Armour Heights

Armour Heights
Neighbourhood
Homes in Armour Heights

Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
City	Toronto

Armour Heights is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the district of North York. It is bounded by Wilson Avenue to the south, Bathurst Street to the west, and the west branch of the Don River to the north and east. Highway 401 cuts through the centre of the neighbourhood.

Armour Heights is not considered a neighbourhood by the City of Toronto. Instead, it and nearby Lansing are grouped into one neighbourhood called Lansing-Westgate. However, the areas are colloquially referred to as Lansing and Armour Heights.

History

The area is named after John Armour, a farmer who was granted a concession to the area sometime before 1837. He sold the eastern part of his land to the Hogg brothers in the middle of the nineteenth century, and it later became Hogg's Hollow. The rest of his property remained in the Armour family until just before the First World War, when it was purchased by developer and speculator Colonel Frederick Burton Robins.^[1] Robins built a large estate for himself named Strathrobyn, but his development plans were put on hold by the war. He decided to loan out the lands to the military, and an air training facility was established. It mostly trained American pilots and among other figures saw Amelia Earhart work there.^[2]

After the war, the airfield became the base for Bishop-Barker Aeroplanes Limited, operated by war heroes Billy Bishop and William George Barker. It was at this site that Bishop had one of the most dangerous crashes of his career. The company folded in 1921 and the airfield was abandoned. Some development occurred during the 1920s, but the area was still too far from the centre of the city to attract many buyers.

The air force returned to the area in 1942, when it leased Strathrobyn as an officer's mess and training school. It remains in service today as the Canadian Forces College, one of the main officer training facilities of the Canadian Forces.

In the 1950s, some of the neighbourhood's streets were destroyed due to the construction of Highway 401. One of the major streets in Toronto, Avenue Road, terminates at the Armour Heights neighbourhood at Bombay Avenue. There is an Avenue Road/401 Parclo A4 interchange just south of Bombay Avenue.

The post-war years saw the steady development of the neighbourhood, and all the farmland was transformed into middle-class suburban housing by the beginning of the 1970s. It has become an important Jewish area of Toronto. It is just to the east of Bathurst Manor, the most Jewish neighbourhood in Toronto. Bathurst Street is lined with a number of Jewish stores and restaurants, and synagogues such as Adath Israel. According to the 2001 census, 12% of the population is Jewish^[3] An important landmark is Toronto's Holocaust Memorial, which is located just north of the community in Earl Bales Park.

References

Adjacent places of Armour Heights

Lansing

Wilson Heights

York Mills

Armour Heights

Ledbury Park, Bedford Park

Neighbourhoods in Toronto
Old Toronto	Alexandra Park Allenby 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 Old Town 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–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 City 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 The Elms Eringate – Centennial – West Deane Humber Heights – Westmount Humber Valley Village Islington–City Centre West Humberwood Kingsview Village The Kingsway Long Branch Markland Wood Mimico New Toronto Princess Gardens 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.

Coordinates: 43°44′35″N 79°25′44″W / 43.743°N 79.429°W / 43.743; -79.429

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