Thorncliffe (Toronto)
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Thorncliffe Park 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 former Borough of East York. The City of Toronto recognizes Thorncliffe Park's boundaries as 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 ...
on the south side;
Leaside Bridge The Leaside Bridge, formerly the East York Leaside Viaduct, and officially commemorated as the Confederation Bridge, is a truss bridge that spans the Don River in the City of Toronto, Ontario. Carrying six lanes of Millwood Road, it was built to ...
, Millwood Road, and
Laird Drive Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gent ...
on the west side; the
West Don River The Don River is a watercourse in southern Ontario that empties into Lake Ontario, at Toronto Harbour. Its mouth was just east of the street grid of the town of York, Upper Canada, the municipality that evolved into Toronto, Ontario. The Don is o ...
on the east side; and
Eglinton Avenue East Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the western limits of Mississauga, as a ...
on the north side.


History

Thorncliffe Park is named for Thorn Cliff House, the first Toronto home of the industrious 19th century Taylor family. The house was located on 82 acres of farmland that British settler
John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar is the name of: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 * John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) ...
purchased in 1831 at the Forks of the Don Valley, in present-day
E.T. Seton Park E.T. Seton Park is a public park located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The main entrance is located at 73 Thorncliffe Park Drive, with an additional entrance via the entrance to Sunnybrook Park and Wilket Creek Park near the junction of Leslie St ...
. Thorn Cliff remained the family home until 1888 and was demolished in the 1940s. Taylor purchased the land from Samuel Sinclair. It was originally farmed by Parshall Terry, with settlement records for Thorncliffe Park going back to 1800, just seven years after the founding of the Town of York. With growing business interests in horse and cattle breeding, farming, lumbering, and milling throughout the mid-19th century, John Taylor’s sons increased the family’s land holdings to thousands of acres in the Don Valley and surrounding table lands. This included all the land between the future
Leslie Street Leslie Street is a north-south route in Toronto and York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is distinctive because of its four unconnected segments. History The road has a long history and dates back to 1850s Toronto Nursery that was run by Georg ...
and
Don Valley Parkway The Don Valley Parkway (DVP) is a municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which connects the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto with Highway 401. North of Highway 401, it continues as Highway 404. The parkway ru ...
, to a half mile north of
Eglinton Avenue East Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the western limits of Mississauga, as a ...
, including the future
Flemingdon Park Flemingdon Park (locally Flemo) is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the city's North York district. It is part of the Don Valley East federal and provincial electoral districts, and Ward 26: Don Valley East (South) municipa ...
. Six hundred acres of this land became known as Thorn Cliff Farm. By 1888, a prominent Toronto businessperson and Taylor son-in-law named Robert T. Davies had purchased 600 acres of land including the original family home, Thorn Cliff. Davies founded Thorncliffe Stock Farm, sometimes referred to as
Thorncliffe Stable Thorncliffe Stable is a defunct Thoroughbred and Standardbred horse racing and breeding operation established in 1888 in Toronto, Ontario by businessman Robert T. Davies. The stable was based at Davies' Thorn Cliff Farm in the Don River Valley in ...
, which became a world-famous facility for breeding Clydesdales, standardbreds, and the largest thoroughbred stable in Canada. Davies’s sons relocated the stables to
Thornhill, Ontario Thornhill is a suburban district in the Regional Municipality of York in Ontario, Canada. The western portion of Thornhill is within the City of Vaughan and its eastern portion is within the City of Markham, Ontario, Markham, with Yonge Street ...
after selling a significant portion of the farm in 1920 to American investors to operate a racetrack, doing business under the name Thorncliffe Park Racing and Breeding Association Ltd. The racetrack was home to
thoroughbred horse racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and Horse industry, industry involving the Horse racing, racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter know ...
and
harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australia ...
from 1917 until 1952 when it was sold for
real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parce ...
. Today, the old racetrack site is commemorated by two streets named Grandstand Place and Milepost Place and the number of buildings that took on racetrack stable names like Churchill, Maple Glen and Wellow Glen. The Thorncliffe Ski Jump, located west of the present day
Ontario Science Centre The Ontario Science Centre (OSC; originally the Centennial Museum of Science and Technology) is a science museum and organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its original location opened to the public in 1969 and was located near the D ...
, was opened by the Toronto Ski Club in January 1934 and operated until February 1941. Its last recorded event raised funds for the
Canadian Red Cross The Canadian Red Cross Society ()World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. In the 1950s, developers tore down the racetrack and created one of Toronto's first high-rise neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood embodies some standard
urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...
ideas of the era – high concentrations of similar housing types, strict separation of retail and residential development, and the assumption that everyone has a car. Low-rise buildings are clustered inside the enclosure created by Thorncliffe Park and Overlea, while high-rise buildings line the outside of Thorncliffe Park. Retail establishments were concentrated in a single shopping mall, now called the
East York Town Centre East York Town Centre is a neighbourhood shopping centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Overlea Boulevard in the Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood. History The shopping centre was opened to the public in 1960 as the Thorncliffe Market ...
, between the two arms of Thorncliffe Park Drive at Overlea Boulevard. Smaller retail and service plazas have recently opened along Overlea Boulevard. Many residents on Thorncliffe Park Drive are at considerable walking distance from shops, although this problem is mitigated somewhat, even in winter, by well kept sidewalks and walkways and by frequent bus service.


