Welcome to the website for the Trefann Court Residents Association.

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It is with mixed feelings (1 part ‘happy for her’ + 1 part ’sad for us’) that we say “Happy Retirement” to a wonderful individual in our neighbourhood. Crossing Guard Anne is leaving her post, (held for more than 30 years!) and moving on to her well-earned life of leisure.

Throughout the years, Anne has ALWAYS been a safeguard for the children, a friendly morning greeter to the adults and a comfort to all whoever crossed paths with her. So…

We bid a fond farewell and nothing but kind and warm wishes to go with you.

With the hearfelt thanks of 3 generations of Trefranners…Happy Retirement Anne! You will be missed!

The Trefann Court Residents Association has a long and colourful history; its founding meeting was August 11, 1966. Earlier in their respective careers, four ex-Toronto mayors helped organize this neighbourhood: David Crombie, John Sewell, June Rowlands and Barbara Hall.

The Trefann Court area is bounded by Queen, Parliament, Shuter and River streets. In 1966, the city wanted to demolish almost all of the existing buildings, and to build public housing in the area from Parliament to Sackville (continuing the Regent Park “urban renewal” area immediately to the north). On the east part of the site, from Sackville to River, the city would permit industrial buildings. (Industrial use for this area was suggested by a private developer, who in 1957 constructed the large warehouse at 90 Sumach for the CBC, who used it for 30 years as prop storage, construction and rehearsal space.)

But the Trefann Court residents urged the city that their homes not be expropriated, that they be allowed to have significant involvement in replanning their community, and that an alternative to public housing be found. This was the genesis of citizen participation in planning, which now happens in all Toronto neighbourhoods. During the past 30 years, additional 2-3 storey housing has been built to strengthen the stable low-rise residential character of Trefann Court: on Sydenham Street, Wascana, and most recently, the south-west corner of Shuter + River.

The history of Trefann Court makes for interesting reading. Gordon Fraser’s 1972 book: “Fighting Back; Urban Renewal in Trefann Court” (300 pages) is available from the library. John Sewell has also written extensively about Trefann Court, including this entry in a summary of downtown neighbourhoods published in 2000.

A core of motivated Downtown residents is inserting new life into what was once a formidable community group - the Trefann Court Residents’ Association. Our aim is to increase information sharing and provide a forum for Trefann Court residents to meet each other and discuss issues that affect us.

Trefann Court is the area bounded by Queen, Parliament, Shuter and the Don River. The original association was active in the 1970s and successfully prevented the houses throughout this entire area from being expropriated for public housing. During the 1990’s, the association lobbied for improvements to a planned condo development. More recently, Trefann individuals have provided community input to the city’s Shelter Bylaw and Drug Strategy, and participated on the Community Police Liaison Committee and neighbourhood safety audits.

In 2008, we’d like to continue that same community spirit, neighbourly co-operation and activism in Trefann Court. Our first public meeting will be held on February 28th, 7pm at the Dominion Hotel (500 Queen St. E. at Sumach) - see you there!

Here is the Xmas greeting we sent to Councillor McConnell. During the fall of 2007, dog owners in the Shuter-Sumach park were being unfairly hassled by city inspectors, even when dogs were on leash. Hopefully the city won’t be hassling Trefann Court-area dog owners during 2008.

Approximately 40 residents from Sumach, Wascana, Douglas Co-op and Shuter (take the first 2 letters of each street name: SuWaDoSh) gathered in Stinky’s Park (Shuter+Sumach) at noon on Sunday July 15 to enjoy a sunny summer day, to chat, and to share some wonderful lunchtime food: bbq hotdogs, hamburgs and ribs, quiche, grilled Indian chicken, veggies, salads, mango, cheesecake, and more. Many neighbours meet frequently in this park during their dog-walking excursions; this pot-luck picnic enabled more leisurely socializing. Local businesses donated items for lunch or for the raffle: thanks to The Dominion on Queen, Gourmet Bun, Pete’s Open Kitchen, River Towne Deli, Savoury Grounds, IRCPA, Shoppers Drug Mart, Kids Inc. and The Cookie Store. (Additional raffle items were provided by the residents.)
Justin did an exquisite job manning the grill. And a big thanks to Jennifer Kent, who made this event happen: she pursuaded businesses to donate items, co-ordinated choice of potluck foods, and distributed flyers to remind everyone of this event. This 2nd annual SuWaDoSh was even bigger and more successful than last year; let’s do it again next year!

