Maria
Street
Congregation
Knesseth Israel is located on Maria Street in the west-end
area of Toronto known as “The Junction”. Settlement
by Jews to Maria Street began with a few immigrant families
at the turn of the nineteenth-century. By the 1920s, Maria
Street was the most densely populated Jewish street in
the Junction.
The
Junction was a fair distance from the downtown neighbourhoods
of Kensington and the Ward, which were the most established
Jewish neighbourhoods in Toronto. Industry had realized
the economic benefits of locating in the Junction, and
soon residents did as well. The land was cheap, there
was access to sewage and water supplies and the area was
far less crowded than the downtown core.
Many
of the new Jewish residents who settled in the Junction
were peddlers by trade and the west-end location afforded
them many economic advantages. Peddlers often used horses
to pull their carts full of wares, and the land lots in
the area were big enough to house a horse stable. In addition,
most of the farms were on the outskirts of the city, an
hour from the downtown area. The close proximity of the
Junction to these farms meant that fruit and vegetable
peddlers had an hour lead on the peddlers coming from
the east from other neighbourhoods.
However,
Maria Street had an additional incentive for relocation.
By the early 1900s, a building project was developed by
Gaffeny and Casselman. The aim was to create a co-operative
housing and employment plan whereby each resident would
buy a house on the street and would commit hours of labour
to build others. In exchange, the buyers would be provided
with jobs at a new needleworks being built nearby.
The plan appealed to many new Jewish immigrants from Eastern
Europe, who were trained as needle workers and were enticed
by the prospect of a new home and employment in a time
of financial uncertainty. The houses were all purchased,
and once Knesseth Israel synagogue was built, more Jewish
families were drawn to the area. Unfortunately, the factory
didn't last, but the homes are still standing today as
a reminder of the history of this early Jewish street.
BACK
TO KNESSETH ISRAEL - RELIGION |
|
Sketch of a survey for Lot 58,
Plan 740 on Maria Street in the Junction (April 2, 1923)
Audio
Joseph Alexandroff describes how many immigrant Jewish
families came to live on Maria Street
|