Fuzzy Boundaries

I just read the list of names. I love it. Very amusing - totally made my day. I look forward to tonight. Thank you to the wonderful organizers of this event and all the name contributors.

Just to be clear, if you have already suggested a name via this site, do you need to "vote" (really its more of a nominate) the name again? A few people have asked me this.

I like the sound of Chuvalo, and The Wedge is quite appropriate, and while I often refer to it as "North Parkdale" i like to call it No~Ne~Cho as a short for "north of nestle chocolate" and it often smells like it too YUM

Thursday's third and final public meeting will be held at the new Boys and Girls Club location at 45 Ernest Avenue at 7 p.m. The meeting will be moderated by Fuzzy Boundaries' group member Warren McPherson. The meeting is designed to give everyone an opportunity to speak about a name they like or dislike.

The format is quite simple, the moderator will select people at random to speak for one or two minutes for a neighbourhood name they like. The floor will then be open for one other person to speak against that name (if there is anyone). The moderator will then select another person to speak about a different name, then a person against that name and so on until all the names have been covered. Then the meeting will go through all the names a second time that people want to speak for and against and then a third time (and so on) until everyone has had an opportunity to speak.

At the end of the meeting ballots will be made available for anyone wishing to vote for a name. For people who want to think about their decision a little more, the formal voting period will run from Janaury 15 to January 29. You can vote on-line here at the Fuzzy Boundaries web site or at the Perth/Dupont location of the Toronto Public Library at 1589 Dupont Street.

We hope to see you on Thursday night.

Karen sent a message using the contact form at http://www.fuzzyboundaries.ca/contact. Karen likes the name "Parkette" - For the many mini-parks in our hood! See you on the 14th.

There are just 10 days remaining in the 120-day public consultation period for the Fuzzy Boundaries project. Next Thursday, January 14th we will hold our final public meeting before the start of two weeks of voting to narrow the list of names to the Top 10.

Many thanks to everyone who has participated with name ideas and comments. If you have not made your views known yet, we hope that you will take this opportunity to add your voice to the discussion.

Anthea Foyer sent a message using the contact form at http://www.fuzzyboundaries.ca/contact. I really like the new ideas in the discussion forum about a person that was integral to the neighbourhood but the name that keeps sticking in my mind is a variation on a name already on the list. I would like to add 'The Wedge' to the list of potential names. Happy New Year and thanks for all of your work on this!

On Google Maps it lists the name of our neighbourhood as Silverthorn.
I checked and did not see it on the list of proposed names here so I wanted to add it. I am not sure how established the name is or if it is officially registered or broadly used but believe it is also worth consideration :)

If it has been a bit quiet here for awhile, it is only because all of us working on the Fuzzy Boundaries project have been enjoying the holidays. We hope that everyone has a chance to make the most of the festive season.
The new images of the neighbourhood on the Fuzzy homepage are from our formal meeting announcement that will be coming in the mail next week. We are looking forward to the January 14th meeting where everybody will have an opportunity to make a pitch for their favourite name. We will detail the meeting process and explain how you can participate in early January.
We hope that you can join us on the 14th. Until then, from all of us at Fuzzy Boundaries, we wish you a Happy New Year!

If we are considering unusual/unique names that reflect our history, how about Lot 34? Most of the neighbourhood was part of lot 34, second concession from the bay in York county before we were annexed into the City of Toronto. John Shedden owned most of it and after his untimely death the division of the area into smaller parcels of land began which put us on the road to becoming a neighbourhood.

Forget the phony names.

How often does an area get to choose a name that truly reflects the history of a person that was part of that area?

Chuvalo.

Directly connected to the history of our area and to the history of our country. The only person that the great Ali could not knock down. A person who the trials and tribulations of a hard life could not knock down. A voice for reaching out, helping, fighting the scourge of drugs and violence. A person who made his reputation with his fists but earned a country's respect with his heart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Chuvalo

You don't need farm, or rail, or triangle, or crossing: Find another name that cuts to the quick like this.Find another name that sweats when you think of it. Find another name that emotes passion, perseverance, and healing. A generic name this aint.

I still really like Shedden......Shedden village sounds great, but not sure of all the "villages" that already exist in T.O.

How about Ruprechtville?!

