History
The military base and the de Havilland company, including the runway and all buildings, was closed and sold to Bombardier Aerospace in 1994. Bombardier has been manufacturing and testing commercial aircraft on the site since then.
Most of the houses were built immediately post-war and into the 1960s, though some houses and condos have been recently built near Downsview station. The subway ride south to downtown Toronto is approximately 30 minutes.
The east side of Dufferin Street is primarily residential, while the west side is industrial. This street has been relegated to a quiet service road in the adjacent neighbourhood of Bathurst Manor. Immediately beside Dufferin Street, William R. Allen Road brings large traffic volumes from the Ontario Highway 401 exit just a minute south.
Downsview Park is occasionally the host of large public events. On Sunday, July 28, 2002, over 800,000 attended a Papal Mass by Pope John Paul II for World Youth Day. Also, on July 30, 2003, a massive concert labeled Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto held in support of the City of Toronto after the 2003 SARS outbreak there was held on the site. Bands such as The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Rush and Justin Timberlake entertained half a million music fans. It was reportedly the largest ticketed event in Canadian history.
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human spirit.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
“They are a sort of post-house,where the Fates
Change horses, making history change its tune,
Then spur away o’er empires and o’er states,
Leaving at last not much besides chronology,
Excepting the post-obits of theology.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)