Fairbank, Toronto

Fairbank
Neighbourhood
View of Fairbank Memorial Park, looking south.
Vicinity
Location within Toronto
Coordinates: 43°41′44″N 79°27′00″W / 43.69556°N 79.45000°W / 43.69556; -79.45000Coordinates: 43°41′44″N 79°27′00″W / 43.69556°N 79.45000°W / 43.69556; -79.45000
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
City	Toronto
Community	York
Established	1891 (Postal village)
Changed Municipality	1998 Toronto from York

Fairbank is a working class area of the York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The area covers a large central portion of the former City of York, Ontario centered on the intersection of Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue West. Fairbank includes the neighbourhoods of Briar Hill-Belgravia (North of Eglinton Avenue West) and Caledonia-Fairbank (South of Eglinton Avenue West). The western border is the CNR lines. The northern and southern borders are the former borders of the City of York and the eastern border is Dufferin Street (Oakwood–Vaughan).

History

The area began as the Fairbank Postal Village at the intersection of Vaughan Road (an early settler's street crossing though farmland on the way to Vaughan Township) at Eglinton and Dufferin Street. The postal village name was derived from the Fairbank Farm owned by English settler Matthew Parsons (and named by his father-in-law Jacob Mackay).^[1]

St Hilda's Anglican church (St. Hilda's Retirement Residence, added in 1975) was built at the Fairbank intersection, although a cul-de-sac was later created at the northern end of Vaughan Road to simplify the Eglinton and Dufferin intersection when Eglinton Avenue began to develop as a commercial street with many mid-rise apartment buildings.

Character

The neighbourhood has many rolling hills and steep, climbing streets. To the west, Prospect Cemetery separates Fairbank from development along the railway. Most of the neighbourhood as it exists today was planned in the in interwar years (1920s & 1930s) with mostly small single family 2 and 1½ storey detached homes on north-south residential streets. The businesses along St. Clair Avenue to the south are organized into two BIAs: 'Corso Italia' and 'St. Clair Gardens'.

Districts

This neighbourhood contains several named areas.

Caledonia covers the area along Caledonia Rd west of Prospect Cemetery and east of the railroad tracks. For demographic purposes the city has titled this neighbourhood Caledonia-Fairbanks.
North Fairbank the area north of Eglinton and west of Dufferin
Belgravia the portion of the neighbourhood east of Dufferin, north of Eglinton, and south of the former Belt Line, where the tracks have been removed as part of the York Beltline Trail.
Briar Hill the area north of Belgravia and the Belt Line. Briar Hill and Belgravia are both modest areas with house values and average incomes in the lower quadrant compared with the Toronto average. The area's inhabitants are diverse; there is a very large Roman Catholic base, and Italian, Russian, and Portuguese are widely spoken as home languages. More than half of the immigrant population of Briar Hill-Belgravia arrived after 1981, with a majority of immigrants in 1996 and 2001 arriving from the Philippines, with Tagalog becoming a major immigrant language of the neighbourhood.
York-Eglinton is the Business Improvement Area Along Eglinton Ave East of Dufferin St and extends to Marlee Ave. while Fairbank Village BIA can be found west of Dufferin St. extending to Chamberlain Ave
Eglinton West a stretch of Multicultural retail stores and restaurants along Eglinton.

Transportation

The Toronto Transit Commission bus routes that serve this neighbourhood include the 29 Dufferin, 32 Eglinton West, 47 Lansdowne (along Caledonia Road), and the 109 Ranee (along Marlee Avenue) during regular hours, and for night service, 307 Eglinton West and 329 Dufferin. Though there are no subway stations within the neighbourhood, they are within walking distance from its boundary; the two nearest stations are Glencairn station and Eglinton West station.

Landmarks

Fairbank Memorial Community School,
FH Miller Junior Public School, and
The main park is the Fairbank Memorial Park.
Prospect Cemetery

Education

The Toronto District School Board operates public anglophone secular schools. The Toronto Catholic District School Board operates public anglophone Catholic schools. The Conseil scolaire Viamonde operates public secular Francophone schools serving the area. The Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud operates public Catholic Francophone schools serving the area.

