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High Park is a municipal park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. High Park is a mixed recreational and natural park, with sporting facilities, cultural facilities, educational facilities, gardens, playgrounds and a zoo. One-third of the park remains in a natural state, with a rare oak savannah ecology. High Park was opened to the public in 1876 and is based on a bequest of land from John George Howard to the City of Toronto. It spans and is one of the largest parks in Toronto.
High Park is located to the west of downtown Toronto, north of Humber Bay, and is maintained by the City of Toronto Parks Department. It stretches south from Bloor Street West to The Queensway, just north of Lake Ontario. It is bounded on the west by Ellis Park Road and Grenadier Pond and on the east by Parkside Drive.
The eastern ravine lies over a buried river. In 2003, city workers found strong evidence of the pre-ice-age Laurentian River when capping two at the pond at the north-east corner of the Park. The wells began spewing a plume of water, sand, shale and gravel 15 metres into the air. With this discovery, finally pinpointed the southern terminus of this ancient river system whose southerly flow begins near Georgian Bay. The watercourse, flowing below the surface in pure bedrock, has remained undisturbed for thousands of years.
At its northern end is a remnant of Wendigo Creek, Wendigo Pond and a children's playground. The creek, pond and Wendigo Way are likely named after the wendigo, mythical cannibalistic creatures of Algonquian mythology. Algonquins did not have a settlement in the park, but are believed to have used it for hunting and fishing and cultivating corn on the sandy uplands of the park.Kidd et al., p. 6 The ravine extending north along the creek at one time extended north of the park, past Bloor Street. The ravine was filled in to provide for an extension of Bloor Street, and for housing development north of the park.
In 1854, the railway first came to the south of the Howard estate. Howard sold a strip of land approximately along the southern edge of the property to Hamilton and Toronto Railway Company (Great Western Railway) for . The sand bar separating Grenadier Pond from Lake Ontario was filled in to support the rails. An outlet weir was installed to control water levels. In 1891, a further strip was sold to the Grand Trunk Railway for .
After a successful career as architect, engineer and land surveyor to the City of Toronto, Howard retired here in 1855. In 1873, Howard and his wife agreed to convey their country property of to the City of Toronto. There were several conditions to the conveyance, including that the Howards continue to live at their residence, no alcohol ever be served in the park, and that the city hold the park "for the free use, benefit and enjoyment of the Citizens of Toronto for ever and to be called and designated at all times thereafter High Park". The City also had to pay a down payment and an annual pension to the Howards as long as either of them lived. The city council voted 13 to 2 to accept the Howard's conditions. The two dissenters felt the park was too far away from the city to be of any use to its citizens. At the time, direct access to the Howard property was only by boat, the railway line to the south or a toll road. Soon afterward the "Road to High Park" was built from the Lake Road to the park lands, today's Spring Road and Centre Road.
In 1876, a portion of the Howard's property formed the original park, along with bought from Percival Ridout east of the Howard farm. The remaining southern of Howard's property, including Colborne Lodge, passed to the city after John Howard's death in 1890. The Howards are buried in High Park, under a stone monument that is fronted by a portion of ornate fencing from St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England, across the street from Colborne Lodge. Today, Colborne Lodge is a museum containing many of the original Howard furnishings and a collection of Howard's watercolours of early Toronto. The museum is open year-round.
The western section of High Park, including Grenadier Pond was privately owned by the Ellis family (headed by John Ellis), after which Ellis Avenue is named. The Ellis family sold the land to the Chapman family, which used Grenadier Pond for ice-making under the brand name of the Grenadier Ice Company from the 1880s. After the development of artificial ice-making and modern refrigerators, ice-making from Grenadier Pond ceased around 1920 (operations moved to a Lake Simcoe location under Alfred H. Chapman, Toronto architect who inherited the family business after his father's death) The Grenadier Ice Company was located south of Grenadier Pond, east of Ellis Avenue. In 1930, the Chapmans sold , including the pond, to the City for .
The High Park Forest School was opened in 1915 on two acres at Colborne Lodge Road at Spring Road. The public school was for children of "low vitality" and emphasized physical activity over academics and often held classes outdoors. After the 1960s, the building was used by various organizations and was vacated in 2013. In 2015, High Park Nature Centre moved into the building.
