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Downsview is a neighbourhood in the north end of
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 anc ...
,
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, located in the district of
North York North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a pop ...
. The area takes its name from the Downs View farm established around 1842 near the present-day intersection of
Keele Street Keele Street is a north–south road in Toronto, Vaughan and King in Ontario, Canada. It stretches , running from Bloor Street in Toronto to the Holland Marsh. South of Bloor Street, the roadway is today known as Parkside Drive, but was originall ...
and Wilson Avenue. It now extends beyond the intersection of
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 ...
and Dufferin Street (the latter which is bypassed by
Allen Road William R. Allen Road, also known as Allen Road, the Allen Expressway and colloquially as the Allen, is a short Controlled-access highway, expressway and arterial road in Toronto. It starts as a controlled-access expressway at Eglinton Avenue, Eg ...
in the vicinity of the intersection), though it is popularly seen as including the areas to the north right up to the Toronto city limit at
Steeles Avenue Steeles Avenue is an east–west street that forms the northern city limit of Toronto and the southern limit of Regional Municipality of York, York Region in Ontario, Canada. It stretches across the western and central Greater Toronto Area from ...
. The area includes several large post-World War II subdivisions. Within the area is Downsview Airport, the former site of Canadian Forces Base Downsview, which has since been largely converted following the end of the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
into an urban park known as
Downsview Park Downsview Park is a large urban park located in the Downsview neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The park's name is officially bilingual due to it being federally owned and managed, and was first home to de Havilland Canada, an airc ...
. The airport is still used as a manufacturing and testing facility for
Bombardier Aerospace Bombardier Aviation is a division of Bombardier Inc. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. Its most popular aircraft included the Dash 8 Series 400, CRJ100/200/440, and CRJ700/900/1000 lines of regional airliners, and the newer CSe ...
.


Description

From the east side of Dufferin Street to areas to the east, the area is primarily residential, while to the west, the district is industrial. In the western section is the large Downsview Park district which has served as a military base but is now being redeveloped into parkland and mixed uses. West of Downsview Park, are several residential subdivisions. Most of the houses in Downsview were built immediately post-war and into the 1960s, though some houses and condos have been recently built near Sheppard West station. North of Downsview Park is a large industrial-commercial area. Immediately beside Dufferin Street, William R. Allen Road brings large traffic volumes from the Ontario Highway 401 exit to the south. The main arterial streets are Sheppard Avenue and Wilson Avenue running east-west and Keele Street and Jane Street running north-south. The major streets have retail businesses along the frontage and the businesses along Wilson Avenue south of Downsview Park have organized the Wilson Village BIA. There is a large "big box" retail area south of Wilson between Dufferin Street and Allen Road.


