drenches our area (and it will), the effects may be far more severe.

Q: Is climate change a factor in events such as Hazel?

A: We can speculate, however, urbanization is a far more immediate danger. For example, the proposed Highway 413 is a huge threat to the watersheds of both the Humber and Credit rivers.

Read more here and here.

If you would like to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Hazel, meet in Raymore Park on Sunday October 13 between 1 and 3pm. Historian Madeleine McDowell will be there to talk about the event.

Huge rainfall swells Humber.

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The Humber at rare levels.

July 16, 2024 was a rare but not unexpectedly rainy day. July often sees huge dumps of rain and Toronto received around 10cm in quite a short time. The Humber has a tell-tale depth gauge in the form of the old footbridge abutment which yesterday completely disappeared.

By way of comparison, here’s how it looked in April 2022.

The old footbridge abutment is clearly visible on most days. April 24, 2022.

As the city grows and more land is paved over, the ability of the river to hold huge volumes of runoff will be tested. Without green spaces and parkland to absorb runoff, the Humber would be much more of a threat during heavy rain or spring thaws.

Raymore Park: changes over the years – Part 2.

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Read Part 1 here.

This year marks 30 years since I started coming to Raymore Park. During that time many changes have occurred, most of them reflecting adjustments in park philosophy and management.

4. Areas under grass.

After Hurricane Hazel hit the Humber Valley in 1954, it was decided that flood plain and ravine land should be cleared of settlement to avoid further loss of life. Residents of Raymore Drive and Gilhaven Drive who survived were compensated for the purchase of their homes or lots. Gilhaven drive was approximately where the parking lot is today. Lands were then made part of what is now the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and homes were bulldozed to create wide expanses of grass. Slowly, thanks to diminishing budgets, some grassed areas have been allowed to naturalize and sumac bushes have advanced, allowing trees to spring up in their midst. Currently, there is no grass cutting south of the weir apart from a strip on either side of the bike path.

Looking south towards the weir. Lots of grass with some recent tree plantings.

5. Dogs.

Raymore has been a popular park for local dog owners for decades. When the condos at Hickory Tree opened, residents were allowed to keep dogs and used Raymore Park once the footbridge opened in 1995. The wild area was popular and a path was carved out by dogs and their owners as they followed the Humber through the bush.

In 2017, an area near one of the baseball diamonds was converted into a dog off-leash area (DOLA). The ground was fitted with weeping tile to improve drainage, bulldozed and covered with the aptly named pea gravel. It was then fenced off from the rest of the park. The pea gravel is supposed to allow for better drainage but many owners say that it makes their dogs’ paws uncomfortable.

Residents and their dogs gather Monday, July 10 2017 for the official Raymore Park DOLA opening.

The DOLA took a few years to become popular but is now widely used and is popular with professional dog walkers who can be seen with up to six dogs at a time.

Some owners avoid the DOLA, instead preferring to allow their dogs to run free in places like the wild area. They play a cat and mouse game with city by-law enforcement officers and occasionally have encounters with wildlife that are unfortunate.

Dog Zone Official Opening

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Residents and their dogs gather Monday July 10 for the official Raymore Park leash-free zone opening. Note the entrance to the small dog zone (black gate) is not directly accessible from the park.

Quite a few dog owners and their pets were present on Monday evening for the official opening of Raymore Park’s leash free zone. Councillor Mike Ford had organized the event and worked the crowd, introducing himself informally to residents and later made a short speech. People seemed pleased with the facility but the councillor heard a few concerns; namely that the topping of ‘pea gravel’ used to improve drainage seems to bother some pets. The lack of shade was another issue as was access to the small dogs’ zone (currently entered from the large dogs’ zone).

Ward 2 Councillor Mike Ford speaks to the assembled crowd.

Councillor Ford seemed sympathetic to these and other concerns and promised some consultation with the people from Toronto Parks (Parks Supervisor Lynn Essensa was in attendance). He also sympathized with the patience of residents who have put up with Raymore Park’s long period of being a construction zone and said he was working on getting the last remaining project (sewer pipe re-lining) expedited.

Dog Zone almost ready. Nothing changes.

