Agincourt, Toronto
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Agincourt is a very diverse community in Scarborough, the eastern portion of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at and centred along Sheppard Avenue between Kennedy and Markham Roads (north-south includes lands between Highway 401 and Finch Avenue). It is sometimes tongue-in-cheek referred to as "Asian-court" by Torontonians due to the overwhelming Chinese and East Asian immigrant population residing there.
[edit] History
The village of Agincourt was officially founded with the establishment of the Agincourt post office, opened in June 1858 by John Hill. The name of the settlement was after Azincourt in northern France and was intended to satisfy a French Canadian Post Office Department bureaucrat who demanded that Hill give his settlement a French name. The original crossroads of Agincourt is located at Midland Avenue and Sheppard and served a rural agricultural population.
A Presbyterian church was built on the north-east corner, which is today's Knox United Church. In addition, a school was built, which has evolved over time into Agincourt Junior Public School (primary) and Agincourt Collegiate Institute (secondary, founded 1915), both part of the Toronto District School Board.
Two railway stations were constructed in the second half of the 19th century at Agincourt, one located just west of the original crossroads. This station, on the Canadian National Railways line heading north from the Scarborough Junction at the Toronto - Montréal mainline, greatly improved access. This line still exists today as a route on the Greater Toronto Area GO Transit commuter rail system, and the Agincourt Station carries many commuters on the Stouffville line. CP Rail runs diagonally through the area, and branches out east of the former village, to serve Peterborough, Ontario, and Montreal. CP built a marshalling yard between McCowan and Markham Roads in the 1960s.
[edit] Suburban Development post World War II and Agincourt Today
Suburban development began in the post World War II period and accelerated in the 1950s. Schools were expanded and modernized, and recreational facilities established in the core area. Gradually housing, commercial and industrial development expanded to fill all the remaining farmland. Most was completed by the 1980s, but it continued through the 1990s.
Starting in the 1980s, Agincourt saw the influx of large numbers of immigrants from east Asia, particularly Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as Vietnam. There were tensions as this migration began; however, the character of the community was revitalized and strengthened by the new members. Today, Agincourt has one of the largest Asian communities in Toronto, made visible by the signage of the numerous shopping malls and stores that can be found in the area.
