Leaside, Ontario

Leaside
Neighbourhood
Houses in Leaside
Motto: Itineris Stabilitas Sanitas
Location of Leaside in Toronto
Coordinates: 43°42′00″N 79°22′00″W / 43.70000°N 79.36667°W / 43.70000; -79.36667
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
City	Toronto
Community	Toronto & East York
Established	1880s (Postal village)
Incorporated	April 23, 1913 (Town)
Changed Municipality	1954 Metropolitan Toronto from York County 1998 Toronto from East York
Annexed	January 1, 1967 into East York
Government
• MP	Rob Oliphant (Don Valley West)
• MPP	Kathleen Wynne (Don Valley West)
• Councillor	Jon Burnside (Ward 26 Don Valley West)
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Area code(s)	416, 647

Leaside is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located northeast of Downtown Toronto, in the vicinity of Eglinton Avenue East and Bayview Avenue. The area takes its name from William Lea and the Lea family, who settled there in the early years of the nineteenth century. The area first developed as farmland along with Toronto through the nineteenth century. It was incorporated as a town in 1913. In 1967 it was amalgamated with the township of East York to form the borough of East York. In 1998 it became part of the city of Toronto.

The general area of Toronto had been inhabited by various Natives at least as early as 3000 BCE, when the Laurentian peoples moved south into the area just east of Toronto. The first European known to travel to the area was Étienne Brûlé, who passed through the area in the early part of the seventeenth century. Surveying and settlement by Europeans began in earnest in the 1780s, with the influx of Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution.

John Lea immigrated to York, Upper Canada in 1819, coming from Philadelphia. He had come to the United States from England only a year previous. He purchased Lot 13 in the third concession from Alexander McDonnell on January 23, 1820 and settled there with his family. John Lea had three children - William, John Jr. and Mary. In 1851, William Lea bought land just south of his father's farm, and began constructing a large, octagonal brick house, which he named "Leaside". The house was completed in 1854. The building served not only as a home for Lea's family, but after he became a Magistrate in the County of York, soon served as a post office as well. The property became the possession of his son Joseph upon his death in 1893.

In the 1870s, the Ontario and Quebec Railway Company purchased a few acres of land on the south-east corner of William Lea's property to run its railway across. The Ontario and Quebec Railway Company encountered financial difficulties in 1884, and leased part of its railway, including the section of track running through Leaside, to the Canadian Pacific Railway for 999 years. The Canadian Pacific Railway decided to establish a maintenance stop and a sliding by-pass on the railway on the land purchased from William Lea, which was attractive because it was uniformly flat. The station was completed in September 1884 and named "Leaside" in honour of William Lea. In 1892 a junction was built in the Leaside area, and a railway line was constructed south along the Don towards Union Station.