High Park
Toronto'S Largest Public Park At About 161 Hectares, Given To The City By John Howard In 1873 On Condition It Remain Free To The Public Forever, And Holding One Of The Last Remnants Of Black Oak Savannah In Ontario · Toronto, Ontario
John Howard was Toronto's first city surveyor, and in 1873 he gave his estate to the city on the condition that it REMAIN FREE TO THE PUBLIC FOREVER. It still is. A hundred and sixty-one hectares makes it Toronto's largest park, and unusually for a city park a substantial part of it was never landscaped - the western half holds one of the last significant remnants of BLACK OAK SAVANNAH in Ontario, a rare fire-dependent ecosystem that the city now maintains with controlled burns. There is also Grenadier Pond, a small free zoo that has been there since the 1890s, an outdoor theatre that stages Shakespeare each summer, and about thirty CHERRY TREES GIVEN BY JAPAN IN 1959 whose blossom every spring produces a crowd so large the city has repeatedly had to close the park to cars and sometimes to people. It is the green space Toronto actually uses.
1873 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
THE PARK IS OPEN ALL YEAR AND IS FREE - Howard's 1873 condition still stands and there is no admission to the park, the zoo or the trails. VEHICLE ACCESS IS RESTRICTED: cars have been banned from the park's interior roads on weekends and holidays, and DURING CHERRY BLOSSOM SEASON THE PARK IS ROUTINELY CLOSED TO VEHICLES ENTIRELY and has on occasion been closed to the public altogether to manage crowds - CHECK THE CITY'S ANNOUNCEMENTS BEFORE GOING IN BLOSSOM SEASON. THE BLOOM IS BRIEF AND ITS DATE MOVES, typically falling somewhere between late April and mid-May and lasting under two weeks. The zoo is free and open daily. Shakespeare in High Park runs summer evenings on its own ticketed or pay-what-you-can schedule. High Park station on Line 2 is at the north-east corner.