, the area was home to an airfield that trained pilots. The area is named after John Armour, a farmer who bought land on the west side of
Yonge from James Hogg in 1838. In 1910 the land was purchased by developer and speculator Colonel Frederick Burton Robins, who built a large estate for himself named Strathrobyn (completed in 1914). After the war, the airfield became the base for Bishop-Barker Aeroplanes Limited, operated by war heroes
Billy Bishop and
William George Barker. It was at this site that Bishop had one of the most dangerous crashes of his career. The company folded in 1921 and the airfield was abandoned. Some development occurred during the 1920s, but the area was still too far from the centre of the city to attract many buyers. The air force returned to the