Toronto’s Liberty Village – a ‘tamed and gentrified’ industrial neighbourhood . . .

LIBERTY VILLAGE (King Street West to the Gardiner Expressway: Strachan Avenue to Dufferin Street) is a neighbourhood with a checkered past. Formerly the home of Toronto’s Central Prison and the Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women (both now demolished), it was a sprawling campus of heavy industry and, in 1914, a holding area for World War I bomb casings. <PHOTOS – 1) Toronto Central Prison, 1877 2) Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women, demolished 1969 3) Surviving Roman Catholic Chapel, Central Prison 4) Surviving Superintendent’s house, Mercer Reformatory 5) Piles of bomb casings, City of Toronto Archives>

Today, Liberty Village, has become a west end success story. Factory buildings – once inhabited by the likes of Irwin Toys, Massey Ferguson, and Toronto Carpet – are providing shelter to downtowners of all ages. A few of the city’s finest restaurants (including Mildred Pierce Temple) are in the ‘hood; there’s a farmer’s market; coffee bars; a soccer stadium; media; Artscape – which works to provide studio space for artists and other creative people; and a brewery.