Wexford is a neighbourhood in

Toronto, Ontario 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 ...

, Canada. It is located in the eastern part of the city, on the western end of the district of

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

, spanning Lawrence Avenue East between

Victoria Park Avenue Victoria Park Avenue is a major north-south route in eastern Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the western border of Scarborough, separating it from Old Toronto, East York, and North York. The common nickname for it is VP or Vic Park. History Vi ...

and Birchmount Road. There are many persons of Greek heritage in this neighbourhood. The Wexford Heights Business Improvement Area boasts 245 members and hosts an annual street festival on Lawrence.

History

The Church of St. Jude was erected in Wexford in 1848. It was once the Anglican church to the small village of Wexford, and survives today as a landmark in the modern urban area. In 1953, Wexford, along with the rest of Scarborough, was severed from York County, forming the regional government of

Metropolitan Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, whic ...

. The area consists of mostly post-World War II type bungalow housing, apartments, retail and commercial space. The city was merged with the rest of Scarborough and the five other municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto, forming the new "City of Toronto" in 1998. According to the 2006 Census Visible Minorities comprised 45.4% of the total population, the largest minority group being South Asian at 12.0%. A 2013 article in the Toronto LIFE magazine ranks Wexford-Maryvale 6th out of Toronto's 140 neighbourhoods.

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 ''Öffentlichkei ...

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 Wexford, 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 York. I ...

(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 franco ...

(TDSB). Both TCDSB and TDSB operate public schools in the neighbourhood: *Buchanan Public School *George Peck Public School *Manhattan Park Junior Public School *Precious Blood Catholic School is a school located on 1035 Pharmacy Avenue serving Kindergarten to Grade 8. It opened in 1950 as ''St. Teresa School'' by the

Congregation of Notre Dame The Congrégation de Notre Dame (CND) is a religious community for women founded in 1658 in Ville Marie (Montreal), in the colony of New France, now part of Canada. It was established by Marguerite Bourgeoys, who was recruited in France to creat ...

in the village of Wexford. The modern school was built on the land owned by James and Jesse Grant erected in 1953 and opened in September 1954 with Sister St. Agnes of the

Daughters of Wisdom The Daughters of Wisdom is a Catholic religious institute of women founded by Louis de Montfort and Marie Louise Trichet in 1703 to serve those in need. History In 1703, when he was temporary chaplain of the hospital of Poitiers, Louis de ...

as principal with 444 pupils and 15 staff members. The Congregation of Notre Dame withdrew its teaching duties in 1956. In 1963, the school had a population of 920 students. *

Senator O'Connor College School Senator O'Connor College School (also called SOCS, Senator O'Connor CS, Senator O'Connor, OCS, or simply Senator or O'Connor), previously known as John J. Lynch High School until 1967 is a Separate high school in the Parkwoods neighbourhood in th ...

, in North York *St. Kevin Catholic School *Wexford Public School *

Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts (commonly known as Wexford Collegiate, WCSA, Wexford CSA, Wexford or "Wex" for short), formerly and still known as Wexford Collegiate Institute (WCI) and initially known as Northwest Collegiate Institute is ...

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 tongu ...

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 and ...

, and it 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 op ...

also offer schooling to applicable residents of Wexford, although they do not operate a school in the neighbourhood, with CSCM/CSV students attending schools situated in other neighbourhoods in Toronto.

Recreation

Wexford is home to several municipal parks, including Wexford Park, located in the southwest of the neighbourhood. Municipal parks in Wexford are managed by the

Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation (PFR) is the division of Toronto's municipal government responsible for maintaining the municipal park system and natural spaces, regulation of and provision of urban forestry services, and the delivery of recre ...

. The neighbourhood is also home to several recreational sports associations, including the Scarborough Minor Hockey Association, and the Wexford Soccer Club.

Landmarks

Two shopping centres are located in Wexford, Wexford Heights Plaza, and Westford Shopping Centre. The neighbourhood is home to a number of churches. They include: * Church of St. Jude * Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church * Scarborough Citadel of the Salvation Army * St. John's Greek Orthodox Church * Wexford Heights United Church (2002 Merger of the historic Zion-Wexford and Wilmar Heights congregations) * Wexford Presbyterian Church

References

External links

{{authority control Neighbourhoods in Toronto Scarborough, Toronto