East of the Don River is the neighbourhood of Leslieville in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada area, where it is located. Its northern and western boundaries are the Canadian National railway line and Gerrard Street, while its southern and eastern boundaries are McGee Street, Eastern Avenue, and Coxwell Avenue. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Canadian National railway line and Gerrard Street.
This east-end neighborhood is a part of the larger neighborhood of South Riverdale, which encompasses the entire city of Toronto. When it was founded as a little village in the 1850s, it built up around the Toronto Nurseries, which were owned by George Leslie and his sons, and after whom the community was called. It is estimated that the majority of Leslieville’s population were gardeners or worked at one of the area’s brick-making industries. Leslie’s house on the corner of Queen and Leslie is no longer there, but the general store on Queen east of Jones Avenue still stands.
Alexander Muir, the writer of the song The Maple Leaf Forever, served as the first principal of the Leslieville Public School, which was one of the village’s first structures when it opened in 1898. Muir was inspired when a bright maple leaf from a Leslieville tree fell on his jacket and ignited his imagination. It was on July 19, 2013, that the tree fell, and just the trunk remains today in front of Maple Cottage at Maple Leaf Forever Park, where it was felled. Its descendants can still be found in the park behind the cottage, where they are growing.
It was once the site of light industry in South Riverdale, primarily along Eastern Avenue south of Queen St., which lasted for decades. A number of major enterprises, such as metal processing and tanning, left a legacy of contaminated land in Leslieville and South Riverdale, which was exacerbated by more industrial activity.
During a fire at the A.R. Clarke Tannery in 2000, the building went up in flames, burning for many days and spewing hazardous ash into the nearby neighborhood. In recent years, nearly all of these industrial zones have been decommissioned and are being redeveloped.
Leslieville was originally mostly populated by people who worked in the industries, and their departure has had a significant impact on the neighborhood. Because of the reduction in air pollution and pollutants, it has become significantly more appealing to members of the middle and creative classes..
Several industrial buildings in the immediate region, notably those along Carlaw Avenue to the north, have been converted into luxury apartments. The Cinevillage and Showline Studios film studios, as well as other large production facilities, have opened in some of the area’s former industrial sectors. The vast new Pinewood Toronto Studios complex has been constructed just to the south, in the Port Lands neighborhood.
Until it was raided and taken by authorities in 2007, a fortified facility along Eastern Avenue served as the Hells Angels’ major Toronto base. The vast Ashbridges Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is the largest in Canada, is located just to the southeast of the neighborhood.
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