Mount Pleasant Road | |||||||
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Route information | |||||||
Maintained by City of Toronto | |||||||
Length: | 7.6 km (4.7 mi) | ||||||
Existed: | 1915 – present | ||||||
Major junctions | |||||||
South end: | Jarvis Street | ||||||
Bloor Street East St. Clair Avenue East Eglinton Avenue East Lawrence Avenue East |
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North end: | Glen Echo Drive | ||||||
Location | |||||||
Major cities: | Toronto | ||||||
Highway system | |||||||
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Mount Pleasant Road is a major arterial thoroughfare in the Canadian city of Toronto, Ontario that travels from Jarvis Street south of Bloor Street north to Glen Echo Drive. The road is unique as one of the few arterial roads in Toronto to be created after the development of the suburbs which it passes through. These include the wealthy Rosedale, Moore Park and Lawrence Park neighbourhoods. The road also passes through the centre of Mount Pleasant Cemetery, after which it takes its name.
Mount Pleasant Road was first established in 1915 when the city of Toronto, having recently annexed Moore Park, purchased the right-of-way for a new road through the cemetery. This road opened to traffic in 1919, from St. Clair Avenue to the Blythwood Ravine, south of Lawrence Avenue. Several streets were absorbed into the length of Mount Pleasant Road in 1919, 1920 and 1935; the latest as part of a northward extension through Lawrence Park. In the late 1940s, what originally began as the Clifton Road Extension opened a new right-of-way between St. Clair Avenue and Jarvis Street, despite opposition from the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), bringing the road to its current length of 7.6 km (4.7 mi). This extension is considered Toronto's first expressway.