By: Gefen Selchen

It all began in 1923, when owners and tenants living in what was then known as Spadina Heights were discontent with the public services provided by York Township. On November 30, 1923, the York County Council approved the separation of the neighbourhood from York, and on December 15, 1923, the Village of Forest Hill came into existence. 

The new village was named after the summer home of early settler and prominent architect John Wickson, which was located in what is now the intersection of Eglinton Avenue West and Old Forest Hill Road. The first ever council meeting was held on January 14, 1924 at Grace Church-On-The Hill on Lonsdale Road.

The Village’s police and fire departments were established in 1924, and in 1926 the Toronto Transit Commission began running its Forest Hill bus route. Beginning in 1936, the Village’s school system began expanding beyond the Central School on Dunloe Road, and in 1949 Forest Hill Collegiate Institute was officially opened.

In 1967 we lost our village status when Forest Hill was incorporated into the City of Toronto. The end of an era, it really took a village to get us where we are today.