2205 Sheppard Avenue East (new development)

Ann O’Reilly married Patrick O’Sullivan, and in 1860 they opened a hotel on her father’s property, on the north-west corner of Victoria Park and Sheppard, near the proposed street. Patrick died the following year and his wife carried on the business. Their son, Michael, opened the O’Sullivan’s Corners Post Office in the hotel and became its first postmaster in 1892. Dinner at O’Sullivan’s Hotel was very popular until the building was demolished about 1954. Ann O’Reilly was a strong woman who continued to run the hotel even after her husband died a year after it was opened.

Current City of Toronto Street Naming Policy states that “The City shall not grant a naming without the informed written consent of the named party … or the named party’s representative.” The great-great-grandchildren of Ann O’Reilly, Margaret O’Sullivan, Denis O’Sullivan and Darlene Hall, were located, and Margaret Sullivan gave her written consent.

Note: This new street name was approved by North York Community Council on August 12, 2014.

By Mary Ann Cross, North York Community Preservation Panel and North York Historical Society member

Originally published in the August 2014 North York Historical Society Bulletin