It was April 2017 and Ruth and I were walking along the boardwalk. When we got as far as the foot of Scarboro Beach Boulevard, we spotted a bronze historical plaque. The Toronto Historical Board had put it in place in 1993.
Here’s what the plaque had to say:
SCARBORO’ BEACH AMUSEMENT PARK
In 1906, the Toronto Park Company purchased the 42-acre O’Connor Farm, south of Queen Street East between Leuty and Maclean Avenues, from the Sisters of St. Joseph. The Scarboro Beach Park was formally opened on June 1, 1907 by Mayor Emerson Coatsworth. Its development was closely linked to the Toronto Railway Company’s streetcar service to the area. The resort offered a hundred attractions including a quarter-mile long roller coaster ride, a “Shoot the Chutes” flume ride, a “Bump the Bumps” slide and a “Tunnel of Love.” Performers used the 125-foot tower for daredevil acts. At night thousands of lights decorated the park. Professional lacrosse and other sports were played at the athletic grounds which featured a wooden velodrome. The first public exhibition flights in Canada were made here by Charles Willard in September 1909. The amusement park closed on September 12, 1925.
Toronto Historical Board, 1993
What disappointed me was that the story, as told in the plaque, ends with the park’s closing in 1925. I knew that there was an equally interesting second chapter in which, over the subsequent four years, the Price Brothers, Leslie and Earl, would turn the old amusement park site into a residential neighbourhood with streets and streets of beautiful and affordable duplexes and fourplexes.
The plaque had nothing to say about that.
A few weeks ago, we were again strolling the boardwalk, and this time there was a new plaque. It turns out that Heritage Toronto, a successor to the old Toronto Historical Board, had replaced that other, disappointing, plaque in 2024. The new one tells the whole story of the site, including the Price Brothers’ important role.
Here’s what the new plaque says:
SCARBORO BEACH PARK
This site was once the centre of an amusement park that boasted attractions such as the Tickler, Cascades or Tunnel of Love, and Chute-the-Chutes. When Scarboro Beach Park opened to the public on June 1, 1907, it welcomed nearly two million visitors in its first season. Most rides cost about 10 cents each ($3 in 2024) except the free Bump-the-Bumps slide.
In 1911, the Toronto Railway Company (TRC) bought Scarboro Beach Park, developing it as a “trolley park” destination to promote weekend and nighttime streetcar use. The TRC provided more electricity for lighting and allowed some rides, including the carousel, to be converted from steam to electric power.
The first public exhibition flights of airplanes in Canada took place at Scarboro Beach Park in 1909. Having been trained by aviator Glenn Curtiss, daredevil Charles F. Willard and his Golden Flyer airplane crashed twice before circling over the lake for about five minutes.
After the newly formed Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) took over the TRC in 1921, Scarboro Beach Park was neglected, and it closed permanently in 1925. The TTC sold the land to an investment company that demolished the attractions, replacing them mostly with duplexes and fourplexes built by the Price Brothers.
Scarboro Beach Park survives in the name of Scarboro Beach Boulevard, which runs where the entrance gates to the park once stood.
Heritage Toronto 2024
The recounting of Scarboro Beach Park’s second chapter is brief but, to a Price family member, satisfying: “The TTC sold the land to an investment company that demolished the attractions, replacing them mostly with duplexes and fourplexes built by the Price Brothers.”
I’ve posted before about those duplexes and fourplexes. If you’re interested, you’ll find more information in the post below.
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