Toronto Past Archive

Broadview & Gerrard: East Chinatown history

The Grand Trunk Railway transformed the area in the 1850s, bringing new roads, bridges, homes, and businesses. Industrial growth also left shale pits from brickyards and a large garbage dump, and by the 1920s and 1930s the neighbourhood had declined into rooming houses and poverty.

After the Second World War, Greek, Italian, Chinese, and Vietnamese immigrants settled here. The construction of Toronto City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square in the 1960s displaced many residents, who moved to Spadina and later to East Chinatown.

As rising rents pushed Chinese Canadians out of Spadina's Chinatown, East Chinatown emerged along Gerrard and Broadview, becoming a major Chinese commercial district by the early 1970s. Early community builders included Chong Wing Kam, Charlie Cheung, Hoy Fung, the Chui family, and K.N. Chan of Pearl Court.

Redevelopment tied to Toronto's 2008 Olympic bid and the nearby Studio District later drove up property values. Many longtime Chinese residents sold their homes and moved north, while Vietnamese businesses became increasingly prominent. Today, East Chinatown reflects both its Chinese roots and its strong Vietnamese community.

The Chinese Archway we find today was erected in 2009. The two stone lions, each weighing 3 tons, sitting at the base of the Archway are a gift from the People’s Republic of China. The project cost roughly $900,000.00, of which the City of Toronto contributed $415,000.

(Photos: Toronto Archives/Ontario Heritage Trust

Sherbourne and Fleet St in the late 1930s vs
Gardiner west of Sherbourne in 2021 ( only an elevated vantage point works today).
(Toronto Archives)