Fairbank Public School, a TDSB school, is in the community
DB Hood Community School had been converted to a private Jewish school
The Lycée Français de Toronto, which is a private French language school), is in Fairbank

Demographics

According to the 2006 census, the majority of the neighbourhood's population is Roman Catholic (over 65%) and there are a large number of people who speak Portuguese and Italian.

References

↑ http://www.ontarioroots.com/content/04/04_02/article_002.html

External links

Glen Park

Silverthorn

Oakwood–Vaughan

Fairbank

Earlscourt

Corso Italia (Toronto)

Neighbourhoods in Toronto

Old Toronto	Alexandra Park The Annex The Beaches Bedford Park Bickford Park Bloor West Village Bloor Street Culture Corridor Bloordale Village Bracondale Hill Brockton Village Cabbagetown Carleton Village Casa Loma Chaplin Estates Chinatown Church and Wellesley CityPlace Corktown Corso Italia Davenport Davisville Village Deer Park Discovery District Distillery District Downtown Yonge Dovercourt Park Dufferin Grove Earlscourt East Bayfront District East Danforth East Toronto Entertainment District Fashion District Financial District Forest Hill Garden District Gerrard India Bazaar Grange Park Greektown Harbord Village Harbourfront High Park North The Junction Junction Triangle Kensington Market Koreatown Lawrence Park Leslieville Liberty Village Little Italy Little Portugal Lytton Park Midtown Moore Park Moss Park Niagara North Toronto Norway Palmerston Parkdale Playter Estates Port Lands Queen Street West Railway Lands Regent Park Riverdale Roncesvalles Rosedale Runnymede St. James Town St. Lawrence Seaton Village South Hill South Core Summerhill Swansea Toronto Islands Trefann Court Trinity–Bellwoods Upper Beaches Uptown Toronto The Ward West Don Lands (Canary District) Wychwood Park Yonge and Eglinton Yorkville

North York	Amesbury Armour Heights Bathurst Manor Bayview Village Bayview Woods – Steeles Bermondsey Bridle Path Clanton Park Don Mills Don Valley Village Downsview Flemingdon Park Glen Park Graydon Hall Henry Farm Hillcrest Village Hoggs Hollow Humber Summit Humbermede Jane and Finch Lansing Lawrence Heights Lawrence Manor Maple Leaf Newtonbrook North York Centre Parkway Forest Parkwoods Pelmo Park – Humberlea Pleasant View Victoria Village Westminster–Branson Willowdale York Mills York University Heights

Scarborough	Agincourt Armadale Bendale Birch Cliff Brown's Corners Clairlea Cliffcrest Cliffside Dorset Park Eglinton East Golden Mile Guildwood Highland Creek Ionview L'Amoreaux Malvern Maryvale Milliken Morningside Morningside Heights Oakridge Port Union Rouge Scarborough City Centre Scarborough Junction Scarborough Village Steeles Tam O'Shanter – Sullivan West Hill West Rouge Wexford Woburn

Etobicoke	Alderwood Clairville Eatonville Edenbridge–Humber Valley The Elms Eringate – Centennial – West Deane Humber Heights – Westmount Islington-City Centre West Humberwood Kingsview Village–The Westway The Kingsway Long Branch Markland Wood Mimico New Toronto Princess–Rosethorn Rexdale Richview The Queensway – Humber Bay Smithfield Thistletown

York	Baby Point Fairbank Humewood–Cedarvale Lambton Little Jamaica Mount Dennis Oakwood–Vaughan Old Mill Rockcliffe–Smythe Silverthorn Tichester Weston

East York	Bermondsey Crescent Town Governor's Bridge Leaside O'Connor–Parkview Old East York Pape Village Thorncliffe Park

Italics indicate neighbourhoods now defunct. For information on the evolution of each neighbourhood in general, see History of neighbourhoods in Toronto.