The name of Toronto has a history distinct from that of the city itself. Originally, the term "Taronto" referred to a channel of water between Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching on maps as early as 1675but in time the name passed southward, and was eventually applied to a new fort at the mouth of the Humber River. Fort Toronto was the first settlement in the area, and lent its name to what became the city of Toronto.Fort Rouillé and Fort Toronto were French trading posts located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Fort Rouillé was named for Antoine Louis Rouillé, who at the time of its establishment around 1750 was Secretary of State for the Navy in the administration of Louis XV. It served as a trading post with the local indigenous peoples.
The PATH is a mostly underground pedestrian walkway network in
downtown Toronto that spans more than 30 kilometres of restaurants,
shopping, services and entertainment.The walkway facilitates pedestrian linkages to public transit,
accommodating more than 200,000 business-day commuters as well as
tourists and residents. The PATH provides an important contribution to
the economic viability of the city’s downtown core.According to the official history.
"The first underground path in Toronto originated in 1900 when the T
Eaton Co. joined its main store at 178 Yonge St. and its bargain annex
by tunnels. By 1917 there were five tunnels in the downtown core. With
the opening of Union Station in 1927, an underground tunnel was built to
connect it to the Royal York Hotel (now known as the Fairmont Royal
York). The real growth of PATH began in the 1970s when a tunnel was
built to connect the Richmond-Adelaide and Sheraton Centres.
In 1987, City Council adopted the recommendation that the City
become the co-ordinating agency of PATH and pay for the system-wide
costs of designing a signage program.
In 1988, design firms Gottschalk, Ash International, and Keith
Muller Ltd. were retained in by the City of Toronto to apply the design
concept for PATH.
PATH’s name and logo are registered to the City of Toronto. The City
co-ordinates and facilitates the directional signage, maps and identity
markers throughout the system.
Urban Legends
The downtown PATH system: The climate-controlled underground walkways and shopping. But what if we told you that Toronto has another buried city, also populated by pale wizened troglodytes who rarely emerge to see the light of day?
Urban Legends
One of the stranger stories to come out of Toronto has to do with something that supposedly took place in August 1978. Sometime during that month, according to the tale, a Torontonian searching for a lost cat ventured into a tunnel and encountered something terrifying.
The person who went searching for the missing cat on that hot summer day was a 51-year-old man only identified only as “Ernest.” Flashlight in hand, he crawled into a small opening near his apartment building on Parliament Street and found himself in a low tunnel. Here, the story gets strange.
As reported by the Toronto Sun in March 1979, about ten feet into the tunnel Ernest spotted a thin human-like figure some three feet tall, with grey fur and slanted, orange-red eyes. The creature looked at him and hissed the words, “Get out, get out,” before fleeing down a side tunnel.
Ernest, not surprisingly, took off in the direction from which he’d come. So what did Ernest see? It’s possible he was drunk or hallucinating or lying, although the way the article is written seems to suggest that Lorrie Goldstein, the reporter who interviewed him, didn’t think so
There is a small opening to the underground tunnels off Parliament Street in downtown Toronto. (The entrance is between two apartment buildings, and leads to the tunnels via the sewers.) The underground city (abandoned?) beneath Toronto has its center beneath Gerrard Street and Church Street. Above this area, strange magnetic effects have been observed.
(Note: This corner of Gerrard & Church streets has a higher accident rate than anywhere else in Toronto. It is believed that underground equipment utilizing powerful magnetic fields (which have caused many strange magnetic effects in houses near this intersection) are responsible for the bizarre equipment failures that often are the cause of these accidents.
Official Story
In the early 1990s, signage for PATH was developed to provide
pedestrians with better ease of use and functionality. The signage
enhances PATH’s visibility and identity, ultimately increasing its use,
attracting more people to downtown Toronto, and drawing more businesses
there.
In 2016-2017, the City of Toronto and Toronto Financial District BIA
hired Steer Davies Gleave to develop a new PATH Wayfinding system.
Extensive public consultations, conversations with property managers and
review by the PATH Partnership Group resulted in the new PATH
wayfinding installed throughout the PATH in spring 2018."
Facts
With 3.7 million square feet of retail space, there are 1,200
restaurants, shops and services in the PATH, generating roughly $1.7
billion in sales annually. An estimated 4,600 jobs are located in the
PATH. The PATH generates approximately $271 million in federal,
provincial, and municipal tax revenue annually.
More than 75 buildings are connected to the PATH. Six subway
stations, three major department stores, nine hotels, and Toronto’s
busiest transit hub – Union Station – are accessible through the PATH.
The PATH provides links to some of Toronto’s most popular tourist and
entertainment attractions, including the Hockey Hall of Fame, Roy
Thomson Hall, the Air Canada Centre and CF Toronto Eaton Centre. City
Hall and Metro Hall are also connected through the PATH.
