Moss Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Moss Park is a neighbourhood just east of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
According to the official city definition, the neighbourhood is bounded by Jarvis Street to the west, Carlton Street to the north, and Front Street and Eastern Avenue to the south. Parliament Street borders the eastern portion of Moss Park beginning at Carlton and going south to Queen Street where the neighbourhood continues east all the way to the Don River. More typically Torontonians refer to Moss Park as only comprising the large housing projects that exist between Parliament and Sherbourne south of Dundas. The rest of the area known to the city as Moss Park includes the neighbourhoods The Distillery District, the Garden District, and Corktown.
The area was originally the heart of Toronto's industrial area, home to large factories and the densely packed homes of the workers they employed. In the 1960s a large swath of these buildings were demolished to make way for the Moss Park public housing project, a group of three large towers at Queen and Parliament Street run by the Toronto Community Housing Corporation. After the deindustrialization of the 1970s almost all the factories left the area, and it became one of the poorest in the city. In recent years the area has seen rapid gentrification. Former industrial structures such as the Merchandise Building and factories of the Distillery District have become trendy lofts and fashionable shopping areas. The row houses of Corktown, like those of nearby Cabbagetown, have also largely been refurbished and are in great demand.
The area immediately around the housing complex remains quite poor, and this is the area today typically meant when referring to Moss Park. This neighbourhood is almost exclusively rented out, and houses many low-income families. According to Toronto Life "Moss Park has long had a reputation among Torontonians as a notoriously downtrodden and dangerous neighbourhood." It is home to several homeless shelters.
The northeast corner of Jarvis and Queen is occupied by Moss Park Armoury, which is used by several regiments of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve. These include the 25 Field Ambulance, the 48th Highlanders of Canada, the 7th Toronto Regiment Royal Canadian Artillery, and the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada. Several cadet units also use the facility.
