Keele Street

York Regional Road 6
Keele Street nearDownsview Park
Route of Keele Street through Toronto and York Region (blue line), including Parkside Drive, a former section (short dashed line)
Maintained by	City of Toronto York Region Township ofKing
Location	Toronto,Vaughan,King
South end	Bloor Street inToronto (continues asParkside Drive)
Major junctions	St. Clair Avenue —Subsumed byWeston Rd.— Rogers Road Eglinton Avenue Lawrence Avenue  Highway 401 Sheppard Avenue Finch Avenue Steeles Avenue  Highway 407 Highway 7 Langstaff Road Rutherford Road Major Mackenzie Drive King-Vaughan Road King Road 15th Sideroad Lloydtown-Aurora Road Davis Drive
North end	Holland Marsh inKing
Nearby arterial roads ←Jane Street Black Creek Drive Dufferin Street →

Keele Street is a north–south road inToronto andYork Region inOntario, Canada. It stretches 47 kilometres (29 mi), running fromBloor Street in Toronto to theHolland Marsh. It begins atBloor Street, as a continuation ofParkside Drive, which was originally part of Keele.^[1] Another former section is a short rural road separated from the road's northern terminus by the west branch of theHolland River withinBradford-West Gwillimbury inSimcoe County, now namedKeele Lane.^[2] Keele runs along a formerconcession road (Third Line West ofYonge Street) allowance.

Parkside Drive begins atLake Shore Boulevard near Sunnyside Beach, site of the formerSunnyside Amusement Park. It runs north forming the eastern boundary ofHigh Park until Bloor Street. To the east is theRoncesvalles neighbourhood.

North of Bloor, the present Keele Street proper begins. It then runs through the residentialHigh Park North neighbourhood and intothe Junction, which contains a mix of residential and industrial areas around the railway tracks. It passes near the once importantCPR West Toronto Yard. While Keele originally ran straight north, today there is a brief cut-off to deviate around theCanadian National andCanadian Pacific Railway corridors, near the formerCanada Packersstockyards.

It resumes south ofEglinton Avenue, intersecting Rogers Road, and entering theYork district. At Eglinton, there is a minor, but complicated jog: A short stretch of Keele itself is a bypassed side street north of it, with through traffic from the south defaulting onto Trethewey Drive, then shortly after turning at Yore Road which curves sharply left to become the third section of Keele Street after the bypassed section meets it. The street continues through suburban neighbourhoods in the York and thenNorth York districts such asSilverthorn,Amesbury,Maple Leaf, andDownsview. North ofHighway 401 it passes byDownsview Airport and forms the border between the residential neighbourhoods to the west and the large Keele-Finch industrial area to the east. Keele then passesYork University to the west.

North ofSteeles Avenue, Keele enters the City ofVaughan in York Region and continues to pass through industrial areas in theConcord district. It runs to the east of theMacMillan Yard, Canada's largest rail yard. North of Rutherford Road to north ofMajor Mackenzie Drive, Keele Street is the main street forMaple, once an independent village, but today a rapidly growing suburban area. North of Maple, Keele Street becomes largely rural and entersKing Township, but remains four lanes wide until passing throughKing City as its main street. North of there, it narrows to two lanes. The road ends as a dead-end gravel road at the Holland River, across from Keele Lane, another former section.^[2]

The street is named for local businessman and farmerWilliam Conway Keele, who lived in what is today West Toronto Junction or the Lambton Mills area.

Keele Street's continuation south of Bloor Street, Parkside Drive, was originally part of Keele, but was renamed in 1921 by the City of Toronto.^[1][3] The street originally continued through between St. Clair and Eglinton Avenues, but construction of the aforementioned railyards cut it off from the section farther north, although a 55 metre (180 foot) section north of St. Clair was channelled into a new route ofWeston Road. This short stretch of Keele was redesignated as part of Weston Road in 2006.^[4]

At Steeles Avenue, a jog in the road at the boundary between the-then North York and Vaughan Townships was connected in the early 1960s.

A portion of Keele was once a major streetcar route. TheToronto Suburban Railway ran streetcars along Keele from Dundas West to Weston Road to connect toLambton,Weston, andWoodbridge. TheToronto Transit Commission (TTC) took over the Toronto Suburban Railway routes in the 1920s and continued to run the northwestern streetcars on behalf ofYork Township. The streetcar lines were converted to buses in the late 1940s, and since then, Keele has been served by buses.^[5]

Keele Street passes twoTTC subway stations along its course through the city, with a third under construction:Keele station is situated at Bloor Street on the east-westLine 2 Bloor-Danforth, andFinch West station is located at Finch Avenue on the diagonal western leg of the north-southLine 1 Yonge-University. The third,Keelesdale station is not yet open and is located at Eglinton Avenue onLine 5 Eglinton, which is actually an undergroundLight rail transit line.

Today, Keele is served by the TTC 41 Keele bus route, which runs from Keele station toPioneer Village station viaYork University, and its counterpart night route, 341, serving almost the same route, but it terminates atYork University station. There is also an express route operating during some periods, the 941 Keele express operating from Keele station to Finch West station.

The TTC 107 Alness–Chesswood operates from Finch West station to Canarctic Drive (just south of Steeles Avenue).

North ofSteeles Avenue inYork Region,York Region Transit (YRT) 107 Keele runs from Pioneer Village station to Teston Road in Vaughan.

It is also served by the YRT 96 Keele-Yonge Route, which runs north from Pioneer Village to King Road before travelling east on King Road before continuing north alongYonge Street toNewmarket where it terminates at theNewmarket Terminal.^[6]

Landmark	Cross street	Notes	Image
High Park	Bloor Street West	One of the city's oldest parks (opened 1876) and largest park entirely within city limits
Keele station	Bloor Street West
CPR West Toronto Yard	Dundas Street West	Yard opened in 1882.
George Harvey Collegiate Institute	Rogers Road
York Memorial Collegiate Institute	Eglinton Avenue West
Humber River Regional Hospital, Keele Street Campus	Wilson Avenue
Downsview Park	Sheppard Avenue West	Former airfield, now a park
Finch West station	Finch Avenue West
York University	Steeles Avenue West	Toronto's second largest university
MacMillan Yard	Highway 7	Largest rail yard in Canada
Keele Valley Landfill	Major Mackenzie Drive West	Once Toronto's main landfill. Closed in 2002.
King City GO Station	Station Road	Site of original King Railway Station c. 1852 (moved toKing Township Museum 1989)
All Saints, King City	King Road	Original church building opened in 1871.
Hogan's Inn (Hogan's Inn At Four Corners)	King Road	Main building built 1851.
St. Thomas of Villanova College	15th Sideroad
Mary Lake Augustinian Monastery	15th Sideroad	Original summer home of SirHenry Pellatt

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