History

The area is named for the farm settled by Justice of the Peace John Perkins Bull called ''Downs View'' in 1842 near Keele Street and Rustic Road, then in York County,
Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
. For over a century, the area was an agricultural community with a post office, schoolhouse, and general store. The centre of the community was the Downsview Methodist Church (now Downsview United Church) on Keele Street, which was erected in 1870 and designated a Toronto Heritage Property in 2008. Other historical landmarks from this period include The George Jackson House, which was also designated heritage property. In 1850, the area became part of York Township, and in 1927, became part of North York Township, which eventually became the City of North York. In 1998, the area became part of the city of Toronto. In April 1929, William De Havilland bought of farmland to build a manufacturing facility for
De Havilland Canada De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited is an aircraft manufacturer with facilities formerly based in the Downsview area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original home of de Havilland Canada was the home of the Canadian Air and Space Museum lo ...
. The facility was expanded during the 1930s and particularly during the Second World War, and became Canada's largest supplier of military, civilian and government-owned aircraft, as well as the site of several aviation firsts and record-breaking flights. In the early Cold War period, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) built up the area as a major air station and logistics support base. In 1954, the RCAF built a large supply depot that served as the central stores for the RCAF. The building currently houses the Downsview Park Merchant's Market. In the 1950s, the Ontario provincial government developed the Downsview Complex, which currently houses a number of provincial offices, as well as a detachment from the
Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorp ...
. In 1969, a large residential complex of five 19-storey high apartment buildings, known as Jane-Exbury Towers, was completed in 1969. Designed by architect
Uno Prii Uno Prii (February 28, 1924 – November 27, 2000) was an Estonian-born Canadian architect. He designed approximately 250 buildings, many in Toronto, but also around southern Ontario and the United States. Some of his best-known works are apartme ...
, they are noted for their mid-century expressionist features. The military base and the de Havilland company, including the runway and all buildings, was closed and sold to Bombardier Aerospace in 1994. Bombardier has been manufacturing and testing commercial aircraft on the site since then. Some 1000 de Havilland DH 98 Mosquito aircraft were built by the company at Downsview during the Second World War. On August 10, 2008, just before 4 a.m., massive explosions occurred at the Sunrise Propane Industrial Gases
propane Propane () is a three- carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used ...
facility, at 54 Murray Rd., located immediately north-east of the intersection of
Keele Street Keele Street is a north–south road in Toronto, Vaughan and King in Ontario, Canada. It stretches , running from Bloor Street in Toronto to the Holland Marsh. South of Bloor Street, the roadway is today known as Parkside Drive, but was originall ...
and Wilson Avenue. An employee of the facility and a firefighter were killed as a result of the explosions. Mayor David Miller had publicly expressed his condolences to the families of the victims shortly thereafter. Redevelopment of the Downsview Complex began in 2011. The redevelopment of the complex saw the completion of the Humber River Hospital, which was opened in 2015. The
acute care Acute care is a branch of secondary health care where a patient receives active but short-term treatment for a severe injury or episode of illness, an urgent medical condition, or during recovery from surgery.Alberta Health ServicesAcute care.Acce ...
hospital is situated on Wilson Avenue and
Keele Street Keele Street is a north–south road in Toronto, Vaughan and King in Ontario, Canada. It stretches , running from Bloor Street in Toronto to the Holland Marsh. South of Bloor Street, the roadway is today known as Parkside Drive, but was originall ...
.


Demographics

Major ethnic populations (2016): * 42.6%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
; ''23.4% Italian'', ''5.2% Portuguese'' * 15.5%
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have of ...
; ''6.7% Jamaican'' * 13.7% Filipino * 10.3%
Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...
(of any race) * 3.9%
South Asian South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; T ...
* 3.6% East Indian


Education

Two
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 schools in Downsview, the separate
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 Yor ...
(TCDSB), and the
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 fra ...
(TDSB). Both school boards also operate a public
secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
s in the neighbourhood. TCDSB operates Madonna Catholic Secondary School, an all-girls secondary school, whereas TDSB operates Downsview Secondary School. TCDSB and TDSB also operate several public institutions in Downsview that offer
primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...
. They include: * Ancaster Public School (TDSB) * Beverley Heights Middle School (TDSB) * Blaydon Public School (TDSB) * Calico Public School (TDSB) * Chalkfarm Public School (TDSB) * Downsview Public School (TDSB) * Highview Public School (TDSB) * Pierre Laporte Middle School (TDSB) * St. Andre Catholic School (TCDSB) * St. Conrad Catholic School (TCDSB) * St. Martha Catholic School (TCDSB) * St. Norbert Catholic School (TCDSB) * St. Raphael Catholic School (TCDSB) * Tumpane Public School (TDSB) The French
first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother ton ...
public secular 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 a ...
, and its separate counterpart,
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 ...
also offer schooling to applicable residents of Downsview, although they do not operate a school in the neighbourhood. CSCM and CSV students attend schools situated in other neighbourhoods in Toronto. The neighbourhood is also home to Centennial College's Downsview Aerospace campus. The
college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
is a post-secondary institution, with several campuses throughout Toronto.


