Formerly known as St. Andrew’s, Thistletown was largely a rural, farming area throughout most of its history. It was named Thistletown after a local physician, Dr. William Thistle, and John Grubb was a successful businessman that lived here and built up most of this area in the mid-1800s. By the early 1900s, this area was still quite small and rural with only a few farms, cottages and some small homes around the main area of Albion Road and Islington Avenue.

In the 1950s and 60s, this area started to grow and many new homes were built here as Toronto went through a housing boom. Today, Thistletown has grown into a diverse area of Toronto.