Forest Hill is an affluent neighbourhood in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It 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).
Its original boundaries were Bathurst Street to the west, Upper Canada College
to the east, Eglinton Avenue to the north, and Lonsdale Road and a
portion of Montclair Avenue to the south (the original boundaries of
School Section 30). Neighbourhoods north of Eglinton were later
incorporated into Forest Hill.
Forest Hill, Rosedale and the Bridle Path are Toronto's three wealthiest neighbourhoods.
Forest Hill Village is a part of Forest Hill occupying most
of the original area of the village. The Village extends roughly from
Briar Hill Avenue in the north (the Upper Village, officially part of Forest Hill North) to Heath Street in the south (the Lower Village, officially the major part of Forest Hill South along Spadina Road between Bathurst Street/Cedarvale Ravine (whichever is further east) and Avenue Road. The designations Upper and Lower are based on height of land and not on positions on a map or along a watercourse.
The Lower Village is known for its upscale shopping and dining,
although the actual mix of stores includes several modest enterprises,
and Blockbuster, Starbucks and Second Cup have succeeded in the Lower Village, but Subway and Baskin-Robbins
have seen trouble, with the latter closing down in 2006. The Lower
Village has attracted extensive residential development (especially of
apartments), both within the original boundaries of Forest Hill and in
adjacent neighbourhoods to which developers have now extended the
Village and Forest Hill names.
Prior to World War II, Forest Hill's population was predominantly
made up of wealthy Anglo-Protestants. During the 1940s and 1950s, many
upwardly mobile Jews moved from the Spadina area of Toronto into Forest
Hill. Forest Hill has many businesses catering to the Jewish community
along Eglinton Avenue. Today, Jews make up about half of the population
of Forest Hill, according to the 2001 census.
Source: Wikipedia
