Silverthorn, often misspelled as Silverthorne, is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was part of the former City of York before the amalgamation of Toronto in 1998. The approximate boundaries are the GO Transit Barrie line railway tracks to the east, Black Creek Drive and the CP railway line to the west and the former boundaries of the City of York to the north and south. The neighbourhood west of Keele Street is known as Keelesdale. For demographic purposes, the city breaks the area down into two neighbourhoods Keelesdale-Eglinton West, south of Eglinton, and Beechborough-Greenbrook north of Eglinton.

History

The area's name is from the Silverthorn family led by John and Esther Silverthorn whom settled in the area north of Dundas Street and east of Etobicoke Creek in 1786 that later became a village called Silverthorn's and later Summerville.

Character

Silverthorn contained the central commercial district for the former City of York along Eglinton Avenue where the

York Civic Centre The York Civic Centre is a government building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 2700 Eglinton Avenue West in the neighbourhood of Beechborough-Greenbrook. The building is used by the Toronto West Court Office and was the seat of the ...

, which housed York's municipal offices, is located. The area has a large number of

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

many of whom are Italian and Portuguese by descent. However, Silverthorn is very diverse and includes many

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

and other Christians. Latin Americans, Blacks and Southeast Asians are also well represented in this area (source: Statistics Canada 2001). North of Eglinton, nearly two-thirds of the Silverthorn's population resides in rental units, many of them in low-rise apartment buildings. South of Eglinton the area retains its working class character, though the majority of residents are owners (almost 60%). Although the houses are modest they are also single detached and owned. There is an above-average contingency of Romance language speakers including Portuguese, Italian and Spanish. This area contains the western end of Eglinton West. The hilly terrain of the Silverthorn is comparable to nearby areas but distinguishable compared with the city, which in general slopes south to the lake. One resident described the topography of the neighbourhood as "Toronto's hidden San Francisco," comparing Silverthorn with the famously hilly terrain of San Francisco. The winding and one-way streets make through traffic a non-factor for ball playing.

Castlefield Design District

The area along Castlefield Road from Kincort Street to just west of Dufferin is home to the interior design district, home to furniture retailers, home decor centres, as well as

Roots Canada Roots Corporation (doing business as Roots) is a publicly held Canadian brand that sells apparel, leather bags, small leather goods, footwear, athletic wear, and home furnishings. The company was founded in 1973 in Toronto, Ontario, by Michael ...

and

Art Shoppe Art is a diverse range of human behavior, human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imagination, imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no genera ...

Education

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is an English secular public school board that presently serves the City of Toronto, including Silverthorn. Presently, the school board operates three

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

s including: * Charles E. Webster Junior Public School — A public

at 1900 Keele Street. * Kane Senior Public School — A middle school at 300 Kane Ave.; mid-1990s renamed Kane Middle School; September, 2011 renamed Silverthorn Community School * Keelesdale Junior Public School In addition, TDSB operates two

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 '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

s in the area, including: * York Memorial Collegiate Institute * George Harvey Collegiate Institute In addition to TDSB, three other public school boards also operate in the city. The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), is a public English

separate school In Canada, a separate school is a type of school that has constitutional status in three provinces (Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan) and statutory status in the three territories ( Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut). In these Canadi ...

board; Conseil scolaire Viamonde is a secular

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

public school board; and the Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud is a French separate public school board. However, none of the three school boards operate a school in Silverthorn.

References

External links