| 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 an established, affluent community in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the district of North York. It was originally called Lansing, which is now the name of a nearby neighbourhood.
Willowdale was originally a village centred at the intersection of Willowdale Avenue and Sheppard Avenue East , where a number of small business and commercial buildings still remain. 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 in recent years 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-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.
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Willowdale was originally settled by Jacob Cummer, 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 that this area was originally known as Kummer's Settlement.
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 were 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, circa 1851, is still standing in its original location at 5172 Yonge Street and is now a historic museum.
Home to 79,440 people, Willowdale is an ethnically diverse community, with 59% of all Willowdale residents being immigrants as of 2006. Major ethnic groups in Willowdale include: Chinese: 23.7%, Korean: 9.6%, and Jewish: 5.8%. While English is the mother tongue for 43.7% of the population, other languages with large numbers of speakers include: Chinese: 16%, Korean: 5.4%, and Russian: 5.1%.[1]
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 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, replaced him and completed the program. The Rev. King spent the rest of his ministry, twenty seven years, at WUC. After just over forty years of service, he retired—he prefers to say that he re-directed—to live in Thornhill to which he and his wife Jean (Turner) had moved in 1988.
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 life-long interest in bringing psychology, religion and health together, in 1973 he initiated the founding of the Family Life Foundation of Willowdale. It is a registered federal charity encouraging the development of healthy community and family life—including body, mind and spirit—regardless of race, creed or religion. Believing in re-directment and skilled in personal and family counseling, the Rev. King said that he would continue to volunteer his services to the FLF and the community—www.flfcanada.com—for the rest of his life on earth.
Willowdale is served by GO Transit bus routes, Toronto Transit Commission bus routes and subway lines, Viva (bus rapid transit), and York Region Transit.
Famous residents of Willowdale past and present include:
| Newtonbrook | ||||
| Branson Bathurst Heights |
Bayview Village | |||
| Willowdale | ||||
| Lansing, York Mills |