The community is the eastern half of what was earlier known as Earlscourt. Earlscourt was originally settled by British immigrants in 1906, and was annexed by the City of Toronto in 1910.
By the 1970s, Italian immigrants from Little Italy on College Street, moved northward to St. Clair Avenue. One of the largest celebrations on St. Clair Avenue West was when Italy won the 1982 FIFA World Cup, which involved an estimated 300,000 fans, shutting the street down for nearly 20 blocks between Caledonia and Oakwood.[1] In 1981, about 35,000 Italians lived in this area, however, by 1991, this number had dropped to 20,000.[2] Although the character of Corso Italia is still Italian, the demographics of this neighbourhood have changed drastically with a smaller Italian population than originally. Much of the Italian population has moved to the suburbs northwest of Toronto, in particular, Vaughan, King, and Caledon.[3][4]
^Perin, Roberto (York University). "Staying Italian: Urban Change and Ethnic Life in Post-war Toronto and Philadelphia." Urban History, 12/2010, Volume 37, Issue 3. Cited: p. 493. "[...]whereas in Toronto, Little Italy became a jumping-off point: houses were later purchased in the northwestern part of the city and beyond, notably in the famous or infamous ‘ethnoburb’ of Vaughan."
Italics indicate neighbourhoods now defunct. For information on the evolution of each neighbourhood in general, see History of neighbourhoods in Toronto.
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