Thistletown is a culturally diverse neighbourhood in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Thistletown is also a part of the Rexdale

Rexdale

Rexdale is a neighbourhood located in the north-west corner of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It covers the northern section of Etobicoke, which was an independent city until it merged with five other municipalities and a regional government to form the new City of Toronto in 1998. Rexdale was named...

 community in the northern part of Etobicoke. It consists of the area surrounding the intersection of Albion Road and Islington Avenue in the former City of Etobicoke. (Etobicoke merged with five other municipalities and a regional government to form the new City of Toronto in 1998.)

The borders of Thistletown are generally delineated by the Humber River: the West Branch to the south, slightly beyond the river to the east, and to the Thistletown Hospital just above the river in the north. The western border is Kipling Avenue

Kipling Avenue

Kipling Avenue, originally named Mimico Avenue, is a street in the Etobicoke district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, 6 concessions from Yonge Street, and is a major north–south arterial road that also extends beyond Toronto, into the Regional Municipality of York.The...

, though the part of the neighbourhood west of Islington is sometimes considered a separate area named Beaumonde Heights.

This area has seen many changes and many ethnic groups arrive and flourish. Presently the corners of Albion and Islington in Thistletown has a large presence of East Indian stores and services. They are joined by a variety of Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

/West Indian, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

n, and Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i stores. One landmark is the Franklin Carmichael Art Centre at 34 Riverdale Drive, located in the estate of the Group of Seven

Group of Seven (artists)

The Group of Seven, sometimes known as the Algonquin school, were a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920-1933, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael , Lawren Harris , A. Y. Jackson , Franz Johnston , Arthur Lismer , J. E. H. MacDonald , and Frederick Varley...

 member Franklin Carmichael

Franklin Carmichael

Franklin Carmichael was a Canadian artist. He was the youngest original member of the Group of Seven.-Biography:The youngest of the Group of Seven, Franklin Carmichael was born in 1890. His father was a carriage maker...

.

History

The village of Thistletown (originally called St Andrew's) was planned for John Grubb in 1847 around the intersection of Albion Road and Islington Avenue. The property was part of John Grubb's farmlands. Grubb was a promoter of the Albion and the Weston plank toll road companies, an elected member of the Home District Council and a magistrate. Although originally known as St. Andrew's, Thistletown was renamed in honour of Dr. William Thistle, the local physician.

In the late 1950s development from the expanding city of Toronto reached Thistletown when a subdivision, Albion Gardens, was developed on local potato farm to the north and east of Albion Road.

Institutions

• Thistletown Regional Centre of Children and Adolescents
• Albion West Plaza
• Albion Gardens Park
• Beaumonde Heights Park
• Kipling Heights Park

Churches

• Thistletown Baptist Church
• Albion Gardens Presbyterian Church
• St Andrews Roman Catholic Church

Schools

• Thistletown Collegiate Institute
  Thistletown Collegiate Institute
  Thistletown Collegiate Institute is a high school in northwest Toronto. Built originally for the Etobicoke Board of Education and now a part of the Toronto District School Board....
  
  
• Msgr Fraser College High School
• Beaumonde Heights Junior Middle School
• St Andrews Catholic Elementary School
• St John Vianney Catholic Elementary School