Agincourt () is a neighbourhood and former village in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. Agincourt is located in northeast Toronto, along

Sheppard Avenue Sheppard Avenue is an east–west principal arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The street has two distinct branches near its eastern end, with the original route being a collector road leading to Pickering, Ontario, Pickering via a turno ...

between Kennedy and Markham Roads (north-south includes lands between

Highway 401 King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one, is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian prov ...

and

Finch Avenue Finch Avenue is an arterial road, arterial thoroughfare that travels east–west in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The road continues west into the Regional Municipality of Peel as List of numbered roads in Peel Region, Regional Road 2 and east in ...

). Before the creation of the "megacity" of Toronto in 1998, the area was part 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, sub ...

. It is officially recognized by the City of Toronto as occupying the neighbourhoods of Agincourt South–Malvern West and Agincourt North. The name Agincourt is often used to refer to a larger area of northwest Scarborough rather than just the officially recognized neighbourhood. The area to the west of Agincourt, officially named Tam O'Shanter–Sullivan is often included as part of Agincourt, and the Agincourt Mall is located in Tam O'Shanter. The section of Agincourt west of Midland Avenue belongs to the electoral district of Scarborough—Agincourt, while the section to the east is part of Scarborough North (federal, previously Scarborough—Rouge River) or Scarborough—Rouge River (provincial, until the 2018 provincial election, when it will be replaced with Scarborough North).

History

Agincourt was once referred to as "hero town" by the citizens that lived there. The village of Agincourt was officially founded with the establishment of the Agincourt post office, opened in June 1858 by John Hill. The name of the settlement was after the site of

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1216–1281 ...

's decisive English victory over French forces in 1415. Local legend has it that the town's name was chosen when Hill requested that the town be given a post office, and the

French-Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the prov ...

Postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

agreed, on the condition that it be given a French name, with 'Agincourt' chosen to undermine the Postmaster's intention. The site of the 1415 battle is now known as

Azincourt Azincourt ( ; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It is situated north-west of Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise on the D71 road between Hesdin and Fruges. The Late Medieval Battle of Agincourt between the English and ...

: the namesake of today's Agincourt, Ontario should not be confused with Agincourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle. The original crossroads of Agincourt is located at Midland Avenue and Sheppard and served a rural agricultural population. Village Green Square 2023

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

church (from France) was built on the north-east corner, which is today's Knox United Church. In addition, an Agincourt Public School was built in 1914, which has evolved over time into Agincourt Junior Public School. A secondary school that later evolved into Agincourt Collegiate Institute, was established in 1915 on the second floor of the same building. From 1954 to 1998, the schools were a part of the Scarborough Board of Education. Two railway stations were constructed in the second half of the 19th century at Agincourt. One was built just west of the crossroads as part of the Toronto and Nipissing Railway line heading north from Scarborough Junction on the Toronto –

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

mainline, and greatly improved access. The line eventually became part of

Canadian National Railways The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

, and the station operates today as Agincourt Station on the

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...

Stouffville commuter rail route. A second station was built east of the crossroads, northside of Sheppard Avenue and west of Brimley Road, on what is today

CP Rail The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited, known unt ...

track that runs from downtown Toronto diagonally northeast through the neighbourhood. Commuter rail service to Toronto's

Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

was offered by the CPR from various service routes such as Lake Ontario Shore Line and Toronto-Peterboro Dayliner (1950s). CP passenger service was discontinued in 1982 but revived briefly in 1985 before being cancelled for good in 1990. The line branches east of a marshalling yard, built by CP in the 1960s between McCowan and Markham Roads on the east of the neighbourhood, into the (

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

–) Havelock and Belleville (– Montreal) subdivisions. The neighbourhood saw an influx of Chinese Canadians move into the area during the 1980s. Agincourt saw an influx of Hong Kong Chinese and Taiwanese emigrants during the 1980s, especially in the area along Sheppard Avenue near Midland Avenue. Since the development of Chinese-themed shopping centres in the 1980s, it has become a booming suburban Toronto Chinatown and was the vanguard for the proliferation of "Chinese malls", catering specifically to the Chinese community across the GTA.

Economy

Agincourt Mall, an enclosed mall, began a redevelopment in 2018, and is the second-largest active residential application in Toronto.

Education

Four

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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

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 area, ...

s operate elementary and secondary schools in Agincourt. They include the public

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

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), and the public

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 Canadian ...

boards,

Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir (also referred to as Csc MonAvenir) is a French-language Catholic school board that manages elementary and secondary French schools in South-Central Ontario. The school board operates 47 elementary schools, 12 ...

(CSCM), 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. ...

(TCDSB). Toronto's French-language secular public school board, Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV) now operates a school in the district. TDSB operates four public secondary schools in the neighbourhood, Agincourt Collegiate Institute, Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute, Sir William Osler High School and Delphi Alternative Secondary School. In addition to secondary schools, TDSB also operates institutions which provide primary education. TCDSB operates two public secondary schools in Agincourt, Francis Libermann Catholic High School and Monsignor Fraser College Midland Campus, with the latter housed in the former Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic School. The following public elementary schools operate in Agincourt (with the managing school board in parentheses): * Agincourt Junior Public School (TDSB) * C. D. Farquharson Junior Public School (TDSB) * Chartland Junior Public School (TDSB) * École elémentaire catholique Saint-Jean-de-Lalande (CSCM) * École elémentaire Laure-Riese (CSV) * Henry Kelsey Senior Public School (TDSB) * Iroquois Junior Public School (TDSB) * North Agincourt Junior Public School (TDSB) * Sir Alexander Mackenzie Senior Public School (TDSB) * St. Bartholomew Catholic School (TCDSB) * St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Elementary School (TCDSB) * St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic School (TCDSB) * White Haven Junior Public School (TDSB)

Recreation

The neighbourhood is home to a number of municipal parks, managed by the

Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division Toronto Parks and Recreation (P&R) is a division of the City of Toronto which maintains the municipal park system and delivers community recreation programs at city-operated facilities. P&R operates 1473 named parks, 839 sports fields, 137 comm ...

. In addition to local parks, the Division also operates the Agincourt Recreation Centre (pool and ice rink - damaged in fire in January 2019), located adjacent to Agincourt Park, Albert Campbell Pool (inside Albert Campbell CI) and Commander Park Arena (ice rink) at Commander Park. * Agincourt Park * Alexmuir Park * Brimley Woods Park * Chartland Park * Chartwell Park * Collingwood Park * Donalda Park * Farquharson Park * Havendale Park * Iroquois Park * Knott Park * Metrogate Park * McDairmid Woods Park * North Agincourt Park * Snowhill Park * White Haven Park

References

External links