Deer Park
Boundaries
Deer Park is a neighbourhood tucked away in the Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue area. It is bounded the Vale of Avoca in the east, Farnham Avenue in the south, Avenue Road in the west, the Belt Line trail to the north on the west side of Yonge, and Glen Elm Avenue on the east side of Yonge.
History
Around early 19th century the Heath family bought a large piece of land on the northwest corner of Yong and St. Clair. By the mid nineteenth century, a racetrack, a school and a hotel were built in the area. The Heath family regularly fed the deer that would roam their property, hence the name of the neighbourhood.
Upper Canada College was built in the neighbourhood in the late nineteenth century. It still stands in the same location today. Its location is unique in the fact that it was allowed to interrupt a major road.
The city annexed this area in the early 20th century. Then twenty years later it was transformed into the upper class neighbourhood which it remains today.
Neighbourhood Characteristics
Today, it serves up the unique blend of the natural and the urban. An interesting place to visit when in the area is the famous building on Heath Street, numbered 42. In the 1950’s this building was the site of the arrest of on Edwin Boyd, leader of a notorious gang who robbed banks. The Toronto police force worked overtime on that March morning and after a long stakeout they captured Boyd.
