Long Branch

The land underlying Long Branch traces to Colonel Samuel Smith, a Queen's Rangers officer who later served two terms as administrator of Upper Canada; his roughly 500-acre grant covered much of the present neighbourhood. In 1883–84, landowner James Eastwood began developing part of the shoreline as a resort, and in 1886 the site was acquired by brothers Thomas and William Wilkie, who renamed it Long Branch Park after the New Jersey seaside resort where Thomas had vacationed. The resort drew Toronto vacationers by ferry to a hotel, boardwalk, and amusement rides.

An independent lakeshore town

Paving of Lake Shore Boulevard in 1916 made the area accessible year-round, accelerating its conversion from summer cottages to permanent housing through the 1920s to 1950s. Long Branch became an independent village around 1930, one of four historic Lakeshore Municipalities alongside Mimico, New Toronto, and part of Etobicoke Township, until amalgamation into the Borough of Etobicoke in 1967. Today Long Branch is Toronto's westernmost lakeside neighbourhood; the TTC's Long Branch Loop, the western terminus of the 501 Queen streetcar line, marks its edge.

Sources

• BlogTO — The history of Long Branch Village in Toronto
• Etobicoke Historical Society — Long Branch: Once a Summer Cottaging Destination

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