The Thorncliffe Park area was originally established by George Taylor in the early 1800's. The practice at this time was to give your house a name and Taylor named his home "Thorn Cliff".

In 1888, George Taylor's daughter Margaret and her husband Robert Davies - an outstanding brewer - purchased the Taylor property and organized Thorncliffe farms, which became one of the leading breeders of race horses in Canada.

After Robert Davies' death in 1916 his sons sold the farms to a company of investors from Baltimore Maryland.

Thorncliffe's new owners managed a popular race track on this site from 1920 until 1952, when the town was purchased by the Ontario Jockey Club. Thorncliffe was then resold to Thorncliffe Park Ltd., which established the present day neighborhood in the late 1950's and early 1960's.

Today, the old racetrack site is remembered by two streets named Grandstand Place and Milepost Place and the number of buildings that took on racetrack stable names like Churchill, Maple Glen and Wellow Glen.

Retail institutions were concentrated in a single shopping mall, now called the East York Town Center, between Thorncliffe Park Drive at Overlea Boulevard.

Many residents on Thorncliffe Park Drive are at extensive walking distance from shops, admitting that this problem is reduced a little, even in winter, by well kept sidewalks and walkways and by frequent bus service.