Newtonbrook 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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, Canada. It is located in the area around

Yonge Street Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Once the southernmost leg of provincial H ...

and Finch Avenue in the district of

North York North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a po ...

between the east and west branches of the

Don River The Don ( rus, Дон, p=don) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its ...

. Officially, the area is divided into two neighbourhoods; Newtonbrook West and Newtonbrook East.

History

The area was settled by Europeans in the early 19th century. Newtonbrook's early industries included saw and grist mills on the east and west branches of the Don River. The town's Newton Brook Wesleyan Church was named after Reverend

Robert Newton Robert Guy Newton (1 June 1905 – 25 March 1956) was an English actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the more popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys. Known for hi ...

. In 1847, Lieutenant Colonel William S. Durie of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada subdivided part of his Newtonbrook property. The resulting subdivision is now Drewry Avenue. Newtonbrook houses

In the 1950s, Newtonbrook was subdivided for a massive residential development. Most of the town's landmarks were removed, except for the Newtonbrook Schoolhouse and the Newtonbrook General Store. Just one house from the original Drewry Avenue subdivision remains. As of the end of 2006, Newtonbrook was the northernmost area of Toronto to be affected by the infill development (mainly along the Finch Ave. and Yonge St. corridors). Older detached and semi-detached houses from the 1950s were demolished (or converted to mixed residential-commercial use), with townhouse complexes built in their place. There is also an increasing number of new custom built homes in this neighbourhood. A new low-rise condo building was built on the northwest corner of Yonge and Drewry.

Demographics

Newtonbrook contains a large community of Persian, Mandarin, Russian and Korean-speaking residents. English is the most spoken language of both Newtonbrook neighbourhoods, with Persian and Russian being the next most spoken languages of Newtonbrook West and Newtonbrook East, respectively. The average income in the area is above the average for Toronto. Along with this, a majority of residents live in single detached or semi-detached houses in which they own.

Education

Three

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 are ...

s operate schools that offer

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works ...

and

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

. 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 ...

(TDSB) is a

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 ...

public school board that operates two secondary schools in the neighbourhood,

Newtonbrook Secondary School Newtonbrook Secondary School (Newtonbrook SS, NSS) is a high school for Grades 9 to 12 in the Newtonbrook neighborhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. History Opened in 1964 by the then North York Board of Education to provide a closer school for ...

and

Drewry Secondary School Drewry Secondary School (abbreviated Drewry SS, DSS, or Drewry); formerly known as Lewis S. Beattie Vocational School and Lewis S. Beattie Secondary School is a small specialized vocational secondary school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is locat ...

(formerly Lewis S. Beattie Secondary School). Both schools were part of the

North York Board of Education The North York Board of Education (NYBE, commonly known as School District 13), officially the Board of Education for the City of North York is the former public school board for the former city of North York in Ontario, Canada. In 1998, the pro ...

. The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) is a separate public school board that also operates one an all-boy secondary school in Newtonbrook,

Brebeuf College School Brebeuf College School (Brebeuf College, BCS, or Brebeuf) is a publicly funded Roman Catholic all-boys high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada endorsed by the Jesuits of Canada. Founded by the Jesuits in 1963, it is part of the Toronto Catholic Di ...

. In addition to English-based public school boards, the Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir (CSCM) also operates a secondary school in Newtonbrook,

École secondaire catholique Monseigneur-de-Charbonnel École secondaire catholique Monseigneur-de-Charbonnel (occasionally called ESCMDC, ESC Charbonnel, or Charbonnel); known in English as Monsignor Charbonnel Catholic Secondary School is a French-language Catholic elementary and high school operated ...

. CSCM is a French-based separate public school board. The school and headquarters are leased from the TDSB. However before 1998, Brebeuf and Charbonnel were part of the Metropolitan Separate School Board when it was an English and French board at the time. TCDSB and TDSB operate several schools in Newtonbrook that provide primary education. They include: * Cummer Valley Middle School (TDSB), opened in 1960 as Northmount Junior High School * Fisherville Senior Public School (TDSB) * Pleasant Public School (TDSB) * R. J. Lang Elementary and Middle School (TDSB) * St. Agnes Catholic School (TCDSB) * St. Paschal Baylon Separate School (TCDSB)

Recreation

There are several

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that ...

s and plazas located within the neighbourhood, including Centerpoint Mall, on

Steeles Avenue Steeles Avenue is an east–west street that forms the northern city limit of Toronto and the southern limit of York Region in Ontario, Canada. It stretches across the western and central Greater Toronto Area from Appleby Line in Milton in th ...

and

, and Toronto Iranian Plaza. The former Newtonbrook Plaza at Yonge and Cummer was demolished in 2018-2019 for the development of M2M Condos. Newtonbrook is also home to several municipal parks, as well as the Finch Hydro Corridor. Parks in the neighbourhood 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 rec ...

Transportation

Public transportation Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

in the neighbourhood is also serviced by the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and larges ...

's (TTC)

bus service Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable. History of buses Origins While there are indications ...

. Newtonbrook is served by Finch subway station, which is the northern terminus of the

's (TTC)

Line 1 Yonge–University Line 1 Yonge–University is a rapid transit line on the Toronto subway. It serves Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, has 38 stations and is in length, making it th ...

, located just south of the neighbourhood. In addition to TTC services,

public transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

services may also be accessed at

Finch Bus Terminal Finch GO Bus Terminal is a bus terminal in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It serves to connect the transit services of York Region to the north and the transit services of Toronto. It is located at 5697 Yonge Street on the northeast corner of Bishop A ...

, which provides access to

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 ...

's commuter and regional buses.

York Region Transit York Region Transit (YRT) is the public transit operator in York Region, Ontario, Canada. Its headquarters are in Richmond Hill, at 50 High Tech Road. YRT operates 65 full-time, rush hour and limited routes, 35 school services, and six Viva bu ...

and

Viva Rapid Transit Viva is the bus rapid transit operations of York Region Transit in York Region, Ontario, Canada. Viva service forms the spine for YRT's local bus service, providing seamless transit service across York Region with connections to northern Toronto. ...

may also be accessed from the terminal.

Notable people

It is the birthplace and hometown of

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winner and Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. Pearson was born at a

manse A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin ''mansus'', "dwelling", from ' ...

in the intersection of Yonge Street and Hendon Avenue, now the site of the North American Centre. His father was the local Methodist minister and Lester was born in the parsonage.

References

External links

Newtonbrook History
{{authority control Neighbourhoods in Toronto North York