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The new leash free zone is almost complete with a glaring exception and a puzzling oversight.

The zone looks a bit like a small horse paddock. They’re at the post…

There is no signage or anywhere to put the poop bags / cigarettes butts and coffee cups that the zone will generate. There is also some work left to ensure the fencing is well attached. Still, for a Toronto project it has been constructed relatively quickly, especially considering that two other major projects have been happening in the vicinity.

Benches are provided for owners to watch their dogs.

One major design flaw seems to be with the small dog enclosure.

An ‘airlock’ that ensures dogs don’t escape when one gate is opened.

There are two double-gated ‘airlocks’ that ensure safe entry of new dogs without allowing an unleashed dog to suddenly dart out into the park. So far so good. Unfortunately both gates lead into the large dog section.

I would have made one entrance for the large dog enclosure and a separate one for smaller dogs; but then, I’m not an expert.

The northern ‘airlock’. Note the small dog entrance some distance away accessible only from the large dog enclosure.

The long walk through the large dog section to access the small dog zone.

Unless something changes, it looks as if small dog owners will be forced to run the gauntlet through the large dog enclosure.

Some fencing still needs to be attached to the posts.

As I was taking photographs, an elderly gentleman walked by with his Jack Russell off leash, ignoring the zone. That might be a problem with this particular zone – it’s just so much nicer in the rest of the park.

Only time will tell if people will actually make use of the zone and follow the rules once they’re posted. There certainly seems to be no difference in the behaviour of many people who still come and go with their dogs off leash.

September 2016 Construction Progress Report.

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The finished product - at this end anyway.

The finished product – at this end anyway.

The finished appearance of the retaining wall is now evident at its southern end with a green vegetative planting just starting to sprout on the slope at the top of the wall. Regardless, there’s still a long way to go. It also looks as if the homeowner with riparian rights has now wisely decided to take advantage of the opportunity and so construction has begun further upstream. The original intent was to construct the wall along the full length and that now seems to be the plan.

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A nice cross-section is visible from the northern end of the wall. (click to enlarge)

Astonishingly, even after all this effort, the work looks as if it’s only about 40% done and so there is a long, long way to go before this project can be signed off. The wall construction was originally scheduled for completion this past spring with brick removal from the access area and subsequent landscaping to take place this fall. Obviously, that ain’t gonna happen. My estimate at the current rate of construction is that they’ll be lucky to have the project completed and everything restored by the end of 2017. This seems to have been quite a miscalculation by the planners. The project was to cost a maximum of $250,000.

I’ll bet that marker was skated past months ago.

Construction Progress Report

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Much has been going on in Raymore Park over the summer although progress on the retaining wall seems to be slow. The dog leash enclosures are partly complete but not without controversy.

  1. The retaining wall is looking quite magnificent and it looks as if it will do the job for centuries. It looks as if the wall will be curtailed, ending before its planned end-point. This is apparently because riparian rights for the end property extend to the river and the owner feels that remediation will cause further erosion.

The wall in a completed section.

The wall in a completed section.

A view of the total wall so far.

A view of the total wall so far.

2. The off leash areas.

Two areas are being built, one for smaller dogs and one for larger breeds. One section has been built (topsoil removed, drainage completed and topped with limestone chippings).

Sadly, a sanctuary for birds and small animals has been removed to create the area. It was basically a couple of trees surrounded by dense shrubs that were impenetrable to all but small animals. It was a bit of an island or small thicket in the park but it has been removed in what seems like callous disregard for wildlife. Surely there was room to place the leash free zones without destruction of a natural resource like this?  It speaks to a lack of care for the environment and a distinct lack of planning. Let’s hope there are no more unpleasant surprises from Toronto Parks who don’t own but manage Raymore Park.

The island in from Google Earth.

The shrub island (to the right of the old baseball diamond) from Google Earth.

This thicket is no more, sacrificed for the dog enclosure.

This thicket is no more, sacrificed for the dog enclosure.

The island site shortly after its removal.

The island site shortly after its destruction.

One of the dog enclosures; further north than anticipated.

One of the dog enclosures; further north than anticipated.

More fencing and drainage pipes for the next area.

More temporary fencing and drainage pipes for the next area.