Kew Gardens

Kew Gardens is a large park in The Beaches neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The park stretches from Queen Street East to Lake Ontario at Kew Beach. The park began as a private farm owned by Joseph Williams in the 1850s. As more visitors from the city began to visit the lake front he transformed his holdings into a tourist destination. He set up a large park and built several recreation facilities on the site beginning in 1879, naming it after Kew Gardens in London. Williams built a substantial house for himself on the site, which still stands and is home to the park's caretaker. On the lakeshore Williams built facilities for swimming and boating. Inland there were picnic areas, trails, tennis courts and lawn bowling. A substantial clubhouse, as well as guest cottages were also constructed. Described by Williams as "A Place of Innocent Amusements," the park was much more genteel than others in the area with no noisy rides or liquor being served. It soon became a popular destination, easily reached from the city via the Queen streetcar. The park was purchased by the City of Toronto in 1907 for $43,700 and turned into a municipal park. Over the years, the marshland in the south was filled in and the waterfront beach area was redeveloped. Most of the buildings were demolished, as the amusement industry shifted to the much larger Scarboro Beach Amusement Park nearby (located to the east and west of Balmy Beach).