Among my favourite spots in Cabbagetown are Riverdale Park West which has a huge off-leash area for dogs; the Riverdale Farm was the favourite destination when my daughter and her friends were kids (imagine seeing all these farm animals with the CN tower within view!); the St. James Town Steak and Chops has amazing hamburgers and great dinner ideas; F’Ameila (a great local Italian restaurant where my partner and I were married); and Wellesley Park has a great playground with a water park in the summer. Coming soon are new facilities in nearby Regent Park that include a new library and community spaces. 

Most of the modern-day construction in Cabbagetown began in the 1840s around, what was then, the Winchester Street Bridge. Cabbagetown’s name came from Toronto's more prosperous British residents who patronizingly named the neighbourhood after Irish families who grew cabbages (and other vegetables) in their front gardens. The name stuck. 

Now, according to the Cabbagetown Business Improvement Association, the neighbourhood has the largest area of preserved Victorian homes in North America. Much of Cabbagetown has been designated a Heritage Conservation District with the benefits and responsibilities that entails. It is a destination for many Torontonians and visitors to the city. 

Administratively, Cabbagetown is within the neighbourhood boundary for Cabbagetown-South St. James Town. The boundary starts at the intersection of Wellesley Street and Jarvis Street and continues east on Wellesley Street to Parliament Street. At Parliament, the boundary continues north to Bloor Street East. At Bloor the boundary continues north-east, onto the Prince Edward Viaduct, to the Don River. At the Don River, the boundary continues south along the river to Gerrard Street East. When the Don River meets Gerrard Street, the boundary continues west on Gerrard to Parliament Street. At Parliament Street, the boundary continues north to Carlton Street. At Carlton, the boundary continues west to Jarvis Street. At the intersection of Jarvis Street and Carlton Street, the boundary continues north on Jarvis Street back to Wellesley Street.

Here’s the City of Toronto official webpage for background where you can view boundaries, and more statistics on Cabbagetown.

When defining Cabbagetown on its own, things get a bit dicier. I can’t say how many bottles of wine and cups of coffee have been spilled over who is and who isn’t in Cabbagetown. According to the Cabbagegown Preservation Association the boundaries are generally considered to be: “Bloor Street/St. James Cemetery on the north to Dundas Street (or Shuter for some) on the south, and from The Don River on the east to Sherbourne Street on the west, excluding St. Jamestown and Regent Park.”

The Cabbagetown Preservation Association also notes that before settlers arrived in North America, the area was the ancestral land of various indigenous peoples who would hunt, fish, trade, and harvest wild rice along the Don River. Migrating fowl used to frequent the area before and after winter. There were remains of native camps and artifacts found in the area, including pottery fragments. The age and exact location of these sites are no longer known. With the digging out of the Don River in the 1890s, subsequent flooding over the past hundred years, and the construction of the Don Valley Parkway system in the 1950-60s, site locations would now be impossible to identify.

Link to the Cabbagetown Heritage Conservation District Committee

https://cabbagetownhcd.ca/

There is so much more history about Cabbagetown to learn. There are historical tours and the Cabbagetwon Tour of Homes which I will be volunteering at this year (watch for updates).

If you have any questions or requests for information about selling, buying or leasing in Cabbagetown please feel free to reach out to me. 

Good links:

Cabbagetown Review https://cabbagetownreview.blogspot.com

Life In Cabbagetown Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cabbagetown/