Ledbury Park

Ledbury Park
Neighbourhood
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
City	Toronto

Ledbury Park is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the southern part of the North York area, just across the border from Midtown Toronto. Its boundaries are Avenue Road to the east, Lawrence Avenue to the south, Bathurst Street to the West, and Wilson Avenue and Highway 401 to the north.

History

The area was settled by farmers in the 19th century. In 1918, most of the land was owned by real estate developers, who began to sell lots on the site. Lawyer-developer and President of Melrose Realty Company Herbert Abraham Clark (and Melrose co-founder Sir William Mulock) named a number of the new streets, such as Marmion, Deloraine, Melrose and Falkirk, after the works of Sir Walter Scott.^[1] It was not until after the Second World War that most of the area was developed. The area was filled with small post-war bungalows and became a middle-class suburban area with easy access to Highway 401. The character of the neighbourhood began to change rapidly beginning in the 1990s. Ledbury Park is adjacent to Lawrence Park, one of Toronto's more upscale neighbourhoods. Ledbury Park began to be redeveloped in its image, as many of the 1950s bungalows were demolished and replaced with much larger based structures.^[2]

Parks and Schools

The park named "Ledbury Park" sits in the middle of the neighbourhood and contains a skating rink in winter and a swimming pool in the summer. Other parks in the area include Brookdale Park, Bedford Parkette, Woburn Park, Old Orchard Park, Grey Parkette and Bathurst-Wilson Parkette, which features a mural along the wall along Highway 401.

It also sits next to Ledbury Park Elementary and Middle School, which in 2013 placed 3rd overall among 2,000 private and public schools internationally and first in Canada in the International Math League competition.

Ledbury Park Elementary and Middle School is a large school that was originally meant to be a junior high school, but later turned into an Elementary and Middle School that houses Kindergarten to Grade 8. There are approximately 600 students every year across grades 1-8 and kindergarten.

Other schools in the area include St Margaret's Catholic School (an elementary school with the Toronto Catholic District School Board), Beth Jacob Private School (Jewish) and Bannockburn School, a Montesorri school.

Demographics

The western boundary of Ledbury Park along Bathurst Street is a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood as many moved from downtown Toronto after World War II.

References

Coordinates: 43°43′44″N 79°25′26″W / 43.729°N 79.424°W / 43.729; -79.424