News   Mar 28, 2024
 22     0 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 530     0 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 345     0 

Murphy Village???

EVCco

Senior Member
Member Bio
Joined
Apr 1, 2010
Messages
1,032
Reaction score
32
Location
The Big Toe
I've never heard of this place before, but while browsing Google Earth I found it marked as a neighbourhood, south of Dorset Park, at Lawrence & Kennedy.

It's also listed on the Century 21 site:
http://www.century21.ca/CA/ON/Toronto/Neighbourhoods/Murphy_Village

Apparently not much info about it anywhere else though.

Anyone know the story behind this name? There's no "Murphy" streets or parks anywhere in the area. Is this a historic name or some new re-branding?
 
I figured something was up:

http://gothamist.com/2012/12/07/google_maps_embraces_new_tiny_neigh.php

Some other fake/unofficial (or, perhaps, just new to me) neighbourhoods I've noticed on Google Maps of Toronto popping up over the past little while:

Ancaster
Bathurst Manor
Ben Jungle
Briar Hill-Belgravia
Clanton Park
Cricket Club
Eatonville
Golfdale Gardens
Islington-City Centre West
Parma Court
St. Andrews
The Pocket
Thompson Orchard
West Bend


...not to mention numerous other redundantly named intersection/area mash-ups
 
I figured something was up:

http://gothamist.com/2012/12/07/google_maps_embraces_new_tiny_neigh.php

Some other fake/unofficial (or, perhaps, just new to me) neighbourhoods I've noticed on Google Maps of Toronto popping up over the past little while:

Ancaster
Bathurst Manor
Ben Jungle
Briar Hill-Belgravia
Clanton Park
Cricket Club
Eatonville
Golfdale Gardens
Islington-City Centre West
Parma Court
St. Andrews
The Pocket
Thompson Orchard
West Bend


...not to mention numerous other redundantly named intersection/area mash-ups

The West Bend is north-west of Dundas/Bloor. They've been using that name for years:
http://thewestbend.ca/

Eatonville has an interesting history behind it.... Even the TPL branch at East Mall and Burnhamthorpe uses that name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eatonville,_Toronto

-Vic
 
When I was looking for a place, I was directed to the Pocket by my agent. It's definitely unofficial but there is a grassroots movement there to fix up the area and create community identity. It's quite nice, and isolated from the hubbub of the Danforth but wasn't right for me. Good idea for branding, thought!
 
^That's intersting about Eatonville.
Seems to be based on historical principles, so no problem there.

The others strike me more as "enclaves" than true neighbourhoods, though. Or perhaps I just have trouble accepting neighbourhood names younger than I am - especially for areas that have already been around for decades (or over a century) without them...or that already had names, like "West Bend" which was already part of "West Toronto" as that website notes (and the association itself was also "formerly under the name of the Dundas West Residents Association.")

For maps, at least, I suppose I prefer larger, amorphous "district"-type names, with solid historical backgrounds. When every little nook and cranny starts coming up with its own cutesy-pie brands then the map gets cluttered-up pretty quick. And, as these are usually real estate/exclusivity-driven, all it takes is for some high profile crime to occur in the area, or just some guy to stop cutting his lawn, before you start seeing "The North Pocket" vs "The South Pocket", then "The New North Pocket", then "New North Pocket Heights", then another complete re-branding and the cycle begins again.
 
My favourite map of Toronto neighbourhoods is the one made by The Star. They consulted with the public and went through multiple revisions.

It's a little old, so the website where you can find it is a little messed up. Scroll down, it's there.
http://www3.thestar.com/static/googlemaps/starmaps.html?xml=090120_shapetool_neigbourhoods.xml


Interesting. I was wondering if this was from a survey of just their readership, or the public in general.
Here's their blog showing the history of the project:
http://thestar.blogs.com/maps/neighbourhood-project

There's a lot of gaps in the map (what look to be mostly the industrial areas of the city, but a lot of residential areas too) - and some rather strange (at least, to me) results. My own neighbourhood, for instance, "Woodbine Heights," isn't listed - but is, instead, incorporated into some vast, undifferentiated "East York." Meanwhile, microscopic enclaves like "Heathbridge Park" and "Trefann Court" appear.
And there seems to be more unfamiliar places than even the Google Map lists...
"Town and Country"
"Corinthian"
"Fifeshire"
"Dublin Heights"
"Caribou Park"
"Wellington Place"
"U of T Scarborough Campus" is a neighbourhood, but "Ionview" isn't?
...at least they rejected "Tritown" - wherever that's suposed to be!

I do certainly agree with the comments in the first blog entry regarding the media referring to things happening somewhere in "the city's 'east end'," instead of Scarborough, etc. That's something which has bothered me for a long time.
Unfortunately, this practice still seems to be in place with a number of media outlets.
 

Back
Top