Claireville (sometimes misspelled as Clairville) is a neighbourhood and former
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
in the city 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 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. It is located in the northwest corner of Toronto, in the former city of
Etobicoke
Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and the municipalit ...
. Today Claireville is almost wholly industrial/commercial.
History
The original hamlet was established in 1850 at the five-point intersection of
Albion Road,
Indian Line
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by George III of the United Kingdom, King George III on 7 October 1763. It followed the Treaty of Paris (1763), which formally ended the Seven Years' War and transferred New France, French territory ...
(later incorporated into
Highway 50 and
Highway 427), and
Steeles Avenue
Steeles Avenue is an east–west street that forms the northern city limit of Toronto and the southern limit of York Region in Ontario, Canada. It stretches across the western and central Greater Toronto Area from Appleby Line in Milton in th ...
. It was built on a land owned by Jean du Petit Pont de la Haye (1799-1872), a French teacher at
Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College (UCC) is an elite, all-boys, private school in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as the country's most prestigious preparatory school, and has produce ...
. He developed the community on his estate which he named after his daughter Claire Elizabeth (later Berthon b. 1831-d. 1903). A private street was built diagonally across northern Etobicoke as a shortcut to Albion Township through
Toronto Gore Township
Toronto Gore (also the Gore of Toronto) is a former incorporated and now geographic township in Ontario, Canada. It is today split between Mississauga and Brampton.
History
Toronto Gore came into existence as a township in when it was separated ...
(now part of Caledon and Brampton), with a toll at Claireville. The road was originally named Claireville but was also called the Albion Road (the current name for the street).
Development
A flood control dam was built on the West Branch of the Humber River immediately south of the village in 1957, creating the Claireville reservoir and the establishment of
Claireville Conservation Area. Claireville began to lose its rural character as suburban industrial development encroached. In the mid-1980, Albion Road and Steeles Avenue were realigned, bypassing the community. In the 1970s Highway 427 was built along the Indian Line alignment along the southwestern edge of the neighbourhood and in the 1990s was extended to
Highway 407 when that toll road was built just to the north. This combined with the existing rail lines and proximity to
Pearson Airport
Lester B. Pearson International Airport , commonly known as Toronto Pearson International Airport, is an international airport located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the main airport serving Toronto, its metropolitan area, and the su ...
make the area prime industrial land. Today, some of original residential homes have disappeared in the Toronto section of Claireville and replaced with warehousing and open storage / trucking uses, and most of the remaining homes are no longer used as residences.
Claireville has today unofficially expanded into
Brampton
Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it ...
, with the portion west of an abandoned portion of former Indian Line and Highway 427 being in Brampton. Like in Toronto,
the Brampton Portion largely consists of residential subdivisions, north of Queen Street. The Indian Line Campground is situated in
Malton (
Mississauga), near the south end.
The area is close to the large south Asian communities of Rexdale, as well as Brampton and Malton outside the city. This accessible area with large cheap lots has become home to several Hindu temples, most notably the
BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Toronto
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario, Canada is a traditional Hindu place of worship that was built by the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha. The BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, which is headed by Mahant Swami Maharaj, is a g ...
.
Education
The
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 ...
operates an
elementary school. Claireville Junior School and provides a space for approximately 375 students.
Under the Toronto District School Board, this public elementary school that begins from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 5, engages also with the parents/guardians of students, as well as with the community through many partnerships such as Holiday Food Drive with the Daily Bread, Co-op Student placements from local high schools, Teacher Candidates from
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...
,
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
and other Faculties of Education.
Institutions
*Skyway Industrial Park
*Glendale Memorial Gardens
*Westwood Arena
*
Apotex
Apotex Inc. is a Canadian pharmaceutical corporation. Founded in 1974 by Barry Sherman, the company is the largest producer of generic drugs in Canada, with annual sales exceeding . By 2016, Apotex employed over 10,000 people as one of Canada's ...
*
HBC warehouse
References
{{authority control
Neighbourhoods in Toronto
Etobicoke