Bathurst Manor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bathurst Manor is a neighbourhood in north-central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in the electoral district of York Centre, it sits on a plateau created by the Don River, and is bounded by Dufferin St. and the Allen Road to the west, and follows the Don River (west branch) primarily south-east, from Finch Avenue to Sheppard Avenue. It is central to a number of neighborhoods that straddle the heavily Jewish-populated Bathurst Street corridor.
It is a suburban community of bungalows and side-split single-family homes built in the late 1950s to early 1960s. Most of the population was originally Jewish, and several sizeable synagogue congregations are located in the neighbourhood. In the last twenty years, there has also been a substantial influx of Italian families into the neighbourhood; and lately, a significant Filipino population has emerged.
Skiing was popular during the 1950s at a ski hill located adjacent to what is now Blue Forest Drive. The valley below, now a part of the Forest Valley Outdoor Education Centre, was the site of Bathurst Manor Day Camp (which later changed its name to Forest Valley Day Camp), beginning in the summer of 1956. At its peak, it was the largest privately owned summer daycamp in Canada (with over 900 campers), and operated through 1993. This space, which the Toronto District School Board uses during the school-year to educate upwards of 21,000 students per year, once again plays host to a summer camp, as, beginning in 1998, the Toronto Parks and Recreation-operated Camp NAORCA moved there from its previous location at Seneca College, King Campus.
The community is home for the Canadian headquarters of B'nai Brith, the Bathurst Jewish Community Centre, and the Lipa Green Building for Jewish Community Services.
In 1997, the Toronto Transit Commission extended subway service to the area with the opening of the Downsview Station, at Allen Road and Sheppard Avenue, allowing an efficient thirty minute train to Union Station (Toronto) at the southern cusp of downtown Toronto.
The area is also regarded as part of the Downsview postal area as designated by Canada Post. It is part of the former City of North York, which merged with five other municipalities and a regional government to form the new "City of Toronto" in 1998.
[edit] Stores
The major shopping centre, Sheppard Plaza, is located at the intersection of Sheppard Avenue and Bathurst Street, across from half a dozen high-rise apartment buildings. It is anchored by one of the larger Dominion Save-a-Centre supermarkets in the city. (The store was formerly a Miracle Mart; before that it was a Steinberg's.) There is also a smaller shopping centre, Wilmington Plaza, nestled deep within the neighborhood at the intersection of Wilmington and Overbrook. The latter plaza, which has been in decline since the early '90s closure (and 2004 demolition) of its anchor Sunnybrook produce store, nonetheless features a popular King David kosher pizzeria, and Toronto's only kosher Country Style coffee shop. The latter two stores share a building that previously housed a Pioneer gas station, which closed in the late-1990s. Wilmington Plaza is now slated for redevelopment, with plans for low-rise condominiums and a drive-thru restaurant.
[edit] Schools
There are three Toronto District School Board schools:
- Wilmington Elementary School, an elementary school.
- Charles H Best Middle School, a middle school named after Charles Best.
- William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate, a high school named after Toronto's first mayor, William Lyon Mackenzie, who was forced to flee to Buffalo, New York, after attempting to lead an 1837 rebellion against the upper classes in British North America.
The Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto (CHAT)'s Tanenbaum Campus, a private Jewish high school, is also located in the neighborhood (across the street from Wilmington plaza), on the former site of the Wilmington Public School.
There are no Toronto Catholic District School Board schools located in Bathurst Manor.
[edit] External links
- Bathurst Manor Community Interactive Website
- Bathurst Manor neighbourhood profile at the City of Toronto website
- Jewish Information Service Bathurst Manor Neighbourhood Profile
- Forest Valley Outdoor Education Centre
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