Editing Yorkville, Toronto (section)

==History==
Yorkville was funded in 1830 by the entrepreneur [[Joseph Bloor]] (after whom [[Bloor Street]], one of Toronto's main thoroughfares, is named) and [[William Botsford Jarvis]] of [[Rosedale, Toronto|Rosedale]] and began as a residential suburb. Bloore operated a brewery northeast of today's Bloor and Church Street intersection, and Jarvis was Sheriff of the [[Home District]]. The two purchased land in the Yorkville area and subdivided it into smaller lots on new side streets for those interested in living in the cleaner air outside [[York, Upper Canada|York]].

The political centre of Yorkville was the Red Lion Hotel, an inn that was regularly used as the polling place for elections. It is there that [[William Lyon Mackenzie]] was voted back into the Legislature for 1832, and a huge procession took him down Yonge Street.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Peppiatt|first1=Liam|title=Chapter 35: The Red Lion Hotel|url=http://www.landmarksoftoronto.com/the-red-lion-hotel/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925082738/http://www.landmarksoftoronto.com/the-red-lion-hotel/|archive-date=September 25, 2015|website=Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto Revisited}}</ref>

The community grew enough to be connected in 1849 by an [[horsebus|omnibus]] service to Toronto. By 1853, the population of Yorkville had reached 1,000, the figure needed to incorporate as a village, and the "Village of Yorkville" was incorporated. Development increased and by the 1870s, "[[Strangers' Burying Ground|Potter's Field]]," a cemetery stretching east of Yonge Street along the north side of Concession Road (today's Bloor Street) was closed, and the remains moved to the [[Toronto Necropolis]] and [[Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto|Mount Pleasant Cemetery]].<ref name="filey-cite">{{cite news|last=Filey|first=Mike|date=February 1, 2009|title=Yorkville - the first 'burb|work=Toronto Sun|url=http://www.torontosun.com/life/columnists/2009/02/01/8221486-sun.html|url-status=dead|access-date=July 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925222213/http://www.torontosun.com/life/columnists/2009/02/01/8221486-sun.html|archive-date=September 25, 2012}}</ref>

[[File:John Daniels' House Yorkville.jpg|thumb|left|John Daniels' House, 1867]]
[[File:Row of shops at Yonge and Yorkville circa 1975 Toronto.jpg|thumb|left|Stores in Yorkville, circa 1975]]

By the 1880s, the cost of delivering services to the large population of Yorkville was beyond the Village's ability. It petitioned the [[City of Toronto government|Toronto government]] to be annexed. Annexation came on February 1, 1883, and Yorkville's name changed officially from the "Village of Yorkville" to "St. Paul's Ward,"<ref name="filey-cite"/> and the former "[[Yorkville Town Hall]]" became "St. Paul's Hall."

The character of the suburb did not change, and its [[Victorian architecture|Victorian-style]] homes, residential streets, and gardens survived into the 20th century.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} In 1923, Toronto Hebrew Maternity and Convalescent Hospital was opened at 100 Yorkville Avenue, and a year later, its name was changed to [[Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto|Mount Sinai Hospital]]. The facade of the building still stands today and housed the retailer Chanel.

In the 1960s, Yorkville flourished as Toronto's [[bohemianism|bohemian]] cultural centre. It was the breeding ground for some of Canada's most noted musical talents, including [[Joni Mitchell]], [[Neil Young]], and [[Gordon Lightfoot]], as well as then-underground literary figures such as [[Margaret Atwood]], [[Gwendolyn MacEwen]], and [[Dennis Lee (author)|Dennis Lee]].<ref name="jennings"/> Yorkville was also known as the Canadian center of the [[hippie]] movement. In 1968, the nearby [[Rochdale College]] at the [[University of Toronto]] was opened on Bloor Street as an [[alternative education|experiment in counterculture education]]. Those influenced by their time in 1960s-1970s Yorkville include the [[cyberpunk]] writer [[William Gibson]].

Yorkville's domination by hippies and young people led MPP [[Syl Apps]] to refer to it as "a festering sore in the middle of the city" and call for its "eradication."<ref>{{cite web|last=Henderson|first=Stuart|title=Making the Scene: Yorkville and Hip Toronto in the 1960s|url=http://www.utppublishing.com/Making-the-Scene-Yorkville-and-Hip-Toronto-in-the-1960s.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211034634/http://www.utppublishing.com/Making-the-Scene-Yorkville-and-Hip-Toronto-in-the-1960s.html|archive-date=February 11, 2011|access-date=August 26, 2012}}
</ref> Joni Mitchell captured a colorful impression of the nightlife scene on Yorkville Avenue in her song "Night in the City."<ref>
{{cite web
| url = http://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=163
| title = Joni Mitchell - Night in the City - Lyrics and Footnotes
}}
</ref> The hippie scene was also depicted in the [[National Film Board of Canada]] documentary ''[[Christopher's Movie Matinée]]'' in 1968.<ref>Bob Harvey, "Film takes eloquent look at teenagers' alienation". ''[[Edmonton Journal]]'', April 19, 1969. p. 8.</ref>

After the construction of the [[Line 2 Bloor–Danforth|Bloor-Danforth subway]], the value of land nearby increased, as higher densities were allowed by the City's official plan. Along Bloor Street, office towers and The Bay and the Holt Renfrew department stores displaced the local retail. As real estate values increased, the residential homes north of Bloor along Yorkville were converted into high-end retail, including art galleries, fashion boutiques, antique stores, bars, cafes, and eateries along Cumberland Street and Yorkville Avenue. Many smaller buildings were demolished and offices and hotels were built in the 1970s, with high-priced condominium developments being built in subsequent decades.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}