Ever wonder why the City of Toronto was so eager to annex the West Toronto Junction? Two of the most important reasons were industry and and water. West Toronto Junction had an excellent water supply system where the capacity of the system was greater than its needs, and the industrial base was vibrant and strong. Both of which the the city coveted.
The Junction also had something that no other community in the city could match an enthusiastic populace, that was intelligent and probably well educated in the trades and professional skills. Data from various city studies provides indicators this has truly a fact.
The CITY OF TORONTO CIVIC TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE in 1915 researched incoming passengers on the rapid transit services bringing people into the core of the city form Parkdale, The Beaches, and all the other outer city areas serviced by the rapid transit cars.
The result of the study being that from 6:00 am to 9:30 am the greatest number of inbound travellers into the city core were from the West Toronto Junction, by a wide margin. The second most numerous community providing a great morning inflow to the city was the Junction Triangle community of Dovercourt-Earlscourt. Which is why the West Toronto Junction is at the top of the research chart. The community of Bathurst for the period between 7:30 am and 8:00 am exceeded the Junction by 146.
Total morning person traffic for the Community of Bathurst inbound was 6919 and total inbound person traffic for West Toronto was 7272, the Dovercourt-Earlscourt.
In 1915 West Toronto population was 54,700 and the population of Dovercourt-Earlscourt was 46,700. Parkdale’s population was 29,300.
