Centrally located in midtown Toronto, Davisville Village is a quiet neighbourhood, just south of Yonge and Eglinton and passing through Mt. Pleasant Road. So how did Davisville get its name, you ask?
The area was founded in 1840 by John Davis, an English businessman who ran the neighbourhood’s first post office and the Davisville Pottery Company, the largest employer located on Davisville Avenue. The historic postal building still stands today, now reincarnated into a Grande Soy No Foam Extra Shot Caramel Latte—— a Starbucks, located at the northeast corner of Yonge and Davisville.
The underdeveloped plot of land was subdivided around 1860 and sold to the Dovercourt Development Company to build residential properties. Semi-detached homes and bungalows were built in the 1920s but the neighbourhood really saw rapid growth with the arrival of the Davisville subway station in 1954 and later with the rise of condominiums and apartments buildings. Today, more families are moving to the area, attracted to the Village’s shops, tennis club, June Rowlands Park and accessible transit. Check out some photos of the neighbourhood past and present.
Davisville Pottery Company owned by John Davis, 1887
Hodgson Public School, 1939
Yonge Street and Davisville, 1952
Davisville subway construction, 1953
Mt. Pleasant looking north to Merton, 1957
Davisville photos via Toronto Public Library