Why is our neighbourhood area called “Corktown”? A quick answer appeared awhile ago in Toronto Life. Local historian Bruce Bell wrote a more extensive explanation in an Aug 2005 Bulletin article. Here is an excerpt.

“One of Toronto’s “newest” neighbourhoods is also one of its oldest with Irish roots dating back a thousand years to the old country. Even though Toronto’s Corktown is named after County Cork in Ireland, a misconception still lingers that the area is so named because there were once a few cork bottle stoppers factories in the area. Not so.
Cork City, the major city of County Cork, is today Ireland’s third largest (after Dublin and Belfast) and has always been an important seaport beginning as an island in the swampy estuary of the River Lee. The name Corcaigh is Gallic for a marsh, hence Corc or Cork.
County Cork was one of the worst affected areas in the Great Irish Famine that at its peak between 1845 and 1847 the county lost 200,000 people (about one-quarter of the total population) to the ravages of starvation after a virus systematically destroyed the potato crop. In Cork 150,000 people were dead and with the graveyards overflowing and the streets besieged with the wandering sick, 50,000 men, women and children had no choice but to emigrate.
And so it was from this ancient Viking seaport that the majority of the 19th-century starving Irish refugees escaped the horrors of the potato famine boarding the steam ships or coffin ships as they were eventually dubbed that would take them to the new world. All told a million Irish would eventually die and another million would flee. Upon arrival in Boston, New York, Detroit, Hamilton, St John’s, Philadelphia and Toronto these ragged, starving and emaciated Irish settled into neighbourhoods that were hence nicknamed Corktown after the home they left behind.”

Ireland Park is being created at Bathurst Quay; the park will contain sculptures by Rowan Gillespie, depicting “Arrival” of Irish Famine immigrants in 1847, In that year, 1,100 migrants died and were buried in Toronto, either in the plots set aside by St. James Anglican Cathedral, or in the graveyard adjoining St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Parish.

For several years, Corktown has had both a website and an email discussion list. Percy Street residents recently announced their own electronic presence, implemented using blog software. And then the mysterious FWIS surfaced. So here’s (another) attempt at a blog for our neighbourhood: news, upcoming events, issues affecting our neighbourhood. (To provide initial content, and as reference, some information originally shared on the email list has been repeated in this blog.)

“Blog” entries are made in journal style, displayed in reverse chronological order. Typically, there are a few “authors” (who will endeavor to contribute “frequently”). A blog is like a newspaper; once entries are posted, they are never deleted and rarely updated (only to correct obvious errors); additional information will appear in a new blog entry. Each blog entry may contain text, images and links to other relevant web pages.

Blog entries can be viewed chronologically, by category or by author (assuming there are several); one can also search blog entries by keyword. Readers can enter comments on any of the blog entries. Hopefully information will be easy to access using these blog features.

Corktown is a mostly residential area in east downtown Toronto: neighbourhood boundaries are Parliament, Shuter, the Don River and Front Street. Houses here are not as upscale as the nearby Garden District, Don Vale Cabbagetown or Cabbagetown South areas. Corktown is comprised of old row houses (dating from 1890) in varying states of repair, interspersed with small public housing projects, new infill townhouses, a few condo loft buildings, a number of social agencies (hostels for men and pregnant teens), a neighbourhood bar, a photo store, a French bookstore, some office space (in converted factory, warehouse and brewery buildings), a few restaurants, and several small businesses. Corktown is well served by public transit (streetcars along King + Queen) and has easy auto access to the DVP. It’s a 20 minute walk from Corktown to the Eaton Centre or St. Lawrence Market. Adjacent to Corktown are Toronto’s two largest public housing projects: Moss Park to the west, and Regent Park on the north. The Distillery District is to the south of Corktown.