Islington-City Centre West

Islington-City Centre West (also known as Islington Village, Six Points or Etobicoke City Centre) is a commercial and residential neighbourhood in

Etobicoke's first cemetery began with the burial of a traveller on Dundas who died on his way to Toronto just before reaching Montgomery's Inn. Despite the dying man's request to be buried in Toronto, he was buried beside the Methodist Church (later the Etobicoke Council Offices) in Islington. This cemetery remains a prominent historic site in the heart of Etobicoke where many of Etobicoke's early families are buried.^{[citation needed]}

With the building of the first railway to Toronto from the west in 1855, Mimico, near Lake Ontario, petitioned the government for a post office to be called Mimico in 1858. In 1860, the original northern Mimico petitioned for its own post office, using the name Islington, which was suggested by the wife of Montgomery's Innkeeper who was born in Islington, England (now a part of London).^{[citation needed]} A second railway was built at the bottom of the escarpment (just south of Dundas) preventing the collapse of Islington during the railway age. This neighbourhood was also the site of Etobicoke's annual rural fair.^{[citation needed]} In the early 20th century, Etobicoke's urbanizing lakeshore communities separated to become independent municipalities while Islington remained a postal village, the administrative centre of rural Etobicoke Township. The Etobicoke municipal offices were greatly enlarged at this time.^{[citation needed]}

Urbanization began in central Etobicoke in the 1950s post war boom with growing residential areas in Islington and to the north and industrial growth to the south. This led to Etobicoke's incorporation which separated from the County of York to form a part of the new Metropolitan Toronto in 1954, reincorporating the lakeshore municipalities into that level of government. With growing traffic along Dundas and increasing traffic fatalities in Islington, the intersections of Royal York Road and Kipling Avenue with Dundas St. W. were redesigned as highway style interchanges with bridges. The new Borough of Etobicoke in 1967 created several plans to raise the level of commercial and residential density in Islington with the aim of creating a western 'downtown' for Metropolitan Toronto. The

Redevelopment of the Six Points Interchange and the Westwood Theatre lands by the Build Toronto agency began in March 2017 to create a mixed-use development. The highway-interchange style of the junction has been replaced by at-grade intersections, restoring pedestrian connectivity to the area. Dundas Street has been re-routed via existing Dunbloor Road (which has been renamed Dundas Street West for continuity) on a new path through the area.^[2][3][4]

Heritage preservation

A heated debate over the demolition of the Montgomery's home (Briarly) beside Montgomery's Inn in the 1980s led to a greater emphasis on the historic nature of the area.^[5] Montgomery's Inn has been preserved as the Etobicoke Community Museum and is open to the public. There is also a designated business improvement district known as the Historic Village of Islington,^[6] which has commissioned a large number of historic wall murals along Dundas St. W.

Education

The neighbourhood is home to schools operated by the

• Islington Junior Middle School (IJMS) is a K-8 elementary junior and middle school established since 1832 and it is the second oldest school in Toronto as well as the oldest in the former Etobicoke.
• Two of Etobicoke's first
  officially amalgamated as one school with the Basilian Father as principal and the Sister of St. Joseph as vice-principal. With the school moved up west and north in 1993, Bishop Allen Academy
  opened in 1989 to fill in the void left by the relocation of Michael Power-St. Joseph.

External links

• Islington-City Centre West neighbourhood profile

43°38′28″N 79°32′06″W / 43.641°N 79.535°W / 43.641; -79.535