Each segment of the walkway system is owned and controlled by the
owner of the property through which it runs. There are about 35
corporations involved.
It is possible to walk through the PATH from the waterfront to
Downtown Yonge, and from the Entertainment District to Yonge St. all of
which connect through Toronto’s world class Financial District.
The PATH is a mostly underground pedestrian walkway network in
downtown Toronto that spans more than 30 kilometres of restaurants,
shopping, services and entertainment.The walkway facilitates pedestrian linkages to public transit,
accommodating more than 200,000 business-day commuters as well as
tourists and residents. The PATH provides an important contribution to
the economic viability of the city’s downtown core.According to the official history.
"The first underground path in Toronto originated in 1900 when the T
Eaton Co. joined its main store at 178 Yonge St. and its bargain annex
by tunnels. By 1917 there were five tunnels in the downtown core. With
the opening of Union Station in 1927, an underground tunnel was built to
connect it to the Royal York Hotel (now known as the Fairmont Royal
York). The real growth of PATH began in the 1970s when a tunnel was
built to connect the Richmond-Adelaide and Sheraton Centres.
In 1987, City Council adopted the recommendation that the City
become the co-ordinating agency of PATH and pay for the system-wide
costs of designing a signage program.
In 1988, design firms Gottschalk, Ash International, and Keith
Muller Ltd. were retained in by the City of Toronto to apply the design
concept for PATH.
PATH’s name and logo are registered to the City of Toronto. The City
co-ordinates and facilitates the directional signage, maps and identity
markers throughout the system.
Urban Legends
The downtown PATH system: The climate-controlled underground walkways and shopping. But what if we told you that Toronto has another buried city, also populated by pale wizened troglodytes who rarely emerge to see the light of day?
Urban Legends
One of the stranger stories to come out of Toronto has to do with something that supposedly took place in August 1978. Sometime during that month, according to the tale, a Torontonian searching for a lost cat ventured into a tunnel and encountered something terrifying.
The person who went searching for the missing cat on that hot summer day was a 51-year-old man only identified only as “Ernest.” Flashlight in hand, he crawled into a small opening near his apartment building on Parliament Street and found himself in a low tunnel. Here, the story gets strange.
As reported by the Toronto Sun in March 1979, about ten feet into the tunnel Ernest spotted a thin human-like figure some three feet tall, with grey fur and slanted, orange-red eyes. The creature looked at him and hissed the words, “Get out, get out,” before fleeing down a side tunnel.
Ernest, not surprisingly, took off in the direction from which he’d come. So what did Ernest see? It’s possible he was drunk or hallucinating or lying, although the way the article is written seems to suggest that Lorrie Goldstein, the reporter who interviewed him, didn’t think so
There is a small opening to the underground tunnels off Parliament Street in downtown Toronto. (The entrance is between two apartment buildings, and leads to the tunnels via the sewers.) The underground city (abandoned?) beneath Toronto has its center beneath Gerrard Street and Church Street. Above this area, strange magnetic effects have been observed.
(Note: This corner of Gerrard & Church streets has a higher accident rate than anywhere else in Toronto. It is believed that underground equipment utilizing powerful magnetic fields (which have caused many strange magnetic effects in houses near this intersection) are responsible for the bizarre equipment failures that often are the cause of these accidents.
Official Story
In the early 1990s, signage for PATH was developed to provide
pedestrians with better ease of use and functionality. The signage
enhances PATH’s visibility and identity, ultimately increasing its use,
attracting more people to downtown Toronto, and drawing more businesses
there.
In 2016-2017, the City of Toronto and Toronto Financial District BIA
hired Steer Davies Gleave to develop a new PATH Wayfinding system.
Extensive public consultations, conversations with property managers and
review by the PATH Partnership Group resulted in the new PATH
wayfinding installed throughout the PATH in spring 2018."
Facts
restaurants, shops and services in the PATH, generating roughly $1.7
billion in sales annually. An estimated 4,600 jobs are located in the
PATH. The PATH generates approximately $271 million in federal,
provincial, and municipal tax revenue annually.
stations, three major department stores, nine hotels, and Toronto’s
busiest transit hub – Union Station – are accessible through the PATH.
The PATH provides links to some of Toronto’s most popular tourist and
entertainment attractions, including the Hockey Hall of Fame, Roy
Thomson Hall, the Air Canada Centre and CF Toronto Eaton Centre. City
Hall and Metro Hall are also connected through the PATH.
owner of the property through which it runs. There are about 35
corporations involved.
Downtown Yonge, and from the Entertainment District to Yonge St. all of
which connect through Toronto’s world class Financial District.