Street names

Some of Thorncliffe Park's street names commemorate a former racetrack located there, or recognize the Town of
Leaside Leaside (/'liːˌsaɪd/) is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located northeast of Downtown Toronto, in the vicinity of Eglinton Avenue East and Bayview Avenue. It is one of the most expensive and exclusive neighbourhoo ...
's role in the development of the new community. * Leaside Park Drive – named in 1966, six months before the Town of Leaside's amalgamation into the Borough of East York. * Beth Nealson Drive – named after
Beth Nealson Beth Nealson ( – 1994) was a Canadian politician, community planner, and journalist. She was elected mayor of Leaside, Ontario, in 1962, making her the first woman mayor in Metropolitan Toronto. Known as "Mrs. Leaside", Nealson was also the l ...
, the last mayor of the Town of Leaside. * William Morgan Drive – named for Leaside's reeve from 1948 to 1950. * Banigan Drive – named for an elected member of Town of Leaside's Council from 1951 to 1955. Banigan was defeated by Charles H. Hiscott in the 1955 election to replace retiring mayor Howard Burrell. * Pat Moore Drive – named for a Thorncliffe Park resident and community advocate. * Patriarch Bartholomew Way – recognizes the Toronto visit of the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians,
Bartholomew I of Constantinople Bartholomew (born Dimitrios Archontonis, 29 February 1940) is the current Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople since 1991. In accordance with his title, he is regarded as the ''primus inter pares'' (first among equals) in the Eastern Orthodox ...
.


