Crescent Town is a neighbourhood in

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, Canada, in the former

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, 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 ...

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

. 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 ...

and Danforth Avenue. 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, Canada's first major industrialist, and uncle to actor Raymond Massey, purchased a country property centered on Dawes 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, 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.

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 ( ) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the Bay of Bengal, eponymous bay. Bangladeshi nationality law, Bangladeshi citizenship was fo ...

, Indian, Jamaican,

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

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 neighbourhood 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