This column will become a regular to Toronto Tree and will feature a brief history of some of the lost villages of old Toronto. Over the next few issues they will be written by a variety of authors. This first article, written by Paul McGrath, features Coleman’s Corners and Little York.

The area surrounding the intersection of Dawes Rd and Danforth Av was once known as Coleman’s Corners in honour of Charles Coleman (born c. 1853) the first postmaster of that area. The area surrounding, and including Coleman’s Corners was the unincorporated village of “Little York”.

Dawes Road, originally a pioneer trail, had first been opened as a road by by-law of the Home District Council on July 1, 1848. It ran from the York/Scarborough Township border (north of Danforth) and south to meet Kingston Road, where Main Street is now. Danforth Av was still then called the “Don and Danforth Road”.

Charles Coleman opened a post office at corner of Dawes and Danforth on July 1, 1877. Soon after, the Grand Trunk Railway built a line to Montréal. It ran just south of Coleman’s Corners, bisecting Dawes Road. The lower portion of Dawes Road (between Danforth and Kingston Road disappeared into the streets that soon developed there. The only remnant is the small portion of the modern Main Street as it curves north from Kingston Road.

In 1883 they built a large freight yard in the area, and a passenger station called “York Station”. The yard was a large facility, with seven miles of track and a capacity for 420 rail cards. There was one roundhouse and a repair shed which could accommodate 31 engines.

Coleman resigned his position as postmaster in 1881, and the post office closed the next year. Two years later, in 1884, his widow, Mrs. Selina A. Coleman became the postmistress when the station was again opened to the public. She remained postmistress until 1888. There were two hotels in the area, one of which was operated by Clem Dawes (for whom Dawes Road is named), and the other by George Empringham, who had also been postmaster between the tenures of Mr. and Mrs. Coleman.

Little York was swallowed by East York when it became a town in 1903. In turn it was annexed to the City of Toronto in 1908. The first street just north of Danforth Av, running east from Elliot St (now Barrington Av) to Sibley Av, had been called Lansdown Av. However when Parkdale was annexed to the City, it too had a Lansdowne, so the one in the east was renamed as Coleman Av in honour of its location as the original site of Coleman’s Corners.