Crescent Town is a neighbourhood in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

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 C ...

, Canada, in the former

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle ...

East York East York is a former administrative district and municipality within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1967 to 1998, it was officially the Borough of East York, a semi-autonomous borough within the upper-tier municipality of Metropolitan Toron ...

. It is located near

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

Danforth Avenue Danforth Avenue (informally also known as the Danforth) and Danforth Road are two historically-related arterial streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Danforth ''Avenue'' is an east-west street that begins in Old Toronto at the Prince Edwar ...

. It mainly consists of high-rise apartment complexes, built originally to take advantage of the opening of the adjacent Victoria Park subway station, which connects to the central quadrangle via a partially covered walkway.

History

In the late 19th century, Walter Massey (1864–1901), a younger son of

Hart Massey Hart Almerrin Massey (April 29, 1823 – February 20, 1896) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist who was a member of the prominent Massey family. He was an industrialist who built the agricultural equipment firm that became Massey Fer ...

, Canada's first major industrialist, and uncle to actor

Raymond Massey Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983) was a Canadian actor, known for his commanding, stage-trained voice. For his lead role in '' Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (1940), Massey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Amo ...

, purchased a country property centered on

Dawes Road The following lists roads in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that do not follow the city grid, often referred to as ''contour roads or diagonal roads''. They are listed by type of road, then alphabetically. Arterial roads Albion Road Albion Road ...

and Victoria Park Avenue. He established a model farm and named it "Dentonia Park" after his wife, Susan, whose maiden name was Denton. The Massey farm sold fresh eggs and poultry as well as fresh trout, which was caught in the many streams and rivulets that criss-crossed the farm. The Massey farm was also the home of the

City Dairy Company Limited City Dairy Company Limited was a dairy company founded by Walter Edward Massey, president of Massey-Harris, to deliver milk in the city of Toronto. The company was the first Canadian dairy to supply pasteurized milk. The dairy was founded after M ...

, which produced the first pasteurized milk in Canada. In 1933, Susan Massey donated her mansion and of the Dentonia farm land to Crescent School, where her grandsons were educated. Crescent School operated at the Dentonia site until 1969, when this property was sold to the developers who built the present-day Crescent Town neighbourhood. Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland of the television series '' 24'' was a Crescent Town resident. He spent part of his childhood in Crescent Town and attended the Crescent Town Elementary School, where he first met the former

Mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...

, David Miller.

Current status

Crescent Town is considered by some as an interesting experiment in community planning in that all of its pedestrian walkways are located above the street level. It is a multicultural neighbourhood, whose population includes extensive numbers of

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Jamaican Jamaican may refer to: * Something or someone of, from, or related to the country of Jamaica * Jamaicans, people from Jamaica * Jamaican English, a variety of English spoken in Jamaica * Jamaican Patois, an English-based creole language * Culture ...

, Pakistani and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

Canadians. There are many Bangladeshi-owned businesses near the neighbourhood (Victoria Park-Danforth). Some of the buildings are condominiums (Massey Square), while others are rental apartments (Crescent Place). Toronto council classified Oakridge under Taylor-Massey as a neighborhood improvement area in 2014.

References

External links

Dentonia Park Farm

Dentonia Park
– Toronto Public Library {{authority control Neighbourhoods in Toronto Ethnic enclaves in Ontario South Asian Canadian culture Residential skyscrapers in Toronto