Demographics

According to the 2016 Census, Thorncliffe Park has a population of 21,108, a 9.79% increase from 2011. The top 10 non-English mother tongues are
Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
(24.4%),
Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
(5.1%), Tagalog (Filipino) (4.7%),
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
(4.6%),
Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...
(4.1%),
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
(3.5%),
Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
(2%),
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
(1.5%),
Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...
(1.4%), and
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
(1.4%). According to the 2016 Census, Thorncliffe Park is an extremely diverse community, with the vast majority of its residents being
Visible minorities In Canada, a visible minority () is defined by the Government of Canada as "persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour". The term is used primarily as a demographic category by Statistics Canada ...
, with many being immigrants. Just under one-third, 32%, of Thorncliffe Park residents were born in Canada, and over 18% of Thorncliffe Park residents immigrated into Canada between 2011 and 2016.
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 ...
,
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...
and
Afghan Canadians Afghan Canadians are Canadians with ancestry from Afghanistan. They form the second largest Afghan community in North America after Afghan Americans. Their ethnic origin may come from any of the ethnic groups of Afghanistan, which include Pas ...
make up 21%, 17.6% and 8.8% of the neighbourhood's population, respectively. In 2016, 46.6% of residents identified as
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 ...
, 20.5% identified as White Canadian, 8.45% identified as
West Asian Canadians West Asian Canadians, officially known as West Central Asian and Middle Eastern Canadians are Canadians who were either born in or can trace their ancestry to West Asia and Central Asia. The term West Asian Canadian is a subgroup of Asian Canadian ...
, 7.1% identified as
Filipino Canadians The Filipino Canadians (); () are Canadians who have a Filipino descent or ethnicity. The Filipino Canadians is the second largest subgroup of the overseas Filipinos, surpassed only by the United States, and one of the fastest-growing minority ...
, 5.2% identified as
Black Canadians Black Canadians () are Canadians of full or partial Afro-Caribbean or sub-Saharan African descent. Black Canadian settlement and immigration patterns can be categorized into two distinct groups. The majority of Black Canadians are descendants ...
, 3.2% identified as
Arab Canadians Arab Canadians () come from all of the countries of the Arab world. According to the 2021 Census, there were 690,000 Canadians, or 1.9%, who claimed Arab ancestry. According to the 2011 census there were 380,620 Canadians who claimed full or p ...
, 2.04% identified as
Chinese Canadians Chinese Canadians are Canadians of full or partial Chinese people, Chinese ancestry, which includes both naturalized Chinese immigrants and Canadian-born Chinese. They comprise a subgroup of East Asian Canadians which is a further subgroup of ...
, 1.42% identified as
Latin American Canadians Latin American Canadians (; ; ), are Canadians who are descendants of people from countries of Latin America. The majority of Latin American Canadians are multilingual, primarily speaking Spanish, Portuguese, French and English. Most are f ...
and 0.6% identified as
Korean Canadians Korean Canadians () are Canadian citizens of full or partial Korean ancestry. As of 2016, Korean Canadians are the 8th largest group of Asian Canadians. Korean immigration to Canada began with seminary students in the 1940s and accelerated du ...
.


Infrastructure


Transportation


Public Transportation

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 ...
buses operate in the community. When the new
Line 5 Eglinton Line 5 Eglinton, also known as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT or the Crosstown, is a light rail transit line that is under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that will be part of the Toronto subway system. Owned by Metrolinx and operated by t ...
line opens, the 81 Thorncliffe Park and 88 South Leaside buses will connect to
Science Centre Station Don Valley (Science Centre during construction) is an underground light rail, light rail transit (LRT) station and mobility hub under construction on Line 5 Eglinton, a new line that is part of the Toronto subway system. It will be located in th ...
and Laird Station, respectively. Thorncliffe Park Station will be a new stop on the
Ontario Line The Ontario Line is a rapid transit line under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its northern terminus will be at Eglinton Avenue and Don Mills Road, at Don Valley station, where it will connect with Line 5 Eglinton. Its southern terminu ...
, expected to open in 2030.
Metrolinx Metrolinx is a transportation agency in Ontario, Canada. It is a Crown agency that manages and integrates road and public transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). It was created as the Greater Toronto Transportation Au ...
is also building a maintenance and storage facility in the neighbourhood. The project requires the relocation of culturally-significant amenities and services, resulting in community members calling for a redesign of the project locally.


Roads

The Overlea Bridge, formally known as the Charles H. Hiscott Bridge, was built in 1960 to cross the west branch of the Don River and connect Overlea Boulevard to Don Mills Road, linking Thorncliffe Park to
Flemingdon Park Flemingdon Park (locally Flemo) is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the city's North York district. It is part of the Don Valley East federal and provincial electoral districts, and Ward 26: Don Valley East (South) municipa ...
. The bridge was named for former mayor of
Leaside Leaside (/'liːˌsaɪd/) is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located northeast of Downtown Toronto, in the vicinity of Eglinton Avenue East and Bayview Avenue. It is one of the most expensive and exclusive neighbourhoo ...
Charles Henry Hiscott (1956 to 1961). Reconstruction is planned for the 2022-2025 period as part of the Renewing Overlea Boulevard project and will included widened sidewalks, the addition of cycle tracks and public art.


