The Schoolhouse Mission in the Village of Davisville

Before St. Paul's Bloor Street was built in 1842, the small city of Toronto was served by four Anglican churches: St. James, St. George the Martyr, Holy Trinity (Trinity Square) and Trinity East (on King Street). Five additional churches were built in the rural areas around Toronto during the following ten years. The area north of Toronto had been served by St. John's York Mills since 1816.

The third rector of St. John's York Mills was Alexander Laing Sanson (later to become the rector of Little Trinity where he served for over 50 years). There were now many Anglican families living between St. Paul's in Yorkville and St. John's York Mills. During his time at St. John's, Rev. Sanson established a mission station in the home of the Lea family in Leaside and the Lea family became members of St. John's. This "Christ Church" mission subsequently moved to a brick schoolhouse near Davisville and Yonge.

In 1866-67, John Lea was named as a lay delegate to Synod from St. John's and as representative of the Davisville congregation. In 1868, at the St. John's Vestry meeting, Charles Mcgrath, Thomas Elgie and H. Jennings were appointed to represent the "Christ Church Mission which had its meeting place at the Davisville schoolhouse".

Deer Park - the Yonge Street Gore

In 1870, Deer Park, the area around what is now Yonge and St. Clair, and areas north, was strictly rural. The city of Toronto had managed to cross Bloor Street and had annexed Yorkville but was still a struggling community of slightly more than 56,000.

Yonge Street, still unpaved, was the main north/south thoroughfare. A single street car track ran up the middle of the road and a stage ran daily from Queen and Yonge Streets to Richmond Hill, with a stop at Deer Park. To avoid the deep ravine across Yonge Street, the stage turned west soon after crossing St. Clair and went up what is now Lawton Blvd. to cross the dam and creek at Whitmore's Sawmill near what is now Chaplin Crescent. The triangular piece of land between Yonge and Lawton was referred to as the Yonge Street Gore.

By now, a number of large estates had been developed in the Deer Park area. On June 6th, 1870, a meeting took place to address the fact that there were no Anglican churches between St. Paul's and St. John's York Mills. (It is interesting to note that Messrs. McGrath, Elgie and Jennings were not among the attendees. The men who met were not from the farming community north of Davisville; but rather the Toronto businessmen who had recently moved into the Deer Park area.)

Land: $100, Building $3,000

It was agreed to ask the Bishop of Toronto to create a new parish named Christ Church with a recommendation to build the church on the Gore. The Bishop and diocese agreed, the land was purchased (for $100.00), work began on October 5, 1870 and the building was completed in 11 weeks at a cost of $3,000.00 (who ever said that life was at a slower pace in the 19th century?). The building project included a driving shed and fence.