Armour Heights
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Armour Heights is a neighbourhood 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, in the district of
North York North York is a former township and city and is now one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the northern area of Toronto, centred around Yonge Street, north of Ontario Highway 401. It is bounded by ...
. It is bounded by
Wilson Avenue Wilson may refer to: People *Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson R ...
to the south, Bathurst Street to the west, and the west branch of the
Don River The 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 basin is betwee ...
to the north and east.
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 ...
cuts through the centre of the neighbourhood. Armour Heights is not considered a neighbourhood by the City of Toronto. Instead, it and nearby Lansing are grouped into one neighbourhood called Lansing-Westgate. However, the areas are colloquially referred to as Lansing and Armour Heights.


History

The area is named after John Armour, a farmer who bought land on the west side of Yonge from James Hogg in 1838. In 1910 the land was purchased by developer and speculator Colonel Frederick Burton Robins, who built a large estate for himself named Strathrobyn (completed in 1914). His development plans were put on hold by the war. He decided to loan out the lands to the military, and an air training facility was established in 1917. It mostly trained American pilots and among other figures saw
Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...
work there. After the war, the airfield became the base for Bishop-Barker Aeroplanes Limited, operated by war heroes
Billy Bishop Air Marshal William Avery Bishop, (8 February 1894 – 11 September 1956) was a Canadian flying ace of the First World War. He was officially credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian and British Empire ace of the war, and a ...
and
William George Barker William George Barker, (3 November 1894 – 12 March 1930) was a Canadian First World War fighter ace and Victoria Cross recipient. He is the most decorated serviceman in the history of Canada. Early life Born on a family farm in Dauphin, Man ...
. It was at this site that Bishop had one of the most dangerous crashes of his career. The company folded in 1921 and the airfield was abandoned. Some development occurred during the 1920s, but the area was still too far from the centre of the city to attract many buyers. The air force returned to the area in 1943, when it leased Strathrobyn as an officer's mess and training school. It remains in service today as the
Canadian Forces College The Canadian Forces College (CFC) is a military staff college for senior and general officers of the Canadian Armed Forces. It provides graduate-level military education courses designed to develop leadership abilities within the Canadian Forces ...
, one of the main officer training facilities of the Canadian Forces. In the 1950s, some of the neighbourhood's streets were destroyed due to the construction of Highway 401. One of the major streets in Toronto, Avenue Road, terminates at the Armour Heights neighbourhood at Bombay Avenue. There is an Avenue Road/401
Parclo A4 In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...
interchange just south of Bombay Avenue. The post-war years saw the steady development of the neighbourhood, and all the farmland was transformed into middle-class suburban housing by the beginning of the 1970s. It has become an important Jewish area of Toronto. It is just to the east of
Bathurst Manor Bathurst Manor is a neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in northern Toronto in the former suburb of North York. It sits on a plateau bounded on the north by Finch Avenue West, on the west by Dufferin Street, on the east by the Don R ...
, the most Jewish neighbourhood in Toronto. Bathurst Street is lined with a number of Jewish stores and restaurants, and synagogues such as Adath Israel. According to the 2001 census, 12% of the population is Jewish. An important landmark is Toronto's Holocaust Memorial, which is located just north of the community in Earl Bales Park.


Education

One
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, ...
operates schools in Armour Heights, the
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 ...
English
first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...
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). TDSB operates two
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 ...
s in the neighbourhood, Armour Heights Public School, and Summit Heights Public School. TDSB does not operate a
secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
in the neighbourhood, with TDSB secondary school students residing in Armour Heights attending institutions in adjacent neighbourhoods. In addition to TDSB, three other public school boards also offer schooling to residents of the neighbourhood, although they do not operate schools in Armour Heights. 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) is an English first language
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 ...
board, whereas
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), the
Conseil scolaire Viamonde The Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV) is a public-secular French first language school board, and manages elementary and secondary schools in the Ontario Peninsula and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The school board operates 41 elementary school ...
(CSV) are French first language school boards, the former being separate, the latter being secular. CSCM, CSV, and TCDSB students attend schools situated in other neighbourhoods in Toronto.


Recreation

Several municipal parks are situated in Armour Heights, 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 ...
. Armour Heights Community Centre, a local
community centre A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...
managed by the division, is situated along the southeast boundary of the neighbourhood. Green spaces in the area form a part of valley that surrounds the
Don River The 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 basin is betwee ...
. The valleys are a part of the
Toronto ravine system The Toronto ravine system is a distinctive feature of the city's geography, consisting of a network of deep ravines, which forms a large urban forest that runs through most of Toronto. The ravine system is the largest in any city in the world, ...
.


Transportation

Several major roadways pass through Armour Heights, including
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 ...
, a
controlled access highway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...
. The highway runs east-west, connecting the neighbourhood with the rest of
Greater Toronto The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the Toronto, City of Toronto and the regional municipality, regional municipalities of Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham, Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton, Regional ...
, and
southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a Region, primary region of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada, with approximately 13.5 million people, approximately 36% o ...
. Bathurst Street is a major thoroughfare, that also serves as the neighbourhood's western boundary. Another major thoroughfare,
Avenue Road Avenue Road may refer to: * Avenue Road, Bangalore, busy shopping and commercial street in Bangalore * Avenue Road, London, street in the Swiss Cottage and St John's Wood districts of London * Avenue Road tram stop, tram stop in the London Borough ...
, also ends within the neighbourhood. The city's main thoroughfare,
Yonge Street Yonge Street ( ') 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 Great Lakes#Geography, Upper Great Lakes. Ontario's first colonial administrator, ...
, is located east of the neighbourhood.
Public transportation Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...
in Armour Heights is served by the
Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the primary public transport agency in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operating the majority of the city's transit bus, bus and rail services. It is the oldest and largest of the urban transit service providers ...
(TTC) bus system. In addition to buses, the
Toronto subway The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The subway system is a rail network consisting of three heavy-capacity rai ...
may be accessed from
York Mills station York Mills is a subway station on Line 1 Yonge–University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 4015 Yonge Street at the intersection of Wilson Avenue and York Mills Road in the neighbourhood of Hoggs Hollow. History The station ope ...
, a subway station on Yonge Street.
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 regional commuter bus routes may also be accessed from
York Mills Bus Terminal York Mills GO Bus Terminal is located at 4023 Yonge Street, near the northeast corner of York Mills Road, in the North York area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The terminal mainly supports GO Transit's bus services east and west across the Highway ...
, which is situated in the adjacent neighbourhood, east of Yonge Street.


References


External links

{{authority control Neighbourhoods in Toronto North York Jewish communities in Canada