Agincourt () is a neighbourhood and former village in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, Canada. Agincourt is located in northeast Toronto, along
Sheppard Avenue
Sheppard Avenue is an east–west principal arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The street has two distinct branches near its eastern end, with the original route being a collector road leading to Pickering via a turnoff, and the main ro ...
between
Kennedy and
Markham Roads (north-south includes lands between
Highway 401 and
Finch Avenue
Finch Avenue is an arterial thoroughfare that travels east–west in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The road continues west into the Regional Municipality of Peel as Regional Road 2 and east into the Regional Municipality of Durham as Regional ...
). It is officially recognized by the City of Toronto as occupying the neighbourhoods of Agincourt South–Malvern West and Agincourt North.
The name Agincourt is often used to refer to a larger area of northwest Scarborough rather than just the officially recognized neighbourhood. The area to the west of Agincourt, officially named
Tam O'Shanter–Sullivan is often included as part of Agincourt, and the
Agincourt Mall Agincourt may refer to:
* Battle of Agincourt, a major English victory in the Hundred Years' War, at Azincourt, France
Places
* Agincourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle, a commune in France
* Agincourt, Mpumalanga, a town in South Africa
* Agincourt, To ...
is located in Tam O'Shanter.
The section of Agincourt west of Midland Avenue belongs to the electoral district of
Scarborough—Agincourt
Scarborough—Agincourt is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1988. It covers the area of the City of Toronto bounded by Steeles Avenue East to the nort ...
, while the section to the east is part of
Scarborough North (federal, previously
Scarborough—Rouge River
Scarborough—Rouge River was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada between 1988 and 2015. However, as of the Fall 2015 federal election, part of this riding has been com ...
) or
Scarborough—Rouge River
Scarborough—Rouge River was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada between 1988 and 2015. However, as of the Fall 2015 federal election, part of this riding has been com ...
(provincial, until the
2018 provincial election, when it will be replaced with
Scarborough North).
History
Agincourt was once referred to as "hero town" by the citizens that lived there. The village of Agincourt was officially founded with the establishment of the Agincourt post office, opened in June 1858 by John Hill. The name of the settlement was after the site of
Henry V's
decisive English victory over French forces in 1415. Local legend has it that the town's name was chosen when Hill requested that the town be given a post office, and the
French-Canadian Postmaster agreed, on the condition that it be given a French name, with 'Agincourt' chosen to undermine the Postmaster's intention. The site of the 1415 battle is now known as
Azincourt
Azincourt (), historically known in English as Agincourt ( ), is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It is situated north-west of Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise on the D71 road between Hesdin and Fruges.
The Late Medieval ...
, so today's Agincourt, Ontario is more in line with
Agincourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle. The original crossroads of Agincourt is located at Midland Avenue and Sheppard and served a rural agricultural population.
A
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
church (from France) was built on the north-east corner, which is today's
Knox United Church. In addition, an Agincourt Public School was built in 1914, which has evolved over time into
Agincourt Junior Public School. A secondary school that later evolved into
Agincourt Collegiate Institute
Agincourt Collegiate Institute (known locally as ACI or Agincourt), formerly known as Agincourt High School and Agincourt Continuation School is a secondary school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in Agincourt, a neighbourhood in the ...
, was established in 1915 on the second floor of the same building. From 1954 to 1998, the schools were a part of the
Scarborough Board of Education
The Scarborough Board of Education (SBE, commonly known as School District 16), formally the Board of Education for the City of Scarborough is the former public-secular school district serving Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. The board was founded ...
.
Two railway stations were constructed in the second half of the 19th century at Agincourt. One was built just west of the crossroads as part of the
Toronto and Nipissing Railway
The Toronto and Nipissing Railway (T&N) was the first public narrow-gauge railway in North America. It chartered in 1868 to build from Toronto to Lake Nipissing in Ontario, Canada, via York, Ontario, and Victoria counties. At Nipissing it would ...
line heading north from Scarborough Junction on the Toronto –
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
mainline, and greatly improved access. The line eventually became part of
Canadian National Railways, and the station operates today as
Agincourt Station on the
GO Transit
GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven millio ...
Stouffville commuter rail route. A second station was built east of the crossroads, just north of Sheppard and Brimley Roads, on what is today
CP Rail
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
track that runs from downtown Toronto diagonally northeast through the neighbourhood. Commuter rail service to Toronto's
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
was offered, but was discontinued in 1982, revived in 1985, and cancelled again in 1990. The line branches east of a marshalling yard, built by CP in the 1960s between
McCowan and
Markham Roads on the east of the neighbourhood, into the (
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
–)
Havelock and
Belleville (– Montreal)
subdivisions
Subdivision may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Subdivision (metre), in music
* ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009
* "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2)
* ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005
* "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...
.
Agincourt saw an influx of
Hong Kong Chinese and
Taiwanese emigrants during the 1980s, especially in the area along Sheppard Avenue near Midland Avenue. Since the development of Chinese-themed shopping centres in the 1980s, it has become a booming
suburban Toronto Chinatown and was the vanguard for the proliferation of "Chinese malls", catering specifically to the
Chinese community across the GTA.
Education
Four
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
school board
A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution.
The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...
s operate
elementary
Elementary may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001
* ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007
* ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977
Other uses in arts, entertainment, a ...
and
secondary schools in Agincourt. They include the public
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
Toronto District School Board
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), formerly known as English-language Public District School Board No. 12 prior to 1999, is the English-language public-secular school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The minority public-secular franc ...
(TDSB), and the public
separate school boards,
Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir
Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir ( en, My Future Catholic School Board) is a Roman Catholic French first language public- separate school board that manages elementary and secondary schools in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The school board op ...
(CSCM), and the
Toronto Catholic District School Board
The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB, known as English-language Separate District School Board No. 40 prior to 1999) is an English-language public-separate school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada, headquartered in North York. I ...
(TCDSB). Toronto's French-language secular public school board,
Conseil scolaire Viamonde
The Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV) is a public-secular French first language school board, and manages elementary and secondary schools in the Ontario Peninsula and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The school board operates 41 elementary schools an ...
(CSV) now operates a school in the district.
TDSB operates four public secondary schools in the neighbourhood,
Agincourt Collegiate Institute
Agincourt Collegiate Institute (known locally as ACI or Agincourt), formerly known as Agincourt High School and Agincourt Continuation School is a secondary school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in Agincourt, a neighbourhood in the ...
,
Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute
Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute (Albert Campbell CI, ACCI or Campbell), initially intended to be known as Sir William Osler Collegiate Institute is a public high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the former suburb of Scar ...
,
Sir William Osler High School
Sir William Osler High School (SWOHS), formerly Sir William Osler Vocational school is a small specialized public vocational high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in the former suburb of Scarborough, Toronto, Scarborough, it opened in 19 ...
and Delphi Alternative Secondary School. In addition to secondary schools, TDSB also operates institutions which provide primary education. TCDSB operates two public secondary schools in Agincourt,
Francis Libermann Catholic High School
Francis Libermann Catholic High School (alternatively known as Francis Libermann CHS, Libermann High, FLCHS, FL, Francis Libermann, or Libermann) is a Catholic high school, secondary school (as of 2003, an elementary school as well) in Toronto, O ...
and
Monsignor Fraser College Midland Campus, with the latter housed in the former Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic School.
The following public elementary schools operate in Agincourt (with the managing school board in parenthesis):
* Agincourt Junior Public School (TDSB)
* C. D. Farquharson Junior Public School (TDSB)
* Chartland Junior Public School (TDSB)
* École elémentaire catholique Saint-Jean-de-Lalande (CSCM)
* École elémentaire Laure-Riese (CSV)
* Henry Kelsey Senior Public School (TDSB)
* North Agincourt Junior Public School (TDSB)
* Sir Alexander Mackenzie Senior Public School (TDSB)
* St. Bartholomew Catholic School (TCDSB)
* St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Elementary School (TCDSB)
* St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic School (TCDSB)
* White Haven Junior Public School (TDSB)
Recreation
The neighbourhood is home to a number of municipal parks, managed by the
Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division
Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation (PFR) is the division of Toronto's municipal government responsible for maintaining the municipal park system and natural spaces, regulation of and provision of urban forestry services, and the delivery of rec ...
. In addition to local parks, the Division also operates the Agincourt Recreation Centre (pool and ice rink - damaged in fire in January 2019), located adjacent to Agincourt Park, Albert Campbell Pool (inside Albert Campbell CI) and Commander Park Arena (ice rink) at Commander Park.
* Agincourt Park
* Alexmuir Park
* Brimley Woods Park
* Chartland Park
* Chartwell Park
* Collingwood Park
* Donalda Park
* Farquharson Park
* Havendale Park
* Iroquois Park
* Knott Park
* Metrogate Park
* McDairmid Woods Park
* North Agincourt Park
* Snowhill Park
* White Haven Park
See also
*
J. K. L. Ross, operator of Agincourt Farms, a thoroughbred farm once located in Agincourt
References
External links
City of Toronto – Agincourt South-Malvern West Neighbourhood Profile
{{authority control
Neighbourhoods in Toronto
Scarborough, Toronto
Chinatowns in Canada