Leslieville

The Origins and Development of Leslieville

The Leslieville neighbourhood began as a small village, back in the 1850’s. Most of the village’s residence were market gardeners or were employed at one of the multiple brick making companies, that used to construct during the initial creation of the neighbourhood.

A Leslieville Street View

Leslieville was built around the Toronto nurseries owned by George Leslie, and this is how the neighbourhood received it’s name. In 1863, the Leslieville Public School was built, providing residence with local education.

Today, the Leslieville neighbourhood is quickly becoming known as one of Toronto’s hippest new neighbourhoods, and is the headquarters of Toronto’s film industry. The residents have a sense of pride in their neighbourhood. Evidenced of this includes: the historic street signs, and family run businesses.

The Leslieville neighbourhood still feels a bit like a small village, with its cozy houses, quaint stores, and tree lined streets. It provides residence, as well as visitors with a sense of peace, especially considering the neighbourhood’s close proximity to downtown Toronto.

Leslieville offers two different generations of houses, they’re both unique in their own way:

1. The older houses in the neighbourhood were built in the late 1800’s. They include an interesting mix of architecturally built Ontario Cottages, Second Empire row houses, and Victorian houses.

2. The newer generation of houses were built in the early 1900’s. This area includes: modest detached, and semi-detached houses, as well a                   large number of bungalows.

A Leslieville Estate

You can find the neighbourhoods shopping district on Queen Street. The shopping district consists of: unique old diners, hardware stores, popular restaurants, shops, galleries, antique stores, and bakeries.

There’s plenty of green space around Leslieville. The waterfront is nearby, as are numerous parks including Greenwood Park, with its artificial ice rink, pool, playground, and three baseball diamonds. Another large park that’s nearby is Ashbridges Bay Park. The park hosts some of Toronto’s best summer activities, featuring: volleyball, an Olympic pool, restaurant, pub, and other facilities.

The neighbourhood provides it’s residence with plenty of education opportunities, for children, teens, and adults. Children can stay really close to home at Leslieville Jr. School. Teenagers, and adults may have to travel a little further, but can find schools within 5 minutes of Leslieville. There’s also three local public libraries, that are ready to help out with your studies.

The Cn Tower, as seen from Leslieville

Public transit offers the Leslieville neighbourhood access to anywhere they need to be in Toronto, quickly, and easily. It only takes minutes to get to downtown from Leslieville!

Other East Toronto Neighbourhoods: Beach –Leslieville – Riverdale