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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 municipal 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 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 * 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."

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 Caribbean, 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.

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.

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 construction 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.

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 (Ace Ventura, Dumb and Dumber) 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, Albert Campbell Square, Consilium Place and the Canada Centre Building, 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.

On May 17, 2006, the Nike Malvern Sports Complex was opened 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.

Transportation

Scarborough is the home of Ontario's first 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 RT forms part of the public transit run by the Toronto Transit Commission, which also runs extensive bus routes, and three subway stations which are continuous with those across the rest of Toronto.

The GO Transit authority has two major commuter train lines through Scarborough. The Lakeshore East line runs across the south end of the city, while the Stouffville Line runs in a more north-south fashion in the centre of Scarborough. GO Transit also has a few bus stations and stops in Scarborough which provide connections out of Scarborough. A small amount of Greyhound Bus service is also available in Scarborough, however many destinations are not served and can only be reached through the Toronto Bus Terminal located downtown.

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 west to east, the major north-south arterial roads are Victoria Park Avenue, Warden Avenue, Birchmount Road, Kennedy Road, Brimley Road, McCowan Road, Markham Road, Neilson Road, Morningside Avenue, Meadowvale Road and Port Union Road.

Educational institutions

Both Agincourt Collegiate Institute and R.H. King Academy claim to be the oldest secondary school in Scarborough. Agincourt Collegiate Institute opened in 1915 as the Agincourt Continuation School. It became a high school in 1954. R.H. King Academy opened in 1922 as the Scarborough High School and became a collegiate in 1930.

Secondary schools

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, which alludes to Harlem. Some people find such nicknames offensive or racist.

Notable residents and ex-residents

See also

References

Further reading

  • A History of Scarborough, Robert Bonis, 1968

External links

Toronto neighbourhoods | Metro Toronto

Scarborough (Ontário)

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Scarborough, Ontario".

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