Before it was a public park, the site at the northwest corner of Bloor and Chrsitie Streets – the latter of which was named after William Mellis Christie, who helped found what is today the Mr. Christie cookie company – was known as the Christie Sand Pits. It was a quarry of sand, gravel and clay, excavated over Garrison Creek, which once flowed southeast through Toronto.
In 1907, the city of Toronto purchased the land, and a year later opened it to the public as Willowvale Park. However, it continued to be commonly known as Christie Pits, and is today officially identified as such on signs near park's entrances.
The Christie Pits Riot
In the summer of 1933, Christie Pits was the site of one of the most notorious riots in Toronto history. At the time, the neighbourhood around Willowvale Park was largely British Protestant. With Hitler having recently come to power in Germany, anti-Seimitism was common, and high temperatures combined with a struggling economy to exacerbate ethnic tensions in the area.
The riot began on August 16, at the end of a baseball game between the St. Peter’s and Harbord Playground teams, when members of a local group known as the Pit Gang unfurled a sheet adorned with a swastika symbol. The Harbord Playground team was predominantly Jewish. When their supporters saw the Nazi symbol, they began fighting with the Pit Gang.
Although facts about the size and extremity of the ensuing riot are disputed, it is known to have involved area residents, some of whom used baseball bats and other makeshift weapons, and to have lasted six hours.
In 2008, to mark the 75th anniversary of the riots, Heritage Toronto erected a plaque at Christie Pits describing the incident and its fallout.
Community Activities and Development
Today, Christie Pits offers a variety of activities for visitors. There are three baseball diamonds, the largest of which is the home field of the Toronto Maple Leafs Intercounty Baseball Club. There are also basketball courts, a soccer field, childrens’ playgrounds, a hockey rink in winter, and a public swimming area in the summer. The park's steep slopes are a popular spot for tobogganing.
Recently, the community group Friends of Christie Pits began running a weekly summertime pizza cookout at the wood-fired oven in the park. Residents are invited to come and participate every Friday from five to seven P.M. There is also a community garden, managed by the Christie Pits Community Garden Group and opened for the first time in May 2009, where area residents can book individual plots or collaborate on communal growing spaces.
