| Christie Pits | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Type | Urban park and recreational sport facility |
| Location | 750 Bloor Street West Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Coordinates | 43°39′53″N 79°25′15″W / 43.66472°N 79.42083°W |
| Area | 21.9 acres (8.9 ha) |
| Created | 1909 (as Willowvale Park) |
| Operated by | Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division |
| Public transit access | Christie station |
| Website | www |
Christie Pits (officially Willowvale Park until 1983) is a public recreational area in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 750 Bloor Street West at Christie Street,[1] just west of the Toronto Transit Commission's Christie subway station.
The park has an area of 21.9 acres (8.9 ha), about half of which is grassed picnic areas, the rest being various sports fields. Sports facilities on the site include three baseball diamonds (one full-sized and fenced named "Dominico Field"), basketball courts, a soccer/rugby/football field, and the Alex Duff Memorial Outdoor Pool; and a splash pad and adjacent outdoor ice rink which are located on the west edge of the park at 779 Crawford Street.[2]
The sides of the pits are highly sloped, as a result of which most of the area of the park sits well below street level. The slopes are used in winter for tobogganing and related activities. Garrison Creek runs under the park, converted to a storm sewer at the turn of the 20th century.
The park was named after the Christie Sand Pits which were on the location until the early 1900s. The sand pits had been named after Christie Street, which was named after Christy MacDougall, wife of Peter MacDougall, a landowner in the area. Historical documents indicate that the street was given her name as early as 1835.[3] The official name of the park, Willowvale Park, never caught on, and the common name for the park since its days as a sand pit, Christie Pits, was adopted as the park's official name in 1983.[4][5]
- ^ "Christie Pits". toronto.ca. City of Toronto. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
- ^ "Alex Duff Outdoor Pool". Toronto Parks. City of Toronto. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
- ^ "Christie – Transit Toronto – Subway Station Database". Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ Zohar, Gil. "Notes on the history of Christie Pits". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ Steve MacKinnon; Karen Teeple; Michelle Dale (2009). Toronto's Visual Legacy: Official City Photography from 1856 to the Present. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company Limited. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-55277-408-3.