Toronto used to be a powerhouse of automobile manufacturing. You wouldn’t know it if you drove through the dumpy are a of Danforth Ave and Victoria Park Ave; you’d think this city is nothing but fast food joints, cannabis stores and cell phone repair kiosks. But it wasn’t always like this.
In 1921 the entire area was just farmland on the edge of the city. Once the Danforth streetcar was extended to Victoria Park, the area developed quickly. In 1923, Ford Motor Company bought 15 acres on the southwest corner for only $1.5 million, and built a 182,000 sq. ft. assembly plant (replacing the plant Ford built only 10 years earlier at Christie St and Dupont St downtown).
The new plant brought in parts from south of the border via rail line directly behind the facility) and assembled Model T and Model A vehicles.
During WWII, the Ford factory was turned over to the Canadian Army who built tanks there. After the war Ford moved its assembly plant west to the suburb of Oakville, and sold the Danforth plant to Nash Motors.
On May 11 1950, the first Nash Canadian Statesman rolled off the line at the refurbished Danforth factory. Cars continued to ramble off the line for 4 years until Nash (who’d previously merged with the Kelvinator Appliance Company) entered a merger with Hudson Motor Cars (builders of the Fabulous Hudson Hornet) to create AMC – American Motors Corporation. Soon after, they mothballed the Danforth plant and moved to the suburb of Brampton.
As the city grew around it, the auto plant sat empty until in In 1962 when it was turned into …a mall. Intended to serve the rapidly growing population of East York, it was an early Canadian example of the ubiquitous suburban shopping mall.
Originally called Shoppers World the anchor tenant was Koffler’s Drugs who then took the name of the mall and became Shoppers Drug Mart, which continues to this very day. Several anchor stores replaced Koffler’s including department stores Eaton’s, Zellers and Target.
During renovations in 2012, the factory’s original brickwork was exposed, reminding Torontonians what an incredible building this once was. After Target left Canada, the space became a Lowe’s until they vacated the facility in 2023, leaving it in the sad state it’s in today.
An empty reminder of the automobile manufacturing city Toronto used to be.
Nicely told history. Interesting to look back at the industries cities have had over the years. Albuquerque has the Rail Yards, the remains of the largest steam locomotive repair facility in the USA. It is a popular place for movie scenes these days. My neighbor started working on steam locomotives at the Rail Yards in 1958 when he was 19 years old. Albuquerque also had sawmills into the 1970s of all things.
My grandmother had a 1960 Rambler American in Pepto-Bismol pink, which looked similar to the 1953 Nash Rambler in your lead photo. I drove that car when I was a teenager and almost got killed by gang members who didn’t think I was a manly man driving a pink car. I had it painted blue. I sold it a few years ago to my daughter’s friend who had wanted the car since they were teenagers. He’s restoring it to its original pink.
As cities grow, industries change. What once made a place strong economically now doesn’t even exist as an industry. That’s why I really like what you said about the rail yards of Albuquerque. May not be in use any more, but it doesn’t need to be forgotten or torn down.
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A pink Rambler. Brother…you were just asking for it!
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I look forward to one day seeing pictures of the restored car.
In the 1960s urban renewal madness, a lot of cool old buildings were torn down, including the roundhouse at the Rail Yards. The turntable is still there. Zoom in on the map, and you can see the Rail Yards and the turntable: https://maps.app.goo.gl/VySCeZkAt33f4Eo4A.
That’s really cool to get a glimpse of your home town! If you hold the little yellow man (Google Street View Maps thingy) it shows some blue spots in the railyards. Thse are actually INSIDE the Wheels Museum with all them classic cars! Very cool
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Toronto managed NOT to teardown our Roundhouse. It’s right there next to the dome where the Blue Jays play. For years it was a brewery, then a furniture store… I don’t know what the hell it is now. But it’s cool! https://maps.app.goo.gl/8Zh9Y2R8jWx7qnT37
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I would just like to pat myself on the back about these two pictures (second ones in the article, the slideshow). I hd to stand in the middle of the street to get the same shot as the picture I found from 1946. Damn near git run over by a taxicab.
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OLD PIC
https://demaras.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/sun-august-16-pic-2-ford-factory-danforth-ave-at-vic-park-aug-17-1946-ford-1923-4-to-oct-1-1946-nash-to-1958-to-brampton-shoppers-world-may-1-1200×600.jpeg
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MY NEW PIC
https://demaras.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241115_152651-1200×600.jpg
So cool. Whe could have done something cool like that with our round house. Nice then and now photos.
I did a serious of then and now photos of buildings in downtown I took photos of in 1980 and then the same buildings in 2015: https://photos.tandlphotos.com/blog/2015/12/then-and-now-t-13-days.
I did another serious of the old PNM building in 1980, 2015, 2019 and 2022: https://photos.tandlphotos.com/blog/2015/12/then-and-now-t-13-days
That’s incredibly cool, man. I respect your efforts to get the same angle, even though you were probably shorter in 1980; you must have been just a little kid!
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I am not a photographer at all. Just a guy with a camera that takes pictures. But I spent a whole lunch hour trying to get the picture of the old Ford / Nash factory.
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PS The second link you added is the same as the first link. Could you send an updated link to that 2019/2020 series?
The short links don’t alwas copy, and then I don’t notice; Try this one: https://wp.me/p1yQyy-8wr
I just learned about short links yesterday. You are forgiven.
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Again…really cool to see the same building over the years.