Living in Malvern
Malvern is located at the north-east end of the City of Toronto. This neighbourhood has retained its rural roots by preserving mature trees, ravine woodlots and parklands. Malvern’s affordable real estate has traditionally attracted many new Canadians to this neighbourhood. There are over sixty different cultures represented here, with the most dominant ethnic groups being people of Afro-Canadian, British, Chinese, and East Indian background.
History of Malvern
The history of Malvern began in 1856, when the Malvern Post Office was opened in David Brown’s general store, which stood at the south-east corner of Finch Avenue and Markham Road. This post office was named after a resort town in England. For more information about Malvern UK visit www.malvernbeacon.com
A year after the post office was opened, Senator David Reesor – formerly of Markham Village – began selling “Village Lots” in Malvern. Reesor trumpeted Malvern as the future “Capital of Scarborough,” anticipating that the Grand Trunk Railway would extend a branch line through here. Unfortunately, when the Grand Trunk Railway began service to this area in 1871, it bypassed Malvern in favour of the neighbouring village of Agincourt. While Malvern never did become a prosperous railway centre, it flourished as a farming community for over one hundred years. In the late 1950’s the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation expropriated Malvern’s farms to build a “model community” of affordable homes. The first residents of this modern day Malvern community moved into their homes in 1972.
Ed. Note: The former Malvern Schoolhouse, built in 1872, is still standing today at 5810 Finch Avenue, and is now a private school.
Homes in Malvern
Malvern’s residential housing was built from the 1970’s right through to the 1990’s. The mix of houses here includes single-family detached homes, semi-detached homes, townhouses, low-rise garden apartments and high-rise apartment buildings. There are also a fair number of subsidized housing communities within the Malvern neighbourhood that offer rents geared towards income.
Lifestyle in Malvern
Malvern residents do most of their shopping at the Malvern Town Centre, which is conveniently located in the middle of this neighbourhood at Tapscott and Neilson Roads. This modern, indoor shopping centre is anchored by a popular supermarket and a discount department store. The mix of stores here includes an equal number of retail chain stores and independently owned stores.
Recreation in Malvern
The Malvern Recreation Centre, located at 30 Sewells Road, is a multi-use facility that features an indoor ice arena and sports fields. The Malvern Community Public Library is also part of this community centre. This library has an excellent selection of multilingual books and videos. The Neilson Park Fieldhouse, located in Neilson Park off Neilson Road south of Finch Avenue, was built in the 1860’s. This historic home has been beautifully restored and now serves as a community centre offering meeting rooms, workshops and craft programs. Neilson Park also has baseball diamonds, sports fields, and picnic areas. The McLevin Park/Scott Westney House at 180 McLevin Avenue, offers a community centre with neighbourhood programming and tennis court facilities. The Metro Toronto Zoo forms the eastern boundary of this neighbourhood. This Zoo offers 710 acres of parkland with over 5,000 animals in their natural habitats. Just to the east of the Zoo is Rouge Park, which is one of the largest parks within an urban area in North America. This park contains over 700 hundred varieties of wild plants and its thick forest is home to a variety of wildlife including deer, coyotes, fox, raccoons, hawks, owls and a variety of bird species. The Rouge Park can be accessed from the Pearse House Interpretive Centre located off Meadowvale Road, across from the Toronto Zoo.
Transportation in Malvern
Malvern provides its residents with a myriad of public transit options. There is bus service on all the main streets and many of the interior streets in this neighbourhood. The Sheppard and Finch Avenue buses connect passengers to stations on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line. The north-south routes include Morningside Avenue, and Neilson and Markham Roads. These bus lines provide connections to the Toronto and Scarborough rapid transit lines and the Go Transit bus and train lines. Malvern is bordered by major arterial roadways including Finch, Sheppard and Morningside Avenues, and Markham Road which provide good access to different parts of the city. Markham and Neilson Roads and Morningside Avenue provide motorists with quick and easy access to Highway 401 on-ramps south of Sheppard Avenue.