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History

The name of York Mills, stems from the former Town of York and the many saw Mills that operated in this valley from 1804 until 1926. York Mills had a distillery, a tannery, a blacksmith shop, 3 churches, a school, a post office, a toll gate and the Jolly Miller Tavern,built in 1857, which still operates today as The Miller Tavern, located at 3885 Yonge Street just steps to the subway station and South of York Mills Road. St. John's Anglican Church, which started in 1816 is another York Mills landmark. To this day, St. John's bells still ring every day over the valley at noon. The transition of York Mills from a rural village to a prosperous neighbourhood started in the 1930's on the hill near St. John's Church and Hedgewood Road area South of York Mills Road. The highly respected St. Andrew's College owned the land East of Yonge Street to Bayview Avenue in the early 1920's before moving to Aurora. The St. Andrew's College property was purchased by St. Andrew's Estates which used the land as a championship golf course until the 1950's. The club was sold to developers. St. Andrew's Park, Tournament Park and a few connecting streets in the area are reminders that this part of York Mills was once a golf course. i.e. Foursome Crescent and Lower Links Road.

York Mills has retained an unusual amount of its original history for such a recently developed area. The exquisite Auberge du Pommier retaurant is located on the site of what were originally two woodcutter’s homes from the 1860’s. Two homes from the 1830’s, a brick cottage at 4111 Yonge Street, and Harrison House at 11 Harrison Road, were built by original settlers to the area.

York Mills really began to take off as a suburb of Toronto in the 1950’s. In 1952, E.P. Taylor, the wealthy business man and horse breeder whose large property, Parklands, is now the Canadian Film Centre and a heritage site, invested in the development of York Mills Plaza on the South West corner of York Mills Road and Bayview Avenue. E.P.Taylor was also responsible for subdividing the majority of the land East of Bayview and North and South of York Mills. E.P.Taylor’s farm in Oshawa named, Windfields is referenced in local names in York Mills. E P. Taylor was a very successful horse breeder. The champion Northern Dancer who won numerous prizes was one of his horses from his Oshawa farm, Windfields.