Ward 33 spans the area of Toronto known as the Don Valley Village and is bordered by Leslie Street to the West, Victoria Park to the East, Finch to the North and Highway 401 to the South. This vibrant and diverse neighbourhood is home to over 57,000 people.
Our neighbourhood was largely developed during the 1960s and 1970s. Prior to this, in the 19th century, the area that makes up Ward 33 was comprised of farming hamlets. In fact, we still have three historical landmarks in ward 33 that exist from that time period: the Alexander Muirhead Victorian Farmhouse, circa 1853 and located at 179 Old Sheppard Avenue, the Zion Schoolhouse, circa 1869 and located at 1091 Finch Avenue East and the Zion Primitive Methodist Church, circa 1873 and located at 1650 Finch Avenue East. All of these make fantastic family day-trip spots!
Ward 33 is a great representation of the diversity that characterizes our City. You can see this in both the people that live here as well as the architecture. The Don Valley Village has become home for many new Canadian immigrants, including those of Chinese, Armenian, West Indian, East Indian and Middle Eastern decent. This area contains low- to middle-income housing, which consists of high-rise apartment and condominium buildings, split level homes, semi-detached homes, row houses and detached houses featuring Georgian, Tudor and contemporary architectural features.
Geographically, Ward 33 is extremely well-connected to the rest of the city. Close by is the crossroads of two major freeways (Highway 401 and Highway 404/Don Valley Parkway). As well, two subways stations, Don Mills and Leslie, bring rapid transit to the doorstep of our community. The Toronto Transit Commission’s Transit City Plan will also provide for the addition of new light rail lines on Sheppard Avenue East and Don Mills Road, increasing rapid and reliable transit options in our neighbourhood.
The Peanut
On any map of the City of Toronto, the famous Peanut can be seen. In the early sixties, Don Mills Road was designed to incorporate a major North/South traffic corridor within a high density residential neighbourhood. At the time, there were no immediate plans to extend the brand new Don Valley Parkway beyond its connection with Highway 401.
In a bold approach to high density residential neighbourhoods which was being experimented with around the world in paces like London, England and Moscow, the road was divided to include a giant peanut-shaped landmass. The rationale was that noise and other impacts from the road would be spread out and minimized for the new residents if the six lengths were split apart. Access roads into each of the subdivisions could also be achieved with a minimum number of signal lights if the landmass served as a massive traffic circle allowing right turns all around it.
Although the neighbourhood began life as the Oriole Heights community, the plaza at the north end of the peanut shaped landmass was named ‘The Peanut Plaza’. As children often do, they extended the name Peanut to the whole neighbourhood and the community nickname was born. As a little girl moving to the neighbourhood in 1967, I never realized that any other name had ever been intended for the area. My sisters and I would wonder why the arena in the Peanut was called Oriole arena.
Along with the arena and the Peanut Plaza, the central landmass includes a high school with a pool, a junior high school, an arena and community recreation centre, an outdoor swimming pool, a tennis club and of course, the Advent Lutheran church. All of these amenities were designed to serve the 17 apartment buildings and 4 townhouse complexes that immediately surround them as well as the lower density subdivisions beyond.
Thousands of Torontonians call the Peanut their first home upon arriving in Canada. During the eighties, many Tamil speaking families and many more families from Iran arrived in the area. They created a number of vibrant community organizations that thrive to this day.
