The Dufferin Grove neighbourhood is home to working class and middle class families from many different cultural backgrounds. The whole neighbourhood has recently been revitalized by improvements to Dufferin Grove Park.

Dufferin Grove Park is truly one of the great experiments in community planning that Toronto has seen in the 1990’s. This park is basically a community centre without any walls! It is so popular that local residents affectionately refer to it as their Big Backyard.

A little history about Dufferin Grove

The Dufferin Grove district was first settled by the Denison Family, who emigrated to Canada from England in 1792.

The Denisons were active participants in Toronto’s early military and political affairs. Their country villas were Toronto landmarks, that had titles such as “Dover Court”, “Rush Holme”, and “Heydon Villa”.

In 1834, with the city encroaching at their doorstep, the Denisons decided to clear the dense forest covering their property, and began cultivating this land.

The fertile soil in the area yielded abundant crops and brought the Denisons great wealth. However, by the 1880’s, the value of the Denison estates lay in housing development not agriculture. Thus rows of crops were gradually replaced by rows of houses and the current neighbourhood was developed.