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A Brief History of the Midtown, Woodfield, and Piccadilly Neighbourhoods.
The history of the Midtown, Woodfield and Piccadilly neighbourhoods
begins, as does the history of London itself, in 1793 when John
Graves Simcoe selected London as the proposed capital of Upper Canada.
London was selected because of its isolation from possible American
invasion and, while it never did become the capital, its selection
led to the development of the town at the Forks of the Thames. As
originally surveyed by Mahlon Burwell in the 1820’s, the village
contained 240 acres – with the boundaries established by the
Thames River in the west and south, Wellington Street to the east,
and Queens Avenue to the north.
Settlement patterns at London’s beginning kept to the limits
of Burwell’s survey. By 1840, however, development was occurring
north of Queen’s Avenue and east of Wellington Street, and
the population was estimated to be about 2,000 persons. In 1838,
the year after the Upper Canada Rebellion, an Imperial military
garrison was stationed in London, occupying what is now Victoria
Park and the blocks to the north and east. Military spending from
this point forward fuelled economic growth in the village.
Three-quarters of the village was destroyed in the Great Fire
of April 13th, 1845. While most of the original homes had been constructed
of wood, homeowners and businessmen were urged (and later forced
by bylaw) to rebuild in brick and stone. This rebuilding was further
stimulated by the arrival of the Great Western Railway (now CN)
in 1853. The arrival of the railway was a major stimulus to economic
growth in the area. A boom resulted, with new businesses and industries
established, and large business blocks built along downtown streets.
Between London’s reincorporation as a town in 1847 (following
the Great Fire) and as a City in 1855, when the population approached
10,000 persons, London experienced rapid economic growth. Schools
were established, sidewalks constructed, a brick sewer system was
built, and public buildings such as Covent Garden Market and the
Town Hall on Richmond Street were constructed.
Midtown, Woodfield and Piccadilly were outside of the area of the
original survey. The annexation of 1840 extended the limits of the
town east to Adelaide Street and north to Huron Street, and took
in the areas which were to develop into the central residential
core neighbourhoods. From the very beginning, Woodfield and Piccadilly
were largely residential in character. Homes for the wealthy of
the town, originally built along King and York Streets (the Midtown
area) until the arrival of the railroad in 1853, were built along
Dundas Street and Queens Avenue, around Victoria Park, and along
Dufferin and Princess Avenues. Generally speaking, as the streets
progressed north and east, the housing stock changed from city mansions
to large middle-class dwellings to smaller workmen’s cottages.
The construction of Reverend Benjamin Cronyn’s estate (The
Pines) somewhere around 1840 on Dundas Street near Adelaide, Laurence
Laurason’s estate (Lauriston 1846 – built on the site
of the current Catholic Central High School), and George MacBeth’s
estate (Bleak House 1852 – built on the site of the current
Lord Roberts Public School) acted as a magnet for residential development.
The construction of the area churches in the 1860’s and 1870’s,
the founding of the London Street Railway, the departure of the
military from its Piccadilly grounds, and the development occurring
in London East spurred further residential development.
The homes of Midtown, Woodfield and Piccadilly represent the heart
of the downtown residential neighbourhoods. Many of the homes closest
to Victoria Park have been converted into office use, but the area
is still predominantly residential in character. Woodfield, in particular,
has been designated as an historical district. But both Woodfield
and Piccadilly have seen, over the last twenty years or so, a resurgence
of gentrification and most of the homes in the area have been modernized.
Both areas are highly desirable residential neighbourhoods, among
the best of addresses in London, and both neighbourhoods feature
mature trees, interesting architectural stylings and a wide range
of housing types and prices.
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