Willowdale, Toronto

This article is about the neighbourhood. For other uses, see Willowdale (disambiguation).
Willowdale
Neighbourhood

Typical houses in Willowdale. In the last decade many of the original ranch style bungalows have been demolished to build neo-eclectic structures such as these

Willowdale is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the district of North York. It developed from three postal villages: Newtonbrook, Willowdale and Lansing.

Willowdale began as a postal village (orig. Willow Dale) which covered the area from Finch Ave. at the north to Elmwood Ave at the south and Bathurst St. at the west to Bayview Ave. at the east. The postal village of Lansing was from Elmwood Ave. at the north to approx. Hwy. 401 at the south and Bathurst St. at the west to Bayview Ave. at the east. (East of Bayview Ave. was the postal village of Oriole.) The north-south centreline of Lansing & Willowdale was Yonge St. The postal village of Lansing remained in existence until the post office at Lansing corner (northwest corner of Yonge St. & Sheppard Ave.) was closed. When a new post office was built in Willowdale, the postal villages of Lansing and Willowdale were combined as the new postal village of Willowdale, within the Township of North York. Newtonbrook, originally Newton Brook, was also a postal village, located on Yonge St., north from Finch Ave. to Steeles Ave. The boundaries of the current neighbourhood extend as far east as Victoria Park Avenue, west to Bathurst Street, south to the 401 freeway, and north to Steeles Avenue. The neighbourhood abuts Bayview Village to the east and is considered to overlap Newtonbrook to the north. North York Centre is centred at the intersection of Yonge Street and Empress Avenue and is commonly thought to be a part of Willowdale, though its high-rise residential and commercial development sets it apart from much of the rest of Willowdale.

The Willowdale neighbourhood consists of single-family homes, condominium townhouses and high-rise condominium towers. High density development is restricted along Yonge Street. The single-family homes range in age from the original 1910 to 1950s construction (one- and two-storey pre-war houses and modest one-and-a-half-storey postwar houses). After the 1990s, very large replacement two-storey luxury homes were constructed by tearing down the original houses. It is in this neighbourhood that the term "monster homes" was first applied by Torontonians.

History

Willowdale was first settled by Jacob Cummer (Jacob Kummer), who immigrated to Canada from the United States in 1797. Cummer was a mill owner on the nearby Don River, a proprietor of a tinsmith shop on Yonge Street and a self-trained doctor and veterinarian. Cummer was held in such high esteem by his neighbours they called the area "Kummer's Settlement". Cummer Avenue is named for Cummer.

David Gibson, a distinguished land surveyor, was another leader in this community. Like most of his neighbours, Gibson participated in the ill-fated Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. He was thus charged with high treason and escaped to the United States, where he found employment as the First Assistant Engineer on the building of the Erie Canal.

Gibson returned to his Yonge Street farm in 1851, after being pardoned for his role in the Rebellion. He then helped to establish the "Willow Dale" post office, named after the many willow trees that once graced this district. Members of the Gibson family were still living in Gibson House in the 1920s when the residential subdivision of Willowdale began to take place.

The Gibson House, built in 1851 in the Georgian Rival style, still stands in its original location at 5172 Yonge Street, and is now a historic house museum.[1]

Willowdale United Church

The first church in Willowdale was called the Cummer Chapel, located at the northwest corner of what is now Yonge and Churchill. This log meeting house was built in 1816 by Jacob Cummer on part of his farm. He and other early members of the church are buried in the cemetery which remains on the site, now on the east side of Yonge Street. The Cummers, who were the first German loyalists and farmers from Pennsylvania, had Lutheran roots. However, they readily mixed in with and married people with Methodist and other roots. Thus the chapel was designated as non-denominational.

A large, yellow, brick and stucco church with a tall spire replaced the log building in 1856. It was called the Methodist Episcopal Church, and became part of the new United Church of Canada in 1925. Between 1931 and 1932, Yonge Street was widened and the front end of the church, facing west, was removed. The front door was relocated to the south side of the building.

Following World War II, many veterans and their families began to settle in Willowdale. In 1946, the Rev. Welburn Jones became the minister of Willowdale United Church (WUC) and initiated a building program. In 1954 a substantial building was built on nearby Kenneth Avenue. In 1966, his successor, the Rev. Lindsay G. King, completed the program. The Rev. King spent the rest of his ministry, 27 years, at WUC. While he was the minister of WUC, the Rev. King wrote a regular column for the community paper and he was frequently heard on radio and television, including the CTV and the CBC. Because of his lifelong interest in bringing psychology, religion and health together, in 1973 he initiated the founding of the Family Life Foundation (FLF) of Willowdale, a registered charity encouraging the development of healthy community and family life.

Demographics

Driving south on Yonge Street at Churchill Avenue
1976
2008

Population

Home to 79,440 people, Willowdale is an ethnically diverse community, with 66% of all Willowdale residents being immigrants as of 2011. Major ethnic groups in Willowdale include: Chinese: 17.3%, Korean: 8.0%, and Iranian: 7.8%.

While English is the mother tongue for 33.7% of the population, other languages with large numbers of speakers include: Chinese: 18.4%, Persian: 9.7%, and Korean: 9.2%.[2][3]

As of 2006, census tract 0300.00 in Willowdale was 82.15% Canadian citizens and 17.85% Non-Canadian citizens. By 2011, it changed to 76.89% Canadian citizens and 23.11% Non-Canadians. (Census 2006, Census 2011)

Amenities

Transport

Willowdale is served by GO Transit bus routes, Toronto Transit Commission bus routes and subway lines, Viva (bus rapid transit), and York Region Transit.

Buses

GO Transit

Toronto Transit Commission

Viva (bus rapid transit)

York Region Transit

[4]

Subway stations

Line 4 Sheppard

Line 1 Yonge–University

[5]

Notable residents

Famous residents of Willowdale include:

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=71d68d5c19c52410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD&vgnextchannel=a2dc2271635af310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD
  2. ↑ "Ward 23 Willowdale Profile" (PDF). City of Toronto. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ Toronto Transit Commission
  5. ↑ Toronto Transit Commission
 Newtonbrook
Branson
Bathurst Heights		 Bayview Village
   Willowdale  
Lansing, York Mills

Coordinates: 43°47′14″N 79°25′46″W / 43.78722°N 79.42944°W / 43.78722; -79.42944

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