Scarborough forms the eastern part of the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was formerly a separate city, and prior to that a borough and township, but has been part of the 'East District' since it was amalgamated with the old city of Toronto and four other municipalities in 1998. It retains its original name for most local residents, and is recognized by Canada Post as a municipality name. Its borders are Victoria Park Ave. to the west, the Rouge River, the Little Rouge Creek and the Scarborough-Pickering Townline to the east, Steeles Ave. E. to the north, and Lake Ontario to the south.
History
Scarborough was incorporated as a township on 1 January 1850[1] and included as a municipality within Metropolitan Toronto when it was formed on 15 April 1953. It was then incorporated as a borough within Metropolitan Toronto on 1 January 1967, and later incorporated as a city within it in 1983. It was amalgamated into the City of Toronto ("megacity") on 1 January 1998, losing its separate legal identity.
It was named after Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England by Elizabeth Simcoe, the wife of John Graves Simcoe, the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada. The bluffs along Scarborough's Lake Ontario shores reminded her of the limestone cliffs in Scarborough, England. In her diary, she wrote, "The [eastern] shore is extremely bold, and has the appearance of chalk cliffs, but I believe they are only white sand. They appeared so well that we talked of building a summer residence there and calling it Scarborough."[1]
Much of the area of Scarborough was settled by suburban housing developments in the last third of the 20th century. Except for a few small villages that existed, the older section is in the southwest along the Kingston Rd. and Danforth Rd. corridors where the housing stock was built beginning in the late 19th century as Toronto grew outward. New low-rise condominium development has extended into this area which borders the growing, trendy strip along Queen St. known as The Beaches or simply The Beach. At the start of the 21st century growth occurred along the 401 corridor at the northern end of the Scarborough RT; several highrise condominium projects increased the residential density around Scarborough Centre.
Demographics
In 2001, Scarborough's population was 593,297, with a density of 3,160.9/km². A significant portion of Scarborough's population is composed of immigrants who have arrived in the last four decades.. Chinese residents make up 17.73% of the population, South Asian Residents account for 17.76% of the population. Caribbean and African-Canadian residents make up 10.09% of the visible minority population, while Filipino Canadian residents account for 5%. The remaining visible minority groups are all below 2%.
The immigrant population has created vibrant multicultural locales in various areas of Scarborough. One of the more notable among these is the heavy concentration of Chinese businesses and restaurants in the Agincourt neighbourhood.
Segments along Kingston Rd., Eglinton Ave. E., and Lawrence Ave. E., features Carribean, Chinese and Halal restaurants and shops among others. Scarborough also encompasses Malvern, Ontario, one of the most multicultural neighbourhoods in the world. Fifty-four percent of residents are foreign born[2].
A study based on census data between 1996 and 2001 shows that Scarborough's growth rate was more than 6%, the highest growth in Toronto. Its population is second to North York, but if this trend continues it should be the most populated municipality in Toronto by 2010. [3]
Geography
Scarborough is home to an earthen cliff formation known as the Scarborough Bluffs. These can be found along the shore of Lake Ontario, stretching about 14 km, and reaching heights of more than 60 m in places. The Bluffs are part of a much larger formation known as the Iroquois Shoreline. Most of this formation is located somewhat further inland, and not right at the lakeshore as in this area of Scarborough. The Iroquois Shoreline marks the extent of a prehistoric lake, Glacial Lake Iroquois, whose level was quite a bit higher than present-day Lake Ontario's. It shrank in size at the close of the last ice age.
Erosion has been a problem along the Scarborough Bluffs. Some properties located near the brink have actually had to be abandoned, and some houses condemned, as the brink wears back away from the lake. The erosion process was accelerated by the 19th century ship-based removal of aggregates (stone-hooking) from the beaches at the base of the bluffs for construction in Toronto. The removal of this material allowed wave action to directly scour the base of the bluffs in many sections. Since the 1980s, large areas of beach at the base of the bluffs have been reinforced with limestone breakwaters and contruction rubble infilling.
Scarborough is also notable for the Rouge River Valley, an area where many parts of which are still in a wild state, and are mostly wooded. The Valley is home to a great variety of wildlife including deer, foxes, and the occasional coyote. In the mid-1990s, there were several unconfirmed sightings of a cougar in the Rouge Valley. One witness even produced a videotape purportedly showing it.
Highland Creek is a significant river affecting Scarborough's geography. It runs from the north-west to the south-east across Scarborough. Some sections of the river run through parks and remain in a fairly natural state, while other parts run through industrial or residential districts where the flow is often diverted or channelled. The deep valley the creek cuts in its bottom sections, with little or no development taking place within the valley.
Scarborough's coordinates are roughly 43.78° N, 79.25° W.
Transportation
Scarborough is the home of Ontario's only elevated rapid transit line, the Scarborough RT. The RT was built in 1985. It runs from Kennedy subway station to McCowan Avenue, just east of the Scarborough Town Centre. There are 6 stations along the RT route. The RT is nearing the end of its life and the city is reviewing a number of replacement options, including turning it into a streetcar route.
The only major freeway in Scarborough is Highway 401. The highway runs east-west across the middle of Scarborough, with six to eight lanes in each direction. The short, minor freeway Highway 2A is also located in the east end of Scarborough.
