Crescent Town, Toronto

Crescent Town is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the former borough of East York. It is located near Victoria Park Avenue and Danforth Avenue. It mainly consists of high-rise apartment complexes, built originally to take advantage of the opening of the adjacent Victoria Park subway station, which connects to the central quadrangle via a partially covered walkway.

History

Crescent Town was founded in 1887 when Walter Massey, the son of Hart Massey, Canada's first major industrialist, purchased a 240 acre (1 km²) country property centered around Dawes Road and Victoria Park Avenue. The Massey farm was named Dentonia after Mrs. Massey's family whose surname was Denton. The Massey farm sold fresh eggs and poultry as well as fresh trout which was caught in the many streams and rivulets that criss-crossed the farm. The Massey farm was also the home of the City Dairy Company which produced the first pasteurized milk in Canada.

In 1933, Susan Massey generously gave 40 acres (160,000 m²) of Dentonia to Crescent School where her grandsons were educated. Crescent School operated at Dentonia until 1969 when this property was sold to the developers who built the present day Crescent Town neighbourhood.

Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland of the television series "24" was among the first Crescent Town residents. He spent part of his childhood in Crescent Town and attended the Crescent Town Elementary School, where he first met the current Mayor of Toronto, David Miller. ref|Keif

Current Status

It is a multicultural neighborhood, whose population includes extensive numbers of Jamaican, Pakistani, Tamil and Bengali Canadians.

References

#Note|Keif http://www.torontoneighbourhoods.net/regions/eastyork/62.html