Moss Park

Moss Park is a neighbourhood just east of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The neighbourhood is roughly L-shaped, bounded on the north by Carlton Street to Parliament Street, on the east by Parliament Street to Queen Street East and the Don River, on the south by Eastern Avenue and Front Street, and on the west by Jarvis Street. Moss Park is named for the abundant moss that grew on the Allen family estate home, which stood on the west side of Sherbourne Street between Queen and Shuter until demolished during the redevelopment of the area into a failed social housing project with a large park and community centre on the site of the old estate. Moss Park was originally the heart of Toronto's industrial area, home to large factories and the densely packed homes of the workers they employed. In the 1960s a large swath of these buildings were demolished to make way for the Moss Park public housing project, a group of three large towers at Queen Street East and Parliament Street run by the Toronto Community Housing Corporation. After the deindustrialization of the 1970s almost all the factories left the area, and it became one of the poorest in the city. Although the area has seen rapid gentrification in recent years, the area immediately around the housing complex remains quite poor, and is typically meant when referring to Moss Park. This neighbourhood is almost exclusively rented out, and houses many low-income families. Moss Park has long had a reputation among Torontonians as a notoriously downtrodden and dangerous neighbourhood. It is also home to several homeless shelters.