Forest Hill | |
---|---|
Neighbourhood | |
Location within Toronto | |
Coordinates: 43°42′00″N 79°25′00″W / 43.70000°N 79.41667°WCoordinates: 43°42′00″N 79°25′00″W / 43.70000°N 79.41667°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | Ontario |
City | Toronto |
Incorporated | 1923 (Village) |
Changed Region | 1954 Metropolitan Toronto from York Township |
Annexed | 1967 into Toronto |
Forest Hill is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located north of downtown. The village was amalgamated into Toronto in 1967 and the area has retained its name as a neighbourhood. Along with other neighbourhoods such as The Kingsway, Rosedale, and The Bridle Path, it is one of Toronto’s wealthiest and most affluent neighbourhoods. It is home to many prominent Toronto business people, doctors, and lawyers. Census data from Statistics Canada states an average income for all private households in Forest Hill to be $101,631, compared to the $40,704 average income in Toronto's Census Metropolitan Area.
Forest Hill was originally incorporated as a village in 1923, and later annexed by the City of Toronto in 1967, along with the Village of Swansea. The village was named after the summer home of John Wickson; previously it had been known as Spadina Heights (a name that continued to be applied to the neighbourhood into the twentieth century). Spadina Heights is a derivative of the First Nations (namely Ojibwe) word ishapadenah, meaning a hill or sudden rise in land. Rather than electing a mayor as in a city, the leading municipal official was the reeve of the village.
In the late 1960s, the City of Toronto planned to construct a highway that would run from Highway 401 to downtown Toronto via the Cedarvale Ravine and Spadina Road. Forest Hill and the Annex would be bisected by the proposed route and numerous local houses would be sacrificed for the new expressway. This prompted local residents to rise to protest and raise the awareness of the greater public. The provincial government was forced to withdraw its support for the so-called Spadina Expressway in 1971.