Long Branch Summer Resort.
Plan Shewing relative Position of Long Beach.
Toronto: Alexander & Cable Lith.Co.Ltd. 1887. Notes: Rare real estate advertisement and map of Toronto, Long Beach and Long Branch on Lake Ontario.
In the late 1800s, Long Branch in Etobicoke was considered summer resort for Torontonians. In 1883, James and Martha Eastwood sold an estimated 64 acres (26 ha) of land south of Lakeshore Road (now Lake Shore Blvd. W.) and centred on Long Branch Av., to a consortium that planned to subdivide it into 250 villa lots where the well-off could build summer cottages. The first lot was sold in 1886 to Richard and Amy Ough. Richard was an architect who designed many cottages in the park, including his own which still stands at 262 Lake Promenade. By 1887, 20 lots had been sold and the Long Branch Hotel had been erected with Japanese-style balconies and pagoda-like towers, electricity, speaking tubes in every room, and a private telephone line to Toronto. The site was surrounded by a high fence and the entrance gate at Long Branch Av. was always guarded. Alcoholic beverages were prohibited at all times, and vehicles were banned on Sundays. The park had an open pavilion for church services and events, a second pavilion where 300 could dine outdoors, a gymnasium, a water slide, a fountain courtyard, and facilities for swimming, boating, lawn bowling, tennis, croquet, baseball and lacrosse. A long wharf was built to provide dockage for the steamers that offered commuter service to and from Toronto, six days a week. By 1895, street cars were bringing visitors, and soon after people were arriving in their own cars. Long Branch flourished until the 1930s, and then began to decline. Larger cottages were winterized and became year-round homes. The opening of the QEW in 1939 reduced the traffic along Lakeshore Road. Following severe flooding during Hurricane Hazel in 1954, 160 homes on the Etobicoke Creek flood plain were demolished. The once elegant Long Branch Hotel became a rooming house and burned down in 1958. , Size : 482x618 (mm), 18.98x24.33 (Inches), Coloring: Hand Colored, Category: Maps Canada Ontario South Toronto;. Very Good, backed on acid free tissue paper for long term preservation. Item #M11273
Price: $2,500.00