The area first comes in the 19th century as the 'Coleman' postal village located on the intersection of Danforth and Dawes.

This parcel was basically owned by families going steady in either farming or in the brick making business.

After 1908 when it was taken over to the City of Toronto Danforth Village began to split.

The two most symbolic events in the prosperity of this village were the completion of the Prince Edward Viaduct in 1918, and the opening of the Bloor - Danforth subway in 1966.

With the construction of the railways in the mid-19th century the village gained a train station, East Toronto. By the turn of the century the area was called "Little York" and developed into a part of the fleeting Town of East Toronto.

Danforth Avenue, the neighborhood’s main traffic artery, is named after Asa Danforth, an American contractor who built Kingston road in 1799 but amusingly he had nothing to do with the construction of Danforth Avenue.

At the far east of the neighborhood is the Shoppers World Danforth, a shopping area built in 1962, revitalized in the 1990s and housed in a former munitions factory.