Eglinton East

Scarborough Rail Transit
Eglinton Avenue Bridge (between Midland Avenue and Kennedy Road)
The Scarborough Rail Transit (SRT) opened on March 24, 1984. During the opening ceremony, the then-mayor of Scarborough, Gus Harris, declared it the "best day in the history of Scarborough", and "City of the Future" week in Scarborough. Originally, six streetcars were to be connected in a chain and run along the line. But, because streetcars can't reverse, a large loop was added at each end of the line so the cars could turn around. However, that plan was short-lived and the streetcars never ended up making it on tracks. Instead, the white vehicles used right up until the closure of the line took their place. Though there was an operator on every train to close the doors, monitor the track ahead, and ensure passenger safety, the trains were mostly computer operated. The infamous door chimes now used on TTC subway trains, were first introduced to Toronto with the SRT. After operating for over 30 years, the SRT was permanently closed in 2023.

Midland Avenue
Midland Avenue and Tara Avenue
The Midland Railway of Canada (MRC) was one of the earliest lines built in southern Ontario (twenty years before most others). The first MRC line was built in the 1870s and connected Port Hope to Midland. Other lines were built later on and included a line that ran parallel to Midland Avenue (approved in 1882) and extended from Toronto to Nipissing. This street was eventually named after the railway company, though the rail line now belongs to Canadian National Railway (CNR).

Lord Roberts Woods
155 Lord Roberts Drive
A 2-hectare forested park that features a children's playground.

Glen Ravine Park
50 Gilder Drive
This 2.4-hectare park lies between Glen Ravine Junior Public School to the east and Jean Vanier Catholic Secondary School to the west. It features open green space and soccer fields as well as outdoor fitness equipment at the south end (Gilder Drive).

Horton Park
15 Oswego Road
A small park that features a soccer field and a children's playground.

Knob Hill Park
625 Brimley Road
A picturesque 13.5-hectare park that features a lit ball hockey court, two lit basketball courts, an outdoor swimming pool, a wading pool and a children's playground. The park also features a naturalized ravine with walking trails along the West Highland Creek.

McCowan Park
475 McCowan Road
This sprawling 35-hectare park in the West Highland Creek Ravine is located at Eglinton Avenue East and McCowan Road. Featured in this park is a children's playground, a basketball court and trails that explore the nature surrounding the creek.

John McCrae Public School
431 McCowan Road
This school is named after Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae, who wrote the famous war memorial poem "In Flanders Fields". McCrae was born in Guelph, Ontario and was a poet, physician, author, artist and soldier in both the South African War and First World War. When McCrae wrote the poem in April of 1915, he was helping the wounded in The Second Battle of Ypres (an area traditionally called Flanders, in Belgium). The poem commemorates the sacrifices made during this battle and the First World War, many of which included multinational comrades such as the Punjabi soldiers of the Lahore Division of the Indian Army. During the First World War, the Indian Army contributed a million soldiers, and lost more soldiers than Canada (75,000). Thanks to these reinforcements, the Indian Army was able to recapture the lost ground in Ypres, suffering 2000 casualties in the process.

Torrance Road
Torrance Road and Eglinton Avenue East
This road was named after John Torrance, who was a prominent person in the area in the mid-to-late 1800s. He was reeve (a local official) to the Village of Scarborough in 1854 and owned a large plot of land between present day McCowan Road and Bellamy Road and from Lake Ontario to Eglinton Avenue. He leased a portion of his land to his friend William McCowan for whom McCowan Road is named after.

Bellamy Road
Bellamy Road and Eglinton Avenue East
Bellamy Road is named after nineteenth-century American author and socialist Edward Bellamy. Bellamy is best known for his utopian novel 'Looking Backward', published in 1888. The novel was set in the year 2000 in Boston, and described the United States under an ideal socialist system. Through Bellamy's propaganda for the nationalization of public services, he encouraged the foundation of Nationalist Clubs promoting socialist ideals around the world. Within a year of the novel being published, it had sold approximately 200,000 copies. By the end of the nineteenth century, it had sold more copies than any other book published in the United States (except for 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'). A follower of his teachings here in Toronto hoped to build a colony in Bellamy's name, near this intersection. A vote was held in the area in order to permit the colony, but the local farming community voted against it in record numbers.