Leaside, has a reputation as an outstanding residential community to raise a family. Beautiful spacious houses on lovely tree lined streets adorn Leaside, along with vibrant shopping streets, schools, churches.
The area takes its name from William Lea and the Lea family, who settled there in the early years of the nineteenth century. The area first developed as farmland along with Toronto through the nineteenth century. It was incorporated as a town in 1913. In 1967 it was amalgamated with the township of East York to form the borough of East York. In 1998 it became part of the city of Toronto.
In 1912, William Mackenzie and Donald Mann, the owners of the Canadian Northern Railway hired planner Frederick Todd to plan development for a community to be built around a maintenance yard for their railway
The town of Leaside was planned by Todd for the company, which put its name to many of the local streets; Laird Drive, Hanna Road and Wicksteed Avenue all bear the name of Canadian Northern Railway company executives. The new community was planned with commercial areas, residential areas and a town centre west of Laird Drive, and space was laid out east of Laird Drive for industrial development. The goal of the company was to create Leaside as a new upper class residential area of Toronto, the “New Rosedale”.
The Leaside Viaduct was completed on October 29, 1927 providing easy connection between east Toronto and Leaside. This lead to rapid growth of Leaside. The impassibility of the Don River valley had previously made it difficult for people employed in Toronto to reside in Leaside. The same month, an underpass on Millwood Road was opened through the valley.
Source : http://leasidetoronto.com/