West Hill, Toronto

West Hill is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the eastern end of the city, in the former suburb of Scarborough. It is roughly bounded by Scarborough Golf Club Road and a branch of Highland Creek on the west, the CNR railway tracks and Lake Ontario on the south, and Highland Creek on the north-east. The name comes from its elevated position on the west side of Highland Creek, a deep glacial ravine.The section east of Manse Road, which roughly splits this neighbourhood in half, is often now referred to as the Manse Valley neighbourhood. It has less commercial development and more industrial development than the western part of the neighbourhood. However, both parts were treated as part of West Hill prior to development.Principal featuresIn the mid 19th century, what is now West Hill was part of the larger Highland Creek community, which extended from today’s Galloway Rd over to the Pickering border. In 1862, Eli Shackleton took over as postmaster in Highland Creek and moved the post office from the east side of the Highland Creek valley to the west. Following Shackleton’s tenure as postmaster, the post office was relocated back to the east side of the valley. In 1879, John Richardson opened a new post office on the west side of the valley officially known as “West Hill”. From 1906 until the closing of the line in 1936, West Hill was the eastern terminus of the Toronto and Scarborough Electric Railway, a street-car line. West Hill Public School is one of the oldest in Toronto, a school having been built on the present site in the 1880s, although the original building was replaced by a modern facility in 1994. West Hill Collegiate Institute is also an older high school in Scarborough, having been opened in 1955. The other major high schools serving the area are Sir Oliver Mowat Collegiate Institute on the other side of Highland Creek and Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute in the Guildwood neighbourhood.