Scott Stanley sent us an e-mail. Scott says,"I believe our area would totally benefit from the name Awesome Town. What child would not like to be able to tell their friends that they grew up in Awesome Town!? We would be the envy of all other areas of Toronto. Businesses would flock to our area just to set up shop and say they have an Awesome Town location! I know this may sound like a joke to some but I am sincere when I say that I would be proud to live in Awesome Town!"

What about Railview? Although I like The Wedge best of all!

Out with a friend the other night who thinks "Railside Gardens" would be a good name for the neighbourhood. The rail connection is obvious and with all the former industrial lands finding new uses, the area is being transformed from a workshop into something a little greener.

It appears that confusion about the neighbourhood name dates back to at least the 1890s. A search of the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail newspaper databases reveals that news stories about the neighbourhood appeared in both papers until sub-headings like "Junction News Notes," "Junction Notes," and "From the Junction."
The revealation begs the question, is it time to end the confusion and select a new, distinct name or continue the confusion with Junction Triangle?

I'd like to see Blansdowne added to the list.

I like the A.D. (Arts District) name suggestion and I think that "Brockton Addition" is a relly interesting discovery http://www.fuzzyboundaries.ca/node/8#comment-327. Any way to find out exactly what year that name was applied to the neighbourhood?

I just wanted to point out that some people keep saying that we are already named and that name is The Junction Triangle but on many neighbourhood maps that is not the case. You can even look in the front of your Yellowpages at the maps and our area is nameless. Parkdale is mapped out, the Junction is mapped out but our area is not. I am looking forward to having a name that everyone in the city will know us for in the next few weeks.

The 1878 County of York Atlas shows five property owners in the area between Bloor Street and present day Dupont - Jim Harrison, Mrs. Jane Farr, Richard West, Mrs. Elizabeth Campbell and George Cooper. Within ten years all these properties were sold and the area transformed into a planned neighbourhood as part of the City of Toronto.
The final piece of train track was layed north of Dupont in 1884 to complete the triangle that shapes our neighbourhood. A train station was opened at Dupont and Dundas where the tracks form a junction and the first lots for sale in the area on the east side of the tracks (Edwin, Franklin and Ethel Street) were advertised.
As part of York County, our neighbourhood was annexed in two pieces to the City of Toronto. In 1884, the land south of Bloor was annexed to the City as part of Brockton Village. In 1888, the land north of Bloor Street and east of the Dundas rail corridor was annexed to the City.
A train station opened at Bloor and Dundas in 1887 and lots for sale were advertised on Perth Avenue, south of Wallace.
The largest section of the neighbourhood to be divided into lots and offered for sale was called the "Brockton Addition" and included almost all the land north of Wallace up to Davenport and from the Dundas rail corridor east to present day Emerson Avenue (two streets east of Lansdowne). The archives believe this happened in 1880-something. Judging by some of the street names, this could have happened in 1889.
So the 1880s saw our area move from farmland in York County to a planned urban neighbourhood with rail connections as part of the City of Toronto. Our development is completely tied to the growth of the railways. When the railways began opening stations in the area, property developers followed and farmland was transformed into city housing with mixed industrial/commercial uses along the train tracks.

The tally of names has risen to 206 suggestions. It is impressive and covers everything from the A.D. (Arts District) to the West Toronto Junction. The complete list of names has been updated and is posted on the site at http://www.fuzzyboundaries.ca/NameTally
With just about seven weeks remaining in the formal consultation period, there is still time to make a suggestion or comment on something you have read here. We want to hear from you!

The City of Toronto Archives has a very helpful series of books called "Goad's Fire Insurance Plans" that show the development of the City street by street dating back to 1878.
The Goad's plan for 1890 shows the early transformation of the land south of Bloor Street from farm land to mixed residential/commercial uses. Three residential streets (Perth, Symington and Mallow) appear on the map running south from Bloor. Very few buildings are indicated, but the lots have all been divided. Symington (later re-named Sterling) did not connect with Perth Avenue. All three streets just dead-end in the middle of the area.
About two-thirds of the land south of Bloor Street was owned at the time by William Leak. By 1903, William Leak had sold off a small piece of his land (around the Toronto social services building and Nestle factory) and the beginnnings of Sterling Road running North from Dundas is indicated. By 1910, William Leak had sold off his remaining property which was divided into industrial sized lots.