Maughan Crescent, Toronto
The first mention of a Toronto street named after the John Maughan born in 1835 is Maughan Avenue in Polk's 1885 Toronto Directory where it's described as running north from Bolton Ave. in St. Matthews Ward. This coincides with John Maughan's election as an Alderman in 1834 for St. George's Ward. We are currently trying to find out more about his time as an Alderman. Oddly today, Bolton Ave. (now spelled Boulton) runs north/south, so it's difficult to understand this reference, especially when Bolton Ave. is in Leslieville, quite a distance from the lands John Maughan owned north of the intersection of Queen St. and the Kingston Road.
However, this 'mystery' is solved in the 1886 version of Polk's Toronto Directory - the note indicates that Maughan Ave.'s name was changed to Bolton Ave. I have not been able to find a map coincident to the time that shows anything other than Bolton Ave. running north from Queen St. and terminating at Gerrard St. East (formerly Rambler's Rd.). The best map for this period that show former street names are the Toronto Fire Insurance Plan of 1890. The earlier Fire Insurance Plan of 1894 shows Boulton Ave.
For 1887, there is no Maughan Ave. listed in the Polk Directory and no listing again until the 1914 Toronto Directory by Might. In that edition the directory details Maughan Crescent as '[running] west from Edgewood Ave., thence southwest and northeast to Hemlock Ave., forming a crescent, first west of Kingston Rd., Ward 1'.
The 1913 Toronto Fire Insurance Plan shows Maughan Ave. and how the building lots are laid out; Small's Pond still exists and so it makes sense in the 1914 directory there is only one resident on the crescent (Blair, Frank) on the north side, no other lots are built on.