The arterial roads of Scarborough are generally aligned either north-south or east-west, with Kingston Road and Danforth Road the only significant exceptions to this, running southwest-northeast across the south end of Scarborough. From north to south, the major east-west arterial roads are Steeles Avenue, Finch Avenue, Sheppard Avenue, Ellesmere Road, Lawrence Avenue, Eglinton Avenue and St. Clair Avenue. From east to west, the major north-south arterial roads are Victoria Park Avenue, Warden Avenue, Kennedy Road, Brimley Road, McCowan Road, Markham Road, Neilson Road, Morningside Avenue, Meadowvale Road and Port Union Road.
Culture
Scarborough residents have developed their own unique sense of humour as evidenced by Mike Myers (Wayne's World, Austin Powers), Eric McCormack (Will & Grace), John Candy (Second City, SCTV) the musical group Barenaked Ladies, and pop teen princess Fefe Dobson. Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Truman Show) also lived in Scarborough during his teen years.
Scarborough Town Centre, the former city's biggest commercial and entertainment hub, is located adjacent to the Scarborough Civic Centre, near McCowan road and Highway 401. It is serviced by the rapid transit station Scarborough Centre. This area was developed as a city centre under the old city of Scarborough government.
In 1974, the Toronto Zoo was moved from its original downtown ___location to its current ___location in the Rouge River valley. The new ___location increased the area occupied by the zoo from 3 hectares to over 300 hectares.
On May 17, 2006, The Scarborough Walk of Fame was created at the Scarborough Town Centre to honour notable residents, past and current. The inaugural inductees include NBA player Jamaal Magloire, Olympic gold medallist Vicky Sunohara as well as 8 other prominent residents contributing to advances in medicine, arts, and community.[4]
Nike Malvern Sports Complex
On May 17, 2006, a new sports complex opened up in the Malvern neighbourhood. Nike Canada donated $500,000 to build the complex, which includes a basketball court, a practice soccer pitch, and a running track. The track was constructed from 50,000 used running shoes. The complex was built on the grounds of the Blessed Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School, but is open to the public. Olympic hurdler Perdita Felicien was on hand to encourage youth to participate in sports.[5]
Educational institutions
Scarborough's oldest school is thought to be R.H. King Academy[citation needed] which was built in 1922, but is actually Agincourt Collegiate Institute, built in 1915, It was previously Agincourt Junior Public School.
Secondary schools
- Agincourt Collegiate Institute
- Cardinal Newman Catholic Secondary School
- David and Mary Thomson Collegiate Institute
- Francis Libermann Catholic High School
- Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School
- Pope John Paul II Catholic Secondary School
- Woburn Collegiate Institute
Post-secondary schools
Nicknames
Scarborough has acquired several nicknames, second only to the nickname list for Toronto. The most popular is Scarberia, a portmanteau of Scarborough and Siberia, a reference to its seemingly distant ___location to downtown Toronto residents. Depending on who you talk to being called a Scarberian can be a badge of honour or an insult.
Scarborough has also acquired a number of nicknames related to the diversity of the area. Such nicknames are typically a combination using the prefix 'Scar' and a suffix derived from the name of a region, nation, or ethnicity. The most widely recognised is Scarlem[6][7], which alludes to Harlem. Some people find such nicknames offensive or racist.
Notable residents and ex-residents
- Barenaked Ladies, a popular alternative rock band.
- Paul Bernardo, a notorious criminal convicted of murder and sex crimes.
- Jim Carrey, a well-known comedic actor.
- Marilyn Denis, a television/radio personality for CityTV (CityLine)/CHUM-FM (Roger, Rick and Marilyn)
- Andy Donato, editorial cartoonist for the Toronto Sun newspaper.
- Melyssa Ford, model.
- David Furnish, filmmaker and civil partner of Elton John.
- Bill Hastings, Chief Censor of New Zealand.
- Omar Khadr, teenage detainee at American military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
- Maestro, rapper and actor.
- Jamaal Magloire, NBA basketball player.
- Eric McCormack, actor.
- Mike Myers, a comedian known for his portrayal of Austin Powers.
- Alan Park, a comedian who starred in Royal Canadian Air Farce.
- Craig Russell, female impersonator.
- Monika Schnarre, a fashion supermodel.
- Rick Tocchet, NHL hockey player.
- Paul Tracy, race car driver.
Scarborough in the news
The neutrality of this section is disputed. |
Crime
On May 6, 2006, the Globe and Mail reported that the police had uncovered 400 marijuana grow-ops in Scarborough over the past two years. Indoor grow operations are rapidly increasing, replacing the much riskier cross-border smuggling operations. Scarborough is a target for these setups because it has a significant number of large modern homes that have attached garages allowing for inconspicuous access. Houses used for these operations often need costly repairs to restore them to livable conditions. [8]
Scarborough experienced a drop in its murder rate in 2005. Out of 78 murders in Toronto in 2005, 14 were recorded in Scarborough (or 18% of the total), which houses almost 24% of the Toronto's population. So far in 2006, there has been 25 murders of which 5 have been recorded in Scarborough, equalling to 20% of Toronto's murders. (Updated (2) May 29, 2006) [2]
See also
References
- ^ Carter, Chris. "A holiday with history". toronto.com. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
- ^ "2001 Census Data for Scarborough".
- ^ Dragicevic, Nina (2006-02-23). "Condo community taps into Scarborough's growth". Metro. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Ferenc, Leslie (2006-05-18). "Scarborough stars shine on Walk of Fame". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Christie, James (2006-05-18). "Malvern complex aimed at youth". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Brown, Maureen (2003-03-31). "Growing up black in Oakville" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-06-15.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Street talk; [Ontario Edition]". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
- ^ Cheney, Peter (2006-05-06). "Spot the grow-op". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
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Further reading
- A History of Scarborough, Robert Bonis, 1968