In 1921, graves were found northwest of Grenadier Pond on the sandy ridge, during the course of road construction near Harcroft and Olympus Avenue, then the Harcroft Bird Sanctuary of architect J. A. Harvey. Eight skeletons were found in the sitting position in red sand below a huge stump. Other, smaller skeletons were found nearby. The human remains were dated to between 2,500 BC to 800 AD, indicating some sort of indigenous peoples' presence at High Park. The remains were coated in hematite red powdery substance in the custom of the Red Paint People who lived in New England and Atlantic Canada. The site is also similar to the Red Ocher people indigenous people who made burials in sandy ridges.
of High Park was later given to Metro Transportation when The Queensway was built in the early 1950s. This was in contravention of stipulations by original High Park owner John Howard that the lands be used for parkland only. Metro officials searched for descendants of Howard to obtain their consent.
The park was known as a location for clandestine meetings of homosexuals in the days before the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada in the 1960s. Its reputation as a meeting place persisted for decades afterward. In 1985, a group of five young teenage boys from Toronto suburbs went to High Park and beat to death a 40-year-old male librarian.
In 1993, the High Park Citizens' Advisory Committee was founded as a volunteer group to aid the City of Toronto in the stewardship of the park. The group was renamed the High Park Community Advisory Council in 2003. The group and its offshoots have developed various programs and initiatives for the park, including the Volunteer Stewardship Program, which is involved in preserving and protecting the environment of the park. The group is active in promoting the natural plant species in the park, and volunteers regularly remove invasive non-native species.
According to the Taiaiako'n Historical Preservation Society, there are 57 ancient indigenous peoples' burial mounds in the park. In May 2011, one such location was occupied by the Society. The site, a small hill known as "Snake Mound" on the west bank of Lower Duck Pond, had been eroded by illegal BMX bike use. The society, in cooperation with the City of Toronto, cordoned off the location and worked to restore the site, fixing the erosion, and removing the bike ramps present. At first, a replacement BMX bike park was suggested for the parking lot at the south end of Spring Road, but public opposition led the bike facility to be built south of the railway, on land that was infilled in the 1920s as part of the Sunnyside park development. A mound north of Grenadier Restaurant, known as "Bear Mound", is believed by the Society to also be an ancient burial mound, although an assessment done for the City concluded otherwise.
In 2012, Toronto City Council, in a round of cuts to city services, voted to discontinue supporting the High Park Zoo and seek alternative funding. The zoo cost over annually to operate and was operated by the city's Park and Recreations Department. An organization, "Friends of the High Park Zoo", was formed to fund-raise and seek other sponsors for the zoo. In April 2012, the organization was successful in finding a sponsor (the Honey Family Foundation) while the organization developed a permanent source of funding. The sponsor matched public donations for the next three years. The City restored operational funding in 2014. The Friends fund-raises for improvements to the zoo.
From spring to fall, a "trackless train"—a tractor that tows several wagons decorated to look like a red and white train—is operated, making a tour of the park every 30 minutes. The train stops near Bloor Street, the north-western playground, west of the Grenadier Cafe, at Grenadier Pond, south of Colborne Lodge and at the Bell playground. Tickets for the train are purchased from the train's conductor.
North of Colborne Lodge is the High Park Children's Garden. It offers programs for schools in the fall and spring, and day camps during the summer for children to learn about growing plants and Toronto parks. The Children's Garden and Colborne Lodge hold an annual 'Harvest Festival' in the fall. It includes craft activities, pumpkin-decorating, gardening displays, traditional games, and rides on horse-drawn wagons.
North-east of the Grenadier Cafe are High Park's 109 allotment gardens. To the east, south of Centre Road, are the High Park greenhouses. Since 1956, the High Park greenhouses have produced millions of annuals and perennials for Toronto's park system. The nine interconnected greenhouses provide a view into the way the plants are grown and distributed across the city. The greenhouses are not normally open to the public, but are occasionally opened to tours.
Further north, around the High Park Forest School, are several examples of outdoor sculpture in the former sculpture garden. The sculptures were commissioned and placed around the area for a 1967 international symposium. Several of the sculptures are placed within the forested area. Since the symposium, several sculptures were relocated to other Toronto locations. One was relocated to Corktown Common and another to Iceboat Terrace, west of Spadina Avenue.
Another 34 cherry trees were donated to High Park in 2001 from the Sakura project. These were planted around the Maple Leaf garden on the eastern shore of the pond. In 2006, a further 16 were planted in the park. In March 2019, Sakura in High Park indicated that following a brutal winter season, some trees showed signs of damage, however, many showed healthy, growing buds. The amount of visitors has necessitated the closure of the park to automobile traffic during the blooming period.
An outdoor organic produce market operates during the summer weekends. Twice a year, plant sales are held at the Cafe of plants native to the park to raise money for conservation activities. The plants are native to High Park and Ontario and cultivation of the plants is encouraged to preserve the species. The Cafe is also used for community meetings.
