Railways Over the Humber
Ancient trails have long merged where the mouth of the Humber River meets the shore of Lake Ontario. In the 1850s, footpaths and wagon roads were joined by railway tracks.
Toronto's first railway, the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway served the same purpose as the Carrying Place trail, the ancient portage route up the Humber River - they both carried trade goods and people overland to connect Lake Ontario with the upper Great Lakes.
Only a few years later, the first railway tracks along the lakeshore were laid here, in 1855 for the Hamilton and Toronto Railway. As a result, the landscape at this location was again altered by the construction of a viaduct to carry trains over the river.
The railways on the viaduct above have carried generations of passengers, and tonnes of freight, to and from such places as Windsor, Niagara Falls, and New York City. Since 1967, they have also carried GO Train passengers. Today, this rail corridor - near the beginning of an ancient portage route - is one of the busiest in Canada.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Toronto Plaques. Full page here.