Mount Dennis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mount Dennis is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, bordered by the intersection of Jane Street and Weston Road to the north, and Black Creek to the east and south, as the creek curves parallel to Alliance Ave. before crossing under Jane Street on its way to drain into the Humber River, which creates a natural border to the west.
The area gets its name from the Dennis family, who owned the property at the turn of the 19th century, Loyalist shipbuilders who had a boatyard on the Humber. It was largely rural, with orchards, gravel and clay pits and a few market gardens until Kodak Canada moved its factory to a site at Eglinton Avenue and Weston Roads, along the rail line running next to Weston Road, during World War I.
The area became what urban geographer Richard Harris described as an "unplanned suburb" in his book, Unplanned Suburbs: Toronto's American Tragedy 1900 to 1950 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996). Workers at Kodak and the nearby stockyards once located at Weston Road and St. Clair Avenue, as well as CCM, Willys Overland and other factories north and south of Mount Dennis built their own homes before municipal services were in place, and small developers built "infill" homes, gradually filling the streets with the current housing stock of former cottages and small, fully detached homes, among the most affordable housing stock in Toronto for recent immigrants and first-time homeowners.
The neighbourhood is hilly, with an abundance of ravines, parks and rivers. Half of the people in this area live in high rise buildings which, though generally dilapidated, provide in many instances an excellent view of the surrounding natural beauty.
Although income levels are low, there is a fair share of ownership in the area due to relatively affordable housing. The area is a classic example of Toronto's diversity, with dozens of ethnic groups represented. With respect to religion, there is an above average number people from many faiths, including Christian (especially Roman Catholicism, Pentecostalism and Seventh Day Adventism), Muslim, and Buddhist. Among the languages spoken are Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. There is also a large Caribbean and West African population in Mount Dennis. (Source: Statistics Canada 2001 Census).
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
 |
This Toronto geographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
