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Yonge Street starts literally at the edge of Lake Ontario in Toronto. From there, it runs north to Cochrane (about as far north as the roads run), gradually turns to the west as it goes around Lake Superior to Thunder Bay, and then runs to the town of Rainy River, bordering the state of Minnesota, United States. As "Highway 11", Yonge Street officially stretched 1,896 km (1,178 miles), but changes in provincial responsibility separated the now locally funded and controlled Yonge Street from Highway 11 during the 1990s. As a result, Provincial Highway 11 does not start until after the town of Barrie, Ontario. This has led to disputes over the "longest street in the world" claim of the approximately 56 km street.

Yonge Street is said to have started as a trail created by Huron Indians. The trail was used by numerous European explorers, such as Samuel de ChamplainSamuel de Champlain by Theophile Hamel (1870) Samuel de Champlain 1567 1635 was a French geographer, draftsman, explorer and founder of Quebec City. Born in Brouage, France, much of Champlain's early life is unknown. His first trip to North America was on in 1615Events June 2 First Recollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France. June 4 Forces under the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu took Osaka Castle in Japan. The second volume of Miguel Cervantes' Don Quixote is published. End of the Sengoku Period in J, and later became a military route. It was named Yonge Street in 1793Events January 2 Russia and Prussia partition Poland January 9 Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first to fly in a balloon in the United States. January 21 After being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, "Citizen Capet" ie. Louis XVI of Fran, after Sir George Yonge, the BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain was created by the merger of the Kingdoms of Scotland and England in 1707 (see Act of Union 1707). A single parliament and government, based in Westminster in London, ran the entire kingdom. They had shared a monarch si Secretary of War at the time, by John Graves SimcoeJohn Graves Simcoe ( February 25, 1752 October 26, 1806) was the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada (modern-day southern Ontario plus the shoreline of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior) from 1791- 1796. He founded York (now Toronto) and was instrument, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper CanadaThis is a list of Lieutenant Governors of the Canadian province of Ontario. Lieutenant Governors of Upper Canada Upper Canada was created out of the western part of Quebec by the Constitutional Act of 1791. NameTerm John Graves Simcoe 1791- 1796 Peter Rus (now Ontario). Simcoe also chose the site around the road as the Town of York (now Toronto), and had it paved to allow easier use by the military as a north-south route.

While still an important travel route across the province, as part of the Trans-Canada HighwayThe Trans-Canada Highway is a federal-provincial highway system that joins all ten provinces of Canada. The system (not a single roadway--the Yellowhead Highway is also part of the system, for example) was approved by the Trans-Canada Highway Act of 1948,, Yonge Street itself is home or close to many attractions in Toronto, including street and theatre performances, the Eaton Centre, the Hockey Hall of Fame and at the very start of the road, 'One Yonge Street', the offices of the Toronto Star and also Sam the Record Man . The Yonge Line of the Toronto Subway runs under Yonge Street from King Street to Finch Avenue.