Education

Schools operated by 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 ...
in Thorncliffe Park include Thorncliffe Park Public School, Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy, Valley Park Middle School, and
Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, formerly known as Overlea Secondary School, is a high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada within the North York area, and part of the Toronto District School Board. Until 1998, this school was part of the East Yor ...
.


Recreation

Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation (PF&R) manages the Jenner Jean-Marie Community Centre and is responsible for the maintenance of R.V. Burgess Park, Leaside Park and Outdoor Pool, and
E.T. Seton Park E.T. Seton Park is a public park located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The main entrance is located at 73 Thorncliffe Park Drive, with an additional entrance via the entrance to Sunnybrook Park and Wilket Creek Park near the junction of Leslie St ...
, which is 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, ...
. The Thorncliffe branch of the
Toronto Public Library Toronto Public Library (TPL) is a public library system in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest public library system in Canada, and in 2023 had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other public library system internationally, making i ...
operates in the neighbourhood. Leaside Park is home to the Thorncliffe Park Tennis Club.


In culture

The neighbourhood has been depicted in the films ''
Arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...
'' and '' Concrete Valley''.


Notable people

*
Michael Bliss John William Michael Bliss (January 18, 1941 – May 18, 2017) was a Canadian historian and author. Though his early works focused on business and political history, he also wrote biographies of physicians Frederick Banting, William Osler and Har ...
, historian, author and Officer of the
Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...
. *
True Davidson Jean Gertrude "True" Davidson, Order of Canada, CM (19 April 1901 – 18 September 1978), was a Canadian politician, teacher, and writer. She was the first mayor of the Borough of East York, Ontario, and she was one of Metropolitan Toronto's most ...
, former mayor of East York. * William Dennison, former
mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the Municipal government of Toronto, municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; t ...
. *
Peter Lynch Peter Lynch (born January 19, 1944) is an American investor, mutual fund manager, author and philanthropist. As the manager of the Magellan Fund at Fidelity Investments between 1977 and 1990, Lynch averaged a 29.2% annual return, consistently m ...
, Canadian filmmaker. *
Robert Baird McClure Robert Baird "Bob" McClure OOnt FRCS (Edin.) FICS (November 23, 1900 – November 10, 1991) was a Canadian physician, medical missionary to China, Taiwan, Gaza, India, and Borneo, and was also the 23rd Moderator of the United Church of Can ...
, medical missionary and
Moderator of the United Church of Canada The Moderator of the United Church of Canada is the most senior elected official within the United Church of Canada. He or she may be a lay person or a member of the clergy, Order of Ministry and is elected to a three-year term by commissioners ...
. *
Beth Nealson Beth Nealson ( – 1994) was a Canadian politician, community planner, and journalist. She was elected mayor of Leaside, Ontario, in 1962, making her the first woman mayor in Metropolitan Toronto. Known as "Mrs. Leaside", Nealson was also the l ...
, former mayor of Leaside. *
Alan Redway Alan Redway, (March 11, 1935 – January 4, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. After a career in municipal politics culminating in the role of mayor of East York, a borough of Metropolitan Toronto, Redway entered federal politics. He ...
, former mayor of East York, and former Member of Parliament for
Don Valley East Don Valley East () is a former federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada that covers the northeast section of the North York part of Toronto. The federal riding was created in 1976 from parts of Willowdale, York East, York North, and Y ...
and York East.


References


External links


Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood profile data (City of Toronto)Tales from the towers
- a 10 Part series on Thorncliffe Park - Globe & Mail 2003
A food tour of Thorncliffe Park
- Toronto Star - Feb 27, 2008 {{authority control Neighbourhoods in Toronto Ethnic enclaves in Ontario