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| York Mills Subway |
The York Mills Subway Station is on the Yonge-University Spadina Line of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It was opened March 1973 to the public and is situated at the corner(s) of York Mills Avenue and Yonge Street. York Mills subway station serves an average of about 26,000 people per day. The original plans for the subway was to build a railroad above ground, but nearby residents objected resulting in the alternate plan to build the railway underground. Because it is in a valley, the subway approaches the station at a high rate of speed on a steep downgrade in both directions.
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| York Mills Centre |
Directly linked within York Mills station is access to the York Mills Centre, located on the northeast corner of York Mills and Yonge. It contains a gorgeous food court, medical offices, two levels of shops, a fitness club, 4 interconnected office building and a private day care facility.
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| Hoggs Hollow / Winfield's Park |
York Mills station is located in the affluent neighbourhood of Hoggs Hollow, named after a Scottish Settler, James Hogg who settled in the area in 1824. He operated a very successful whiskey distillery and a grist mill along with his sons. The Don River runs through Hoggs Hollow and much of the parks and trees have been preserved as it once was back in 1798 when the first settler came. The homes in the Hoggs Hollow are high end and run from $1,200,000 to C$7,000,000. They are surrounded by parkland (Winfield’s park) which was donated by the famous philanthropist, E.P. Taylor.
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| The Miller Tavern (nee Jolly Miller)-Front and Back view |
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| Homes / Condominiums today |
Much of the estate of James Hogg was subdivided in 1920, by his sons, to include homes, a church, a school and a tavern. The Jolly Miller Tavern (1857) still remains today and is now known as the “Miller Tavern”(2004). When I was in grade 7, I knew a lot of kids from my school who used go to the “Jolly Miller” tavern after school. Now that I think about it, I don’t know how they were able to get in underage, but I guess I didn’t at the time. I went to a local Junior High School in the area because it was closest to the apartment we lived in at the time. Much of the kids that went to that school lived in the York Mills/Yonge area and were very rich. I wasn’t. That was my first experience in my life where I noticed that what I had, or what I thought we had, was nothing compared to what others had. I remember during March break when a lot of the kids were talking about going to Fort Lauderdale or Myrtle Beach. I didn’t have any plans but to go swimming at the indoor pool across the park. I was so envious of the richer kids.
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| Don River |
But now that I am older and hopefully wiser, I realize that “you make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give”. That makes us all the same.