Recreation

Several municipal parks are situated in Downsview, including Chalkfarm Park, Downsview Dells Park, Oakdale Village Park, and Roding Park. Roding Park is an park near Wilson Avenue and Keele Street. Recreational facilities in the park include a baseball diamond, two tennis courts, four bocce courts and a children's playground. Downsview Dells Park is a large park which features wilderness and wetland settings with picnic areas and fire pits. Car parking and washrooms are available within the park. Within the park is Downsview Dells House, a municipal drug and alcohol treatment facility. A number of these parks are situated near the valley of the Black Creek, as it flows south and west from Sheppard Avenue midway between Keele and Jane Streets. The valley forms a part of the larger
Toronto ravine system The Toronto ravine system is a distinctive feature of the city's geography, consisting of a network of deep ravines, which forms a large urban forest that runs through most of Toronto. The ravine system is the largest in any city in the world, wi ...
. Municipal parks in Downsview are maintained by the Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division. In addition to parks, the division also operates several
community centre Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...
s in the neighbourhood, including Ancaster Community Centre, Chalkfarm Community Centre, and Roding Community Centre. The Toronto Public Library operates two branches in the neighbourhood, Black Creek branch, and Downsview branch. The
Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in ...
also maintains an
urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...
in the neighbourhood, known as
Downsview Park Downsview Park is a large urban park located in the Downsview neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The park's name is officially bilingual due to it being federally owned and managed, and was first home to de Havilland Canada, an airc ...
. The park was formerly used by the
Canadian Armed Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...
, as CFB Toronto. The park houses several recreational facilities, including practice facilities for the
Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...
. Downsview Park has also hosted several large public events, including a Papal Mass, attended by 800,000 people on 28 July 2002. The mass was led by
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
for
World Youth Day World Youth Day (WYD) is an event for young people organized by the Catholic Church that was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985, sometimes nicknamed in later years as the "Catholic Woodstock". Its concept has been influenced by the Light-L ...
. On 30 July 2003, the park also hosted a massive concert known as
Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto was a benefit rock concert that was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on July 30, 2003. It was also known as "Toronto Rocks", "Stars 4 SARS", "SARSStock", "SARSfest", "SARS-a-palooza", the "SARS concert", or, more ...
. The concert was held in support of the City of Toronto after the 2003
SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, '' ...
outbreak there.


Transportation

Several major roadways serve as the boundary for Downsview, with
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 ...
to the north,
Allen Road William R. Allen Road, also known as Allen Road, the Allen Expressway and colloquially as the Allen, is a short Controlled-access highway, expressway and arterial road in Toronto. It starts as a controlled-access expressway at Eglinton Avenue, Eg ...
to the east, Highway 401 to the south, and Highway 400 to the west. The latter two roadways are major controlled access highways that form a part of the province's
400-series highways The 400-series highways are a network of controlled-access highways throughout the southern portion of the Canadian province of Ontario, forming a special subset of the provincial highway system. They are analogous to the Interstate Highway S ...
network. Portions of Allen Road adjacent to Downsview also operate as a controlled access highway, although it is maintained by the City of Toronto, and not the provincial government. Other major thoroughfares in the neighbourhood include
Keele Street Keele Street is a north–south road in Toronto, Vaughan and King in Ontario, Canada. It stretches , running from Bloor Street in Toronto to the Holland Marsh. South of Bloor Street, the roadway is today known as Parkside Drive, but was originall ...
, a major north-south roadway that runs through Downsview.
Public transportation Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typica ...
in Downsview is provided by the
Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...
(TTC). The TTC operates several bus routes through the neighbourhood, as well as the
Toronto subway The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is a multimodal rail network consisting of three heavy-capacity rail li ...
. Line 1 of the subway system has two stops in the neighbourhood, Wilson station and Downsview Park station. Another stop on Line 1, Sheppard West station, is situated adjacent of the neighbourhood, on the eastern side of Allen Road. Regional train service by GO Transit stops at the Downsview Park Station.


References


External links

{{authority control Neighbourhoods in Toronto North York Gentrification in Canada