Newtonbrook 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. It is located in the area around

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, ...

and

Finch Avenue Finch Avenue is an arterial road, arterial thoroughfare that travels east–west in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The road continues west into the Regional Municipality of Peel as List of numbered roads in Peel Region, Regional Road 2 and east in ...

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 ...

between the east and west branches of the Don River. 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. 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 Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

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 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 area, ...

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 Work ...

and

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

. 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 , 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 ...

public school board that operates two secondary schools in the neighbourhood, Newtonbrook Secondary School and Drewry Secondary School. Both schools are part of the North York Board of Education. The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) is a separate public school board that also operates an all-boys 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 D ...

. 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 (formerly Lewis S. Beattie Secondary School). 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 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, but in the late 1960s, i ...

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

Steeles Avenue Steeles Avenue is an east–west street that stretches across the western and central Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Running from Appleby Line in Milton in the west to the Scarborough-Pickering Townline in the east, where it continue ...

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 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 ...

Transportation

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 the neighbourhood is also serviced 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 ...

'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 o ...

. 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 of 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 t ...

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

public transit 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 wh ...

services may also be accessed at Finch Bus Terminal, 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 ...

and

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

may also be accessed from the terminal.

Notable people

It is the birthplace and hometown of

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

winner and Canadian Prime Minister

Lester B. Pearson Lester Bowles Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian politician, diplomat, statesman, and scholar who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. He also served as Leader of the Liberal Party of C ...

. 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 Life 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