Moss Park

Moss Park
The Moss Park towers all lie south of Shuter St, but the area north to Dundas is also sometimes considered part of the neighbourhood
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
City	Toronto

The towers of the Moss Park housing project rise along Shuter Street.

Moss Park is a neighbourhood just east of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The neighbourhood is roughly L-shaped, bounded on the north by Carlton Street to Parliament Street, on the east by Parliament Street to Queen Street East and the Don River, on the south by Eastern Avenue and Front Street, and on the west by Jarvis Street. Moss Park is named for the abundant moss that grew on the Allen family estate home, which stood on the west side of Sherbourne between Queen and Shuter until demolished during the redevelopment of the area into a failed social housing project with a large park and community centre on the site of the old estate.

Sketch of 'Moss Park', 1889

More typically Torontonians refer to Moss Park as only comprising the large housing projects that exist between Parliament and Sherbourne south of Dundas. The rest of the area known to the city as Moss Park includes the Distillery District, the Garden District, and Corktown.

Moss Park was originally the heart of Toronto's industrial area, home to large factories and the densely packed homes of the workers they employed. In the 1960s a large swath of these buildings were demolished to make way for the Moss Park public housing project, a group of three large towers at Queen and Parliament Street run by the Toronto Community Housing Corporation. After the deindustrialization of the 1970s almost all the factories left the area, and it became one of the poorest in the city. In recent years the area has seen rapid gentrification. Former industrial structures such as the Merchandise Building and factories of the Distillery District have become trendy lofts and fashionable shopping areas. The row houses of Corktown, like those of nearby Cabbagetown, have also largely been refurbished and are in great demand.

The area immediately around the housing complex remains quite poor, and this is the area today typically meant when referring to Moss Park. This neighbourhood is almost exclusively rented out, and houses many low-income families. According to Toronto Life "Moss Park has long had a reputation among Torontonians as a notoriously downtrodden and dangerous neighbourhood." It is home to several homeless shelters.

The northeast corner of Jarvis and Queen is occupied by Moss Park Armoury, which is used by several regiments of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve. These include the 25 Field Ambulance, the 48th Highlanders of Canada, the 7th Toronto Regiment Royal Canadian Artillery, and the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada. Several cadet units also use the facility.

External links

• City of Toronto - Moss Park Neighbourhood Profile
• Toronto Life - Moss Park
• Toronto neighbourhoods - Moss Park
• http://www.towaterfront.ca/index.php?home=true
• http://www.toronto.ca/demographics/profiles_map_and_index.htm
• Moss Park Arena

		Cabbagetown-South St. James Town		v • d • e
	Church-Yonge Corridor		Regent Park, South Riverdale
		Moss Park
		Waterfront Communities-The Island

Coordinates: 43°39′21″N 79°22′02″W / 43.655709°N 79.367316°W / 43.655709; -79.367316