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North Toronto is a former town and informal district located in the northern part of the
Old Toronto Old Toronto is that part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that corresponds to the original City of Toronto which existed from 1834 to 1998. It was first incorporated as a city in 1834, after being known as the town of York, and being part of York Co ...
district 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. Currently occupying a geographically central location within the city of Toronto, the Town of North Toronto was incorporated in 1890, when much of the area was still farmland, and annexed by the
old city of Toronto Old Toronto is that part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that corresponds to the original City of Toronto which existed from 1834 to 1998. It was first incorporated as a city in 1834, after being known as the town of York, and being part of York ...
in 1912. The name is still used to refer to the area in general, although
Yonge–Eglinton Yonge–Eglinton is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at the intersection of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue. It is central to the area of Midtown Toronto, one of four central business districts outside Downtown Toronto. The City of T ...
and
Midtown Toronto Midtown is one of four central business districts outside the city's downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in the north of Old Toronto, its borders are roughly defined by St. Clair Avenue to the south and Eglinton Avenue or Lawrenc ...
are officially used. The former town was bounded on the south by Moore Avenue east to Bayview Avenue, north to Eglinton Avenue, west to Bruce, north to Fairfield, west to the west boundary of Mount Hope Cemetery, then north to north of Glen Echo, west to Yonge, north to north of McNairn Avenue, then west to a line just west of Elm Road. The boundary continues south to just north of Glenview Avenue and Avenue Road, then west to a line with Proudfoot Avenue, then south to just north of Briar Hill, then south on Castlewood to Roselawn, then south on Latimer to Eglinton Avenue. The boundary continues east on Eglinton to Elmsthorpe, then south to the former rail line south of Chaplin Crescent, then east to Yonge.


Origins

Toronto's
Yonge streetcar line Beginning operation in 1861, the Yonge streetcar line was the first streetcar line in Toronto and the first in Canada. It started off as a horsecar line and closed in 1954 operating two-unit trains of Peter Witt motors pulling a trailer. Under the ...
was then extended along Yonge Street through North Toronto, replacing the
Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in Hillingdon. Printed in magenta on the tube map, the line i ...
, the former
radial railway The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...
service. North Toronto soon emerged as a popular
streetcar suburb A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...
, with the area becoming completely developed by the 1940s. The streetcar was replaced in 1954 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 ...
's
Yonge subway Yonge is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Charles Duke Yonge (1812–1891), English historian and translator of Philo of Alexandria * Charles Maurice Yonge (1899–1986), British marine biologist * Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823†...
as far as
Eglinton Avenue Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the western limits of Mississauga, as a ...
and a
trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
running north from there, which was replaced in turn by a subway extension in 1973. Today North Toronto is a relatively affluent community, and very popular with young families.


Character

The neighbourhood has had a mixed-density design for some time, but this is rapidly changing to a greater density with the construction of residential condominium buildings in the area. The southern part of the neighbourhood is densely populated, with the entire section between Yonge Street and Mount Pleasant Road south of Davisville Avenue built up with high rise apartment buildings. More recently, condo buildings have further added to this density, especially south of Merton Street (backing onto historic Mount Pleasant Cemetery). Additional condo developments have begun on Mount Pleasant Road, and the existing medium-rise dwellings southeast of Yonge and Eglinton have been joined by developer Minto's
Quantum In physics, a quantum (plural quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity (physical property) involved in an interaction. The fundamental notion that a physical property can be "quantized" is referred to as "the hypothesis of quantizati ...
towers of 37 and 54 stories. Mount Pleasant Cemetery serves as a major green space for the southern end of the neighbourhood. South of the cemetery are trails in two ravines of the former Mud Creek and Yellow Creek, which lead to 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 ...
. On the north side of the cemetery is the Beltline Trail, a heavily used pedestrian and cycling path on the route of a former railway line. The Belt Line Railway was a short-lived commuter route in the 1890s. It was subsequently purchased by
Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...
and used for freight until service was discontinued in the 1960s. The path goes northwest to
Eglinton Avenue Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the western limits of Mississauga, as a ...
, then curves west, and ends at the William R. Allen Road, known locally as the Allen Expressway. Other green spaces includes Eglinton Park just west of Yonge Street and Alexander Muir Memorial Gardens at Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue, which connects to Sherwood Ravine Park and Sunnybrook Park to the east. North Toronto is served by north–south commercial strips on Yonge Street, Mount Pleasant Road, and
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 ...
, and an east–west strip on
Eglinton Avenue Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the western limits of Mississauga, as a ...
. These offer an array of shopping and dining aimed primarily at the local market, and as with many main streets in Toronto neighbourhoods, are largely given to small, locally owned shops in free-standing buildings. The corner of Yonge and Eglinton features the Yonge Eglinton Centre complex, which includes a shopping mall, multiplex cinema, and both office and residential towers; and
Canada Square Canada Square is a square at Canary Wharf, on the Isle of Dogs in London's Docklands. It is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of Central London along the River Thames. Canada Square is surrounded by three of the tall ...
, an office complex with a small shopping concourse and another, older multiplex. Both are connected to Eglinton subway station. The headquarters of
Canadian Tire Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited is a Canadian retail company which operates in the automotive, hardware, sports, leisure and housewares sectors. Its Canadian operations include: Canadian Tire (including Canadian Tire Petroleum gas stations a ...
,
TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...
,
RioCan RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust is the second-largest real estate investment trust (REIT) in Canada. It has an enterprise value of approximately $14 billion, and owns 289 primarily retail properties, with a net leasable area of 44 million ...
,
Heart and Stroke Foundation The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada is a Canadian charity dedicated to advocacy, education, and the funding of research surrounding heart disease and stroke. Nomenclature In November 2016, the organization re-branded as ''Heart & Stro ...
and 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 ...
are located in North Toronto. Libraries can be found on Bayview Avenue, at Yonge and Lawrence, and near Yonge and Eglinton, along with a children's-focused library on Mount Pleasant. There are two community centres in North Toronto; Central Eglinton Community Centre, at Eglinton and Redpath, offers a wide variety of programs and services for caregivers & young children, adults. and people 50+. North Toronto Memorial Community Centre is located at Eglinton Park (Eglinton Avenue and Oriole Parkway). What was once North America's largest bridge club, Kate Buckman's, was on Mount Pleasant near Eglinton for many years until its closure in 2007; the Toronto Bridge Club is on St. Clair near Yonge. The Toronto Camera Club finds its home on Mount Pleasant Road near Millwood Road.


Neighbourhoods

North Toronto is composed of a number of distinct neighbourhoods. It has more recently also become synonymous with Midtown. * Allenby * Bedford Park *
Chaplin Estates Chaplin Estates is a neighbourhood that covers the southwest portion of the Yonge and Eglinton area in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It lies west of Yonge Street and is bounded by Eglinton Avenue to the north and Avenue Road to the west. The southern b ...
*
Davisville Village Davisville Village is a neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located near the intersection of Davisville Avenue and Yonge Street. There is a subway station named Davisville at this intersection. The area directly abuts Mount Pleasant ...
* Lawrence Park *
Lytton Park Lytton Park is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the "North Toronto" municipality, within the former city of Toronto ( Old Toronto). The neighbourhood is centered on 'Lytton Park' (hence the name). Its boundaries includ ...
* Wanless Park *
Yonge–Eglinton Yonge–Eglinton is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at the intersection of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue. It is central to the area of Midtown Toronto, one of four central business districts outside Downtown Toronto. The City of T ...


See also

*TTC Davisville, Eglinton, and
Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...
stations


External links


Map of Toronto Neighbourhoods
{{coord , 43.711, N, 79.389, W, display=title Neighbourhoods in Toronto Streetcar suburbs Former towns in Ontario Former municipalities in Toronto