Baby Point is a residential 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. It is bounded on the west by the Humber River from south of Baby Point Crescent to St. Marks Road, east to Jane Street and Jane Street south to Raymond Avenue and Raymond Avenue west to the Humber. It is within the city-defined neighbourhood of 'Lambton-Baby Point'. Baby Point is within the proximity of Jane station. The neighbourhood was at one time an Iroquois village, called

Teiaiagon Teiaiagon, or Taiaiako'n, was an Iroquoian village on the east bank of the Humber River in what is now the York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was located along the Toronto Carrying-Place Trail. The site is near the current intersecti ...

. The village had a population of 5000 at its peak. In the 19th century, lawyer James Baby bought the land from the Upper Canada government, which had bought it as part of the

Toronto Purchase The Toronto Purchase was the sale of lands in the Toronto area from the Mississaugas of New Credit to the British crown. An initial, disputed, agreement was made in 1787, in exchange for various items. The agreement was revisited in 1805, int ...

. The land was developed into the current neighbourhood in the early 20th century as part of York Township. The name is pronounced by locals as "Bobby" or "Babby"to rhyme with tabby or cabbiein an approximation of how James Baby pronounced his surname.

History

The Baby Point enclave was originally a Seneca and Mohawk village, known as ''

''. The village was abandoned before 1700 after the

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, ...

drove out the Iroquois to lands south of Lake Ontario. For a short time, the Mississauga had a village at the site. TorontoBabyPointAerial

James Baby, pronounced 'Babby', was a member of a prominent

Franco-Ontarian Franco-Ontarians ( or if female, sometimes known as ''Ontarois'' and ''Ontaroises'') are Francophone Canadians that reside in the province of Ontario. Most are French Canadians from Ontario. In 2021, according to the Government of Ontario, ther ...

fur trading family and a former politician in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

. He settled at Baby Point in 1816, after discovering the abandoned village. A lush apple orchard covered the area and

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

swam in the Humber River making this a highly desirable area for settlement. Water from a fresh spring nearby was bottled and shipped worldwide. Many streets in this neighbourhood are named after Baby's family. His heirs lived at Baby Point until 1910, when the government acquired the land with the intention of establishing a military base and

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

at the site. The government eventually changed their plans and sold the land to a developer named Home Smith, who began developing a subdivision in 1912. Home Smith would later develop a residential area across the Humber, The Kingsway. The neighbourhood was part of the former

City of York The City of York, officially simply "York", is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. ...

before the

amalgamation of Toronto The amalgamation of Toronto was the creation of the city limits of Toronto, Ontario, Canada after amalgamation (politics), amalgamating, annexation, annexing, and merger (politics), merging with surrounding municipalities since the 18th century ...

in 1998. The area began as two independent municipalities. In 2010, local merchants formed the Baby Point Gates Business Improvement Area (a board under the City of Toronto) which runs along Jane St from Montye Ave in the north, to Lessard Ave in the south, and along Annette St from Jane St in the west, to Windermere Ave in the east. In July 2020 temporary plaques were placed on Baby Point Rd. and in front of the Baby Point Club informing the residents their neighbourhood is named in honour of an important local historical figure that fought to keep slavery and was a slave owner himself. It became a topic of social justice discussion on Twitter by local activists.

Character

Stone gates at the intersection of Jane Street and Baby Point Road mark the entrance to the Baby Point enclave. The gates were restored in 2011 by the Baby Point BIA. The homes are single-family detached. The average price of a home in the Baby Point area is valued at $2,400,800. Baby Point is situated on a peninsula of land—or a 'point' -- overlooking the Humber River. It is surrounded by ravines and parkland. The larger homes tend to back onto the Humber Valley ravine and are found along Baby Point Road and Baby Point Crescent, while the smaller homes are found near the Jane Street and Baby Point Road entrance. Most of the homes in the enclave were built in the 1920s and 1930s. In the center of the loop of Baby Point Road/Baby Point Crescent is the private Baby Point Club Park, used by the private Baby Point Club for tennis and lawn bowling.

Demographics

According to a 2019 statistics report, the Baby Point area had a population of 1,461 with a population density of 2,822 per square kilometre, 40% lower than Toronto as a whole. 79% of residents being married couples, 55% with children living at home, and the median age of the area resting at 41.2 years. Median earnings were at $160,206 per year, 110% higher than the national average. The unemployment rate is also 55% lower than the national average. Visible minority populations are lower than Toronto average with 3.6%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, 3.3%

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

, 2.8% Chinese. In 2016 Neighbourhood Profile, 69% of Lambton Baby Point residents had English as the Mother Tongue.

Notable residents

Conn Smythe Constantine Falkland Cary Smythe Military Cross, MC (; February 1, 1895 – November 18, 1980) was a Canadian businessman, soldier and sportsman in ice hockey and horse racing. He is best known as the principal owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs ...

- owner and manager of the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...

, and his family, were long-time residents of Baby Point Road. *

Raymond Souster Raymond Holmes Souster (January 15, 1921 – October 19, 2012) was a Canadian poet whose writing career spanned over 70 years. More than 50 volumes of his own poetry were published during his lifetime, and he edited or co-edited a dozen volumes ...

- Canadian poet (often described as Toronto's unofficial poet laureate), lived for many years on Baby Point Road.

References

External links