Downsview, Ontario 4.98

Downsview is an area in the north end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the district of North York. Downsview was originally a farm located in the 1870s near the present-day intersection of Keele Street and Wilson Avenue. It now extends beyond the intersection of Sheppard Avenue and Dufferin Street, though it is popularly seen as including the areas to the north right up to the Toronto city limits at Steeles Avenue. The area includes several large post-World War II subdivisions. Within the area is Downsview Airport, the former site of Canadian Forces Base Downsview, which has since been largely converted following the end of the Cold War into an urban park known as Downsview Park. However, the airport is still used as a manufacturing and testing facility for Bombardier Aerospace.DemographicsDownsview has large Italian (14%), Black/Afro-Caribbean/West Indian (11%) and Latin American (10%) populations.HistoryThe area is named for the farm settled by John Perkins Bull called Downs View in 1842 near Keele Street and Rustic Road.