Thorncliffe Park once made up the farmlands of the Davies family in Leaside, East and North York.  Early in the 1920's, Mathilda Bryan and James O'Hara, two sports minded Americans from Baltimore, Maryland, purchased this land and established the Thorncliffe Race Track under the control of the Thorncliffe Park Racing and Breeding Associaton.  No outsiders held stock in this association.  After the deaths of the original owners, Thorncliffe Park remained in the hands of their descendants and such famous races as "The Clarendon", "The Prince of Wales" and the "may Dear Stakes" took place here.  Famous horses racing at Thorncliffe included George McCullagh's "Archworth", Gary Gidding's "Ten to Ace", and E.P. Taylor's "Queen's Own".

 

In May 1952, a group of Torontonians known as the Ontario Jockey Club purchased Thorncliffe Park from its Baltimore owners for a reputed million dollars.  Shortly thereafter, the Ontario Jockey Club sold Thorncliffe Park to a group of residential and industrial developers who organized Thorncliffe Park Limited, the first publicly owned real estate development company in Canada since 1929.

 

On May 2, 1961, the Kindergarten to Grade 8 pupils and staff moved into the north wing of the newly constructed school building.  During the summer, the entire school became available.  The school then consisted of 9 classrooms, a gymasium, a kindergarten, a health room and other ancillary office and staff space.

 

In September 1965, the Grade 7 and 8 pupils were transferred to Bessborough and Northlea schools because the school was so overcorwded.  The Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6 school continued to grow.

 

During 1966, a six-room addition was completed.  The original kindergarten was converted to a library and two new kindergartens were built in the new addition.  Until this new accommodation was completed, the libarary was housed on the stage, and the gymnasium was used as a kindergarten class.

 

By 1969, the enrolment was 694 and 6 portables were required.  Consequently, in 1970, a new open-plan nine-room addition was built. The school started to provide a wide range of educational programs from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 5.  The enrolment was approximately 640 students.  In the Spring of 1991, another addition was built which included a new gymnasium and change rooms for pupils.

 

In January 1998, the burgeoning enrolment expanded into a newly configured 16 unit port-a-pak complete with 14 classrooms, storage and washrooms.  By the end of 1998, we had outgrown even the port-a-pak as the enrolment had increased to 1028.  In 1999, nine porables were added as the enrolment grew to 1265.  During the summer of 2000, an additional 9 portables were added to accommodate our Junior Kindergarten to Grade 5 population of over 1350 students.  By September 2002, we had over 1450 students, 46 portables, and an enormous construction project underway, resulting in a new state of the art facility to house our 1500 students and 130 staff, starting September 2003.