A labyrinth, based on the Chartres pattern, is located north of the cafe, marked onto a concrete circle formerly used for a picnic shelter. It was installed in 2004.
The Centre is operated by High Park Initiatives, a registered non-profit organization. The High Park Nature Centre was awarded an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant in 2014, allowing for the purchase of furnishings to equip the much larger Forest School space and also to expand programming. Recently, an Outdoor Urban Restoration Space (OURSpace) was developed with the assistance of a Weston Parks Challenge Grant. The Centre was established in 1999.
The zoo animals are cared for by Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division staff and Friends of High Park Zoo volunteers. The zoo's budget is partly paid for by volunteer donations to donation boxes located along the zoo and online donations that are matched by charitable foundations. Friends of High Park Zoo was formed after Toronto City Council voted to cancel funding for the zoo in 2012. The organization has announced a master plan of improvements it hopes to make to the zoo.
The practice of keeping animals in the park originated in 1893, with the keeping of deer. The zoo received international media coverage in 2015 when a peacock escaped and was at large in the surrounding neighbourhood for several weeks before returning on its own to the zoo.
Dogs are welcome in the park. There is a large "off-leash" area to the north-east of the Grenadier Cafe. In the rest of the park, dogs must remain on-leash.
There are unpaved dirt trails throughout High Park that are for hikers and walkers only. Cycling is prohibited (by law) on unpaved trails and roads in the park to prevent erosion and disturbance. Several of the former roadways within the park have been closed to automotive traffic, but are still accessible to pedestrians and cyclists. In the winter, the hiking paths are maintained for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.
A municipal swimming complex is open during the summertime, with a water slide, a splash pad and a shallow wading area. , there is no admittance fee for its use. The pool is supervised by lifeguards.
Skating on Grenadier Pond was banned by the Toronto Parks Department starting in 2001, but it remained a favourite skating location for Torontonians in the west end of the city for skating and shinny. In the past, the "old" City of Toronto flooded the surface from holes drilled in the ice and cleared areas for rinks. In 2015, Toronto City Council voted to fund a $25,000 ice monitoring program and legalize skating again. A record cold winter in 2015 had seen many people skating on the ice despite bylaw officers attempting to write $125 tickets. Ice conditions are now monitored annually by the City of Toronto Parks and Recreation staff and the ice condition posted on the City of Toronto's website. Grenadier Pond is the only open body of water on which skating is permitted by the City of Toronto.
Tobogganing used to be a popular pastime in the park. It is only done now at the hill at Howard Park Avenue and Parkside Drive. Several toboggan runs existed in the past in the hillside gardens area, and the "bowl" at the bottom of an old toboggan run still exists just east of Grenadier Pond, to the north-west of Grenadier Cafe, for a run that started at West Road and ended at the bowl next to the pond. The run is no longer used and trees block the run.
There are several tennis courts in two separate locations. There are concrete courts along Colborne Lodge Road, to the north of the Pool, operated by the High Park Tennis Club. Along Parkside Drive, between Howard Park Avenue and Bloor Street, is a set of tennis courts and a club house, operated by the Howard Park Tennis Club.
High Park was used for cycling events for the 2017 Invictus Games, replacing Toronto Islands which was still recovering from flooding during the spring and summer.
High Park North is within the boundaries of the former town of The Junction. These areas were developed in the decades following 1900 and are mainly detached or semi-detached homes. North of High Park, the area has seen extensive developer activity, including several large apartment towers. Residents to the north and east of the park normally call their neighbourhood High Park.
To the west is Swansea, which was once a village based around a metal works. To the south of High Park is the Sunnyside shoreline on Lake Ontario. Along the lake are beaches, several playgrounds, wading pools, Gus Ryder Pool and Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion. The area east of High Park, and south of Bloor Street, is also known as Roncesvalles.
In 1967, an area east of Colborne Lodge Road, south of Bloor Street, was the site of the Toronto International Sculpture Symposium and had numerous sculptures installed. Five of the original ten permanent pieces remain in High Park:
Automobile access is allowed to most of the park, although several roads are closed to vehicular traffic. Parking lots exist at the Bell playground and zoo, at Colborne Lodge, at Grenadier Cafe, High Park pool and the north-western children's playground, as well as along some roads. On Sundays in summer, the roads are closed to traffic. Colborne Lodge Road does not allow through traffic from The Queensway beyond the parking lot for the lodge.
People can walk or bicycle to the park along roads and streets and enter from the neighbourhood. They can take the Martin Goodman Trail along Lake Ontario to points south of the park.
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