This neighbourhood originally centred on the intersection of Lake Shore Boulevard and The Queensway near the mouth of the Humber River, however that intersection disappeared with the building of the Queen Elizabeth Way. The area to the south of the Gardiner Expressway is today part of Mimico neighbourhood.

Today, the neighbourhood is composed of two areas which overlap at the former intersection:

The Queensway: It extends north from the Gardiner Expressway south of Norseman street. There is a residential area in the centre-east with industrial land and new big box stores further to the west

Sunnylea / Stonegate: formerly the 'Humber' postal village it originally referred to the area around the old intersection of what is now the Queensway and what is now Lake Shore Boulevard at the Humber River. It is now mostly to the north of The Queensway, a residential area with few bridges between the Mimico Creek and the Humber River from Lake Ontario north to Glenroy Avenue (south of Park Lawn cemetery)

The Queensway is an affordable west end neighbourhood that offers convenient access to downtown Toronto and numerous recreational opportunities at the nearby South Humber Parklands.

Up until recently The Queensway had a relatively low-profile earning its celebrity status, with many television, movie and commercial productions having taken place in the residential pocket around Queensway Park. But now The Queensway neighbourhood is poised for great things with the announcement of the recently formed Queensway Business Improvement Area.

When John Graves Simcoe arrived from Niagara-on-the-Lake with several hundred Loyalist soldiers, he renamed the Toronto River the Humber after the Humber River in England.When land in the area was surveyed and divided into lots, the area on both sides of the Humber River was reserved by the government for timber. The Kings Mill (now The Old Mill) is at Bloor north of this neighbourhood but the reserve stretched south to what is now the Queensway, covering most of modern Humber Bay's residential district. The Kings Mill reserve was commemorated in this neighbourhood by the Kitzler Vocational Collegiate (now Bishop Allen Academy) which was actually on the west side of the Mimico Creek in The Queensway.

Bridges were only built on Ontario's important highways at first. After the first bridge was built at the end of the Humber and a toll opened to pay for the bridge, the intersection of Lake Road (now Lakeshore Blvd) and Stock Side Road (now The Queensway) at Humber Bay became the first community in Etobicoke south of Dundas. North of this area were government timber reserves. There was also a notable jog in what would become Royal York where it meets the Mimico Creek crossing the creek to the east where there remains a footbridge today just north of Norseman Street, north on today's Humbervale Boulevard and back west along what is now Glenroy Avenue.

In 1883, Mr. Davidson, a businessman from the United States, imported about 40 small prefabricated houses, most of which were placed on Davidson Crescent (now gone) between Stock's Side Rd (The Queensway) and Lake Shore which formed a small artistic community. A subdivision plan was also prepared that year for residential streets north of the future The Queensway. In the 1890 subdivision of Mimico, Humber Bay was still shown as being within that growing village.

By about 1890 Humber Bay became a postal village with the opening of the Humber Bay Post Office on the south side of what would become the Queensway between Davidson Crescent and the intersection with Lake Shore.

By 1926, the area between Lake Shore, Stock's Side Rd (the Queensway) and Salisbury (Park Lawn) was subdivided with a number of homes being built on the last street. Some homes had also been built on the south side along the Lake Shore between the Humber and Salisbury (Park Lawn).

With the advent of the car, the area changed beyond recognition. North of what would become the Queensway, between the subdivision and the Humber River, a Golf Course was built and further north around Glenroy Avenue a school was built named Sunnylea. Along the Queensway many single storey homes were built.

Just before the Second World War the first lighted highway in North America connecting Hamilton with Toronto, the Queen Elizabeth Way, was opened. The building of the QEW involved the demolition of many of the buildings between the future Queensway and Lake Shore. The splitting of the Humber Bay neighbourhood by the QEW prevented this neighbourhood from developing into a separate municipality.

In 1946 the 'Queensway' post office opened and at the Queensway and Royal York a development of 'veterans houses' was built for returning servicemen. 

In the 1950s, Toronto was expanding and Queen Street West was extended from the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue around the top of Humber Bay and linking with the former Stock's Side Road. With the accession of Queen Elizabeth in 1952 this street was named The Queensway also to be consistent with Queen Street to the west and the Kingsway to the north.

Many immigrants arrived in the post-war years and the large northern parts of this neighbourhood was largely developed between Islington and the Mimico Creek where many new streets were laid out. North of The Queensway many apartments were built east of Stephen Drive. With the development of residential to the North, the old heart of the community south of the Queensway between the Humber River and the Mimico Creek became industrial with the arrival of the Ontario Food Terminal north of the QEW and Christie's Factory to the south. North of the Queensway the Golf Course became a Sewage Treatment Plant.

In 1954 Hurricane Hazel devastated the Humber Valley and Humber Bay was one of the worst hit areas, however because of the loss of so much of the residential area around the old Lake Shore/Queensway intersection, the damage was largely to city infrustucture, notably destroying the Lake Shore and Royal York bridges over the Mimico Creek and damaging the Lake Shore Bridge over the Humber.

In 1984, Etobicoke became a city and began planning to redevelop the southern neighbourhoods. Since the 1980s some undeveloped areas have been built up with 'Monster Homes' and more recently townhouses such as on Royal York south from Norseman and on Berry Rd at Prince Edward Drive. The former site of Davidson Crescent between the Humber streetcar loop and the Ontario Food Court became home to a large big box stores complex.