In 1884, the City of Toronto annexed what today we call Riverdale. This annexation meant city services and city services turned farm fields into real estate; by 1889, the horses that pulled the city’s streetcars were pulling the city itself eastward across the river. There were two routes: one along Queen St. to The Beach, the other north on Broadview to the village of Chester, at Danforth Ave.

By 1889 an updated Goads map states that Riverside is now known as St. Matthew’s ward and

proclaims that it will eventually form part of Toronto.

It is important to know this little bit of information about Riverside. In fact, the annexation of the village of Riverside to the city meant that a lot of the heritage and the very identity of the area were flattened in favor of a more homogeneous and city-like narrative that saw Riverside as a part of the greater Riverdale neighbourhood. in 1980, South Riverdale businesses embraced a new identity as Queen-Broadview Village, one of Toronto’s first Business improvement area. Unlike many other of this kind in Toronto, the Riverside BIA has made it one of its main mandates to reclaim its history. It is not surprising then that many of the people who stopped by our installation were not only interested in the history of the area but they were also remarkably knowledgeable of its history . this included a historian who brought us images, maps and pictures of pre-annexation Riverside and explained to us what the Canadian Curling club meant to the neighbourhood.  A homeless person stopped by and  told us about the transformation of the Broadview Hotel, from its early incarnation as the Dingman’s Hall, to Lincoln Hotel, to the New Broadview House and finally Jilly’s, the latter recently dismantled to make space for yet another boutique hotel (now under construction). We received a very old bottle found among the debris of an old building before a brand new condo was built.