Woodbridge is a medium sized town (2001 pop. 69,460) [1] in the city of Vaughan, just north of Toronto. It is home to the largest Italian community in the Greater Toronto Area, though it is increasingly becoming more diverse. Its traditional downtown core is the Woodbridge Ave. stretch between Islington Avenue and Kipling Avenue north of Highway 7, but its current centre is further east along Highway 7, between Pine Valley and Weston Road.
Geography
Situated in hilly terrain at , Woodbridge rests at an average elevation of 200m.
The geography was made up of farmlands before the suburban urbanization. Forests were at a width of as far as 500 m along the Humber especially to the north and to the south where forests are common and to the northwest. The east branch of the Humber empties into the Humber 500 m from Woodbridge. Today, much of the area are residential and industrial to the south, the further east and the west.
The streets to the east are alphabetized as A, B and L but discontinued.
Other tributaries include the Rainbow Creek to the west, the former Emerson and Jersey Creeks to the southeast.
History
The community was founded as Burwick and was named after Burr. In the 1850s, it was renamed Woodbridge after a wooden bridge because there was another settlement named Burwick. Construction of Highway 7 began in the 1900s and the Canadian Pacific rail opened three overpasses. Hurricane Hazel in the 1950s ruined a bridge over Highway 7 and devastated much of the community.
In the 1950s, Woodbridge experienced growth from suburban Toronto houses. The suburban expansion began east of the Humber and East Humber and to the northeast. Prior to the expanision, the urban area was up to Kipling Avenue and to the Humber. It later expanded in the west up to Martin Grove Road with a north to south width of about 800 m in the 1960s and to the north and portions of the northeast of Langstaff Road. It later expanded north in the 1970s and the 1980s. The housing developments in the west expanded north to Langstaff and in the central part of Woodbridge including aparth which transformed older stores into smalller units of housing in the early-1980s and west to Highway 27 in the late-1980s and in 1992. The houses expanded north to 400 m south of Rutherford Road in the 1980s and east up to Weston Road from Highway 7 to 400 m south of Rutherford Road and south to 200 m north of the present-day Highway 407. The Industrial areas began appear first to the west and then to the southwest and to the east. The housing developments in mid-1990s expanded Martin Grove Road northward. Woodbridge Highlands was formed in the northwest E of Highway 27 in the 1990s. In 1994 housing developments reached to Rutherford and continued until 1996 except for the northeast and the southeastern part. The condominniums began construction and now appear between Woodbridge Avenue and the Humber. Housing in the 1990s and the early-2000s continued in the northwest up to Major Mackenzie near Kleinburg and to the northwest and NE in Vellore Woods and Vellore Village outside the community. The industrial area is presently expanding in the west.
The population was 3,000 until the 1950s, it reached 10,000 in the 1960s, 20,000 in the 1980s, 40,000 in the mid-1980s, 50,000 in the early 1990s, 60,000 in 1997 or 1998, and 70,000 in the 2000s.
Nearest communities
Subdivisions
- Elder Mills , NW
- Pine Grove , 1 km NE - a neighbourhood which is situated in a piney area of the East Humber Valley. The settlement was founded in the 1830s.
Schools
- Woodbridge Public School, SW
- Pine Grove Public School, NE
- Woodbridge College (secondary), SE
Greenspaces
Sites of interest
- Golf clubs include the Toronto Board of Trade Country Club, National Golf Club of Canada, and Eaglequest Golf.
- 2 Community centres:
- Al Palladini Community Centre (prior to 2001, West Vaughan Community Centre), home of the local hockey team Vaughan Rangers
- Woodbridge Memorial Arena
- Woodbridge Fairgrounds , NW
- Woodbridge Library
- Pierre Berton Library, NE, named after Pierre Berton
- Colossus movie theatre, southeast
- Memorial Hill with a tower, SE
- few historic buildings
- phone tower, SE
Other
2 water towers
- Train station including a factory and is not used for passengers
- Name of inhabitants: Woodbridgian sing., -s pl.
- Area code: 905, 264-5 and 850-1-6
Persons
External links
Last updated: 05-24-2005 15:58:52
