Thank you to Toronto Boris for these images.

The Rouge Beach area was once a popular resort and cottage area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One man even had a vision to build a "Venice of the North" here, though his dreams ultimately never materialized.

In the early 19th century, a growing industrial economy began to surround the predominantly rural areas of the Rouge Valley. Water-based methods of transportation were often used to get agricultural and other products to market. The mouth of the Rouge River even had some of its own shipbuilding with at least four ships, sailing vessels, and steamers being constructed between the 1820s and 1880s.

As time progressed into the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Rouge became a centre for leisure and recreation, a place for city-dwellers to escape into nature. Rosebank, for example, was a large-scale resort that began to develop in the 1870s, and quickly became an affordable and popular summer resort, offering camping, picnic grounds, and a dance hall. Morgan's Park was another area where city dwellers could escape the "roar of cities", having several cottages that eventually became year-round homes. Both Rosebank and Morgan's Park were located east of where Rouge Beach is today, on the other side of the Rouge River.

In the early 1920s, Cecil White, a local real estate broker, envisioned building a "Venice of the North" in the marsh area, calling it the Rouge Hills. He hired a team of Italian architects to design the project, which was to include roads, a network of canals, an artificial lake, and a bridge over the Rouge River. The project stalled once when the Great Depression hit in 1929 and again with the start of World War II in 1939. When Highway 401 reached the area in 1942, construction sped up again. Unfortunately, White passed away in 1946, before the project was completed. His wife Gladys continued work on the development, but when Hurricane Hazel hit Toronto in 1954, the project was largely destroyed and White's dream was abandoned. Today, one of the canals can still be seen on Google maps.

Hurricane Hazel hit Toronto in 1954, claiming 81 lives and damaging many parts of the city, including several areas within the park.

Hurricane Hazel struck Toronto on October 15, 1954, bringing winds of 110 km/h and 285 mm of rain in 48 hours. Eighty-one people died, roads and bridges were washed out, trains were derailed, and thousands of people were left homeless due to the destructive flooding that occurred in the city's river valleys. Damages were estimated at $100 million (well over $1 billion today).

Hurricane Hazel impacted many areas of the park. Cecil White's Venice of the North development at Rouge Beach was severely damaged by the storm, causing the project to be abandoned. Graham Park, a campground along the Rouge River, was also destroyed by the flooding. The land was later acquired by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and is now the site of Glen Rouge Campground. A bit further north, the flood waters washed away the swimming hole dam at the Rouge Valley Inn, near Twyn Rivers Drive.

Several bridges in the park were also washed out, including the bridge on Old Finch Avenue, near the Finch Meander area. To restore traffic flow through the area, a number of Bailey bridges were installed by the 2nd Field Engineer Regiment of the Canadian Military Engineers. The bridge on Old Finch Avenue is the last of these remaining in service in Toronto. Hurricane Hazel also damaged the campground and cottage area at Woodland Park and washed out the bridge at Reesor Road and Steeles Avenue.

Significant changes were made in the aftermath of Hurricane Hazel. A 1956 report gave the Rouge, Duffins, Humber, and Petticoat (RDHP) Conservation Authority a mandate to acquire and manage properties for flood control purposes. Today, many of these lands are valuable conservation and recreation areas. In 1957, the RDHP Conservation Authority merged with the Humber Valley and Etobicoke-Mimico authorities to create the Metro Toronto Regional Conservation Authority (MTRCA). They developed a "Plan for Flood Control and Water Conservation", which led to the construction of dams, reservoirs, and stream channel improvements for flood mitigation.

The report also suggested that the Rouge offered great potential "for the development of a large-scale wilderness parkland and nature preserve", though no action was taken on this suggestion at the time. It would be several more decades before Rouge National Urban Park would be established.

Source - Parks Canada.