Corktown Common is a park in the south eastern portion of the
West Don Lands
The West Don Lands are the site of a neighbourhood under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The area is bordered by the Don River (Toronto), Don River, King Street, Toronto, Ontario, King Street, Parliament Street and the rail line adjac ...
neighbourhood 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 ancho ...
,
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 Ca ...
, Canada which opened in 2013. It borders the
Don River
The Don ( rus, Дон, p=don) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire.
Its ...
to the east. It was built on remediated industrial lands to be the centrepiece of a new emerging neighbourhood in downtown Toronto. It also provides a barrier to flooding from the Don River.
History
The West Don Lands, including what is now the Corktown Common, was once an industrialized area, once notably occupied by the pork processing plants of the
William Davies Company
William Davies Company was a pork processing and packing company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At one time, it was the largest pork packer in the British Empire, and it operated Canada's first major chain of food stores.[Government of Ontario
The government of Ontario (french: Gouvernement de l'Ontario) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Ontario. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown—represented in the province by the lieutenant governor†...]
in order to build a new community known as Atatiri. The industrial history meant the soil was highly polluted and needed expensive cleanup before any residents could live there. The risk of flooding from the Don River also required a flood barrier to be erected. By 1992 the city and province had already invested some $350 million in purchasing and clearing the site, and new estimates put the final cost at more than a billion more. The real estate market had also collapsed, making any private investment unlikely. The new Ontario government of
Bob Rae
Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...
thus decided to cancel the project in 1992 and the West Don Lands was left deserted for the next 15 years.
In the 2000s, the site was shown renewed interest after the formation of
Waterfront Toronto
Waterfront Toronto (incorporated as the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation) is an organization that oversees revitalization projects along the Toronto waterfront. Established in 2001 as a public–public partnership between the City ...
, a joint venture of the City of Toronto, the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada. The agency's purpose was to reclaim the waterfront for development after decades of decay. The announcement of Toronto winning the
2015 Pan American Games
Fifteen or 15 may refer to:
*15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16
*one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015
Music
*Fifteen (band), a punk rock band
Albums
* ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005
* ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...
meant that the governments would spend money to reclaim the area for the Games Athletes' Village, before reallocating the buildings for private residential usage.
The Commons site itself is located in the
flood plain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
of the Don River and required
soil remediation
Environmental remediation deals with the removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water. Remedial action is generally subject to an array of regulatory requirements, and may also ...
. Also, the Athletes' Village and surrounding site required the building of
flood protection
Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...
before any development could occur. The Common's berm is a flood protection landform which was started in 2007 and was necessary before any other development of the West Don Lands could occur. The berm also meant clean soil was brought to the site to make it suitable for recreation.
Park description
The Corktown Common was a project and it is a hilly park with pathways and prairie grasses, overlooking the mouth of the Don River, which doubles as a -high berm designed to protect the eastern downtown from a major flood, even a 500-year storm by shunting potential flood waters south toward the lake.
Its name before it opened was the ''Don River Park''. The park was designed by
Michael Van Valkenburgh
Michael Robert Van Valkenburgh (born September 5, 1951) is an American landscape architect and educator. He has worked on a wide variety of projects in the United States, Canada, Korea, and France, including public parks, college campuses, sculp ...
Associates, and opened with over 700 trees and thousands of shrubs and grasses that are native to
Southern Ontario
Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...
's
Carolinian forest The Carolinian forest refers to a life zone in eastern North America characterized primarily by the predominance of deciduous (broad-leaf) forest. The term "Carolinian", which is most commonly used in Canada, refers to the deciduous forests which ...
ecosystem.
The park contains
playground
A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...
s, a
splash pad
A splash pad or spray pool is a recreation area, often in a public park, for water play that has little or no standing water. This is said to eliminate the need for lifeguards or other supervision, as there is little risk of drowning.
Typicall ...
, an
athletic field
A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term ''pitch'' is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in American and Canadian English is playing field or sports field.
For most sports t ...
,
open lawns, a
marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...
,
table
Table may refer to:
* Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs
* Table (landform), a flat area of land
* Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns
* Table (database), how the table data ...
s,
benches, a
barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...
, a
fireplace
A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design.
...
,
bike path
A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...
s, a
boardwalk
A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of bridge ...
and an
off-leash dog area. There is a
public art
Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...
sculpture titled ''No Shoes'' by
Mark di Suvero
Marco Polo di Suvero (born September 18, 1933, in Shanghai, China), better known as Mark di Suvero, is an abstract expressionist sculptor and 2010 National Medal of Arts recipient.
Biography Early life and education
Marco Polo di Suvero was bor ...
. On the
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
side of the park, there is a 3.2 hectare (7.9 acre)
urban prairie
Urban prairie is a term to describe vacant urban land that has reverted to green space. Previous structures occupying the urban lots have been demolished, leaving patchy areas of green space that are usually untended and unmanaged, forming an i ...
.
The Corktown Common is located east of
Bayview Avenue
Bayview Avenue is a major north–south route in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario. North of Toronto, in York Region, Bayview is designated as York Regional Road 34.
History
Bayview Avenue follows the first concession line, laid east of Yong ...
, south of
King Street, west of
GO/
CN railroad lines and the Don River to the rail corridor in the south. There is also an entrance from the
Don Valley Trail.
See also
*
2015 Pan American Games Athletes' Village
References
External links
Corktown Common Official WebsiteFriends of Corktown Common
{{Parks and squares in Toronto
Parks in Toronto
Waterfront Toronto