The Elms is a neighbourhood 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 anch ...

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. It is bordered by the Humber River to the east,

Islington Avenue Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

to the west,

Thistletown Thistletown is a culturally diverse neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It consists of the area surrounding the intersection of Albion Road and Islington Avenue in the former City of Etobicoke. (Etobicoke merged with five other munici ...

to the north, and Highway 401 to the south. Much of this area was dotted with

American Elm ''Ulmus americana'', generally known as the American elm or, less commonly, as the white elm or water elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America, naturally occurring from Nova Scotia west to Alberta and Montana, and south to F ...

trees, the namesake of The Elms

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

, in which its links were still being played as late as 1957 when Rexdale was growing around it. Pine Point Park is the community's main meeting place.

History

The housing development of the original section of

Rexdale Rexdale is a neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located north-west of the central core, in the district of Etobicoke. Rexdale defines an area of several official neighbourhoods north of Highway 401 and east of Highway 427. Rexdale was orig ...

, built in the early 1950s, is named for developer

Rex Heslop Rex Wesley Heslop, (1905 – September 30, 1973) was a Canadian businessman noted for being a land developer and residential real estate developer. Biography Early years Heslop was born on a farm in Etobicoke, Ontario. The property would have been ...

and his wife Delma. These are single storey and storey and a half

bungalows A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...

, bordered by streets Allenby Avenue, Burrard Road and Hadrian Drive, east of the new

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

store, formerly the site of Rexdale Plaza. Many of the residents of this neighbourhood, were employed Avro Canada. Heslop went on building houses west of Islington Avenue, around Clearbrooke Circle as well as an industrial section of Rexdale west of

Kipling Avenue Kipling Avenue is a street in the cities of Toronto and Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, 6 concessions (12 km) west from Yonge Street, and is a major north–south arterial road. It consists of three separate sec ...

, before going to Georgetown, where he established the Delrex neighbourhood. Residents of Rexdale did their shopping mostly in

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, until Rexdale Plaza was built in 1957. At the same time, the

semi-detached A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single family duplex dwelling house that shares one common wall with the next house. The name distinguishes this style of house from detached houses, with no shared walls, and terraced hou ...

houses were built along Allenby and Burrard, followed by the construction of Bungalows north of Hadrian between Burrard and Elmlea School.

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 ...

and the

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 ...

operate the following elementary schools in The Elms: * Braeburn Junior School - A small, culturally diverse public elementary school, located at 15 Tandridge Crescent. It is situated on the banks of the Humber River. The name of the school comes from two Scottish words - "brae" meaning hill and "burn" meaning stream. The crest shows a green hill with a stream flowing at the foot. A golden book represents the Book of Learning. Braeburn opened in 1969 as an open concept school. * The Elms Junior Middle School * Elmlea Junior School *St Stephen Catholic Elementary School In addition to public schools, the neighbourhood is also home to Timothy Christian School, a

private school Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Institutions

*Rexdale Mall *Northern Elms Public Library *Rexlington Park *The Elms Park *Summerlea Park *Walmart Supercentre

Churches

*St Paul's Anglican Church *St Benedict's Church *Rexdale Presbyterian Church *Rexdale Alliance Church *Rexdale Gospel Hall *Sidh Shakti Babaji Mandir

External links

The Elms , History
{{authority control Etobicoke Neighbourhoods in Toronto

History

Education

Institutions

Churches

See also

External links