East Danforth, also known as Danforth Village, is a neighbourhood in the east end of

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. It is located on the eastern part of

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 ...

in the old city of Toronto. It stretches from the eastern edge of

Greektown Greektown is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Greeks or people of Greek ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. History The oldest Greek dominated neighborhood outside of Greece were probably the Fener in Istanbu ...

Greenwood Avenue Roads and expressways in Chicago summarizes the main thoroughfares and the numbering system used in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Street layout Chicago's streets were laid out in a grid that grew from the city's original townsite plan pla ...

to the boundary of Scarborough at

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 ...

. The area is covered by two business improvement associations, Danforth Village and Danforth Mosaic. To the north of the neighbourhood is Old East York, once a separate municipality, but today closely integrated into the area. The southern border is the railway tracks, beyond which is

Leslieville Leslieville is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated east of the Don River. It is bounded by the Canadian National railway line and Gerrard Street to the north, McGee Street to the west, Eastern Avenue to south, and Coxwell Av ...

and the Upper Beaches. According to the 2006 census the area has a population of 14,629.

History

Northeast corner of Danforth Avenue and Greenwood Avenue

The area first appeared in the 19th century as the 'Coleman' postal village centered on the intersection of Danforth and Dawes (a street built through the lands of the local Taylor family) with a general store and inn. With the building of the railways in the mid-19th century the area acquired a train station, East Toronto. By the turn of the century the area was called "Little York" (an original name of Toronto) and became a part of the short-lived Town of East Toronto. The turn of the 20th century also brought the construction of the Prince Edward Viaduct connecting Bloor and Danforth, which encouraged the development of the Luttrell Loop on Danforth, and a streetcar terminus for the Bloor-Danforth, Gerrard and former Coxwell streetcar routes which connected to the old train station. The area developed from the 1910s thru the 1930s as a

streetcar suburb A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...

along the Danforth

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...

line. Most of the housing to the north and south of the street dates from this period. In 1966 the Bloor-Danforth subway line replaced the streetcar. The neighbourhood is served by six subway stations: Donlands, Greenwood, Coxwell, Woodbine, Main Street, and Victoria Park. In the 1960s and 1970s a number of apartment towers were built in the area, most notably the

Crescent Town Crescent Town is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the former borough of East York. It is located near Victoria Park Avenue and Danforth Avenue. It mainly consists of high-rise apartment complexes, built originally to take adv ...

area just north of Danforth at Victoria Park and the Main Square complex south of Danforth at Main Street. Most of the area remains low-rise, with low-end stores along Danforth and single-family homes to the north and south. At the far east of the neighborhood is the

Shoppers World Danforth Shoppers World Danforth is a hybrid shopping plaza and shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has 40 stores serving parts of East York, Scarborough and The Beaches, near the Victoria Park subway station. Today a moderately sized suburb ...

, a strip/shopping mall built in 1962 (revamped in the 1990s) and housed in a former munitions factory. The neighborhood is home to a large Muslim community. Under construction is the Madina Masjid, which will be one of the largest mosques in Toronto.

Education

* Earl Haig Public School is an Elementary-Middle School, which enrolls students from kindergarten to grade 8. * George Webster Public School is an Elementary-Middle School, which enrolls students from kindergarten to grade 8. * Secord Elementary School is an Elementary School, which enrolls students from kindergarten to grade 6. * Earl Beatty Public School is an Elementary-Middle School, which enrolls students from kindergarten to grade 8. * Gledhill Public School is an elementary school which enrolls students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6. * St. Brigid Catholic School is an elementary school offering classes from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8.

References

External links

Danforth Mosaic BIA

Danforth Village BIA
{{authority control Neighbourhoods in Toronto

History

Education

References

Further reading

External links