Claireville (sometimes misspelled as Clairville) is a neighbourhood and former

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in the city of

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. It is located in the northwest corner of Toronto, in the former city of

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Humber River (Ontario), Humber River, on the ...

History

EtobicokeHighfieldGuardhouseEstateRosedale

The original hamlet was established in 1850 at the five-point intersection of Albion Road, Indian Line (later incorporated into Highway 50 and Highway 427), and

Steeles Avenue Steeles Avenue is an east–west street that stretches across the western and central Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Running from Appleby Line in Milton in the west to the Scarborough-Pickering Townline in the east, where it continue ...

. 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 independent day and boarding school for boys in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as Canada's most prestigious preparatory school, and ha ...

. 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 (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 The Claireville Conservation Area is a suburban conservation area located on the border of Peel Region and Toronto in Ontario, Canada. The major part of the area is located in Brampton. The park is a 343 hectare (848 acre) parcel of conservation l ...

. 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 Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the main airport serving Toronto, its Greater Toronto Area, metropolitan area, and the surrounding region known as the Golden Hors ...

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 is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

, 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 Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

), 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.

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 franco ...

operates an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in the neighbourhood. Claireville Junior School provides a space for approximately 375 students in grades Junior Kindergarten to grade five. The school engages with the neighbourhood through partnerships such as the Holiday Food Drive with the Daily Bread Food Bank. The school accepts co-op student placements from local high schools, and teacher candidates from

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

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 2023, Apotex employed close to 8,000 people as Canada's large ...

* HBC warehouse

References

{{authority control Neighbourhoods in Toronto Etobicoke