Downsview Stories
Downsview is a place for stories—both big and small
Downsview is not a blank slate. Starting with its significance to Indigenous communities as a ridge linking the Don and Humber Rivers, Downsview has been many things to many people. It continues to be a place where stories—big and small—are evolving for countless individuals, communities, businesses, and cultures.
The Pope comes to Downsview—twice!
By the time Pope John Paul II paid his first visit to Canada in 1984, he was already six years into his pontificate, had made twenty-two foreign trips, and visited forty-four countries, several of them more than once. But who’s counting?
The de Havilland Mosquito
There was very little that the de Havilland Mosquito couldn’t or didn’t do to help the Allied cause during World War II.
Gore Vaughn Plank Road
Getting goods to market was a constant challenge for Downsview farmers in the years before Confederation. Roads were unpaved and their carts and wagons would get bogged down in the muck when it rained or during the spring thaw.
The Railroad Comes to Downsview
The opening of the Ontario, Simcoe, and Huron Union Railroad Company (OSHR) line from Toronto north to Barrie in 1853 ushered in an age of economic prosperity in Downsview.
The Downsview Supply Depot
The military needs large, secure spaces to assemble and stage its missions and supply lines, usually adjacent to airstrips.
De Havilland Golf Centre
Downsview as the centre of Toronto’s golf universe? The idea might sound outrageous today, but if you were a golfer in Toronto in the 1950s and 60s, chances are you spent a good deal of time at the de Havilland Golf Centre, located in what is today Downsview Park.
What’s your Downsview Story?
Share your memories, help, and suggestions for other stories that we can write up. We’re here to listen. We’re here to learn. So let’s start at the beginning: What’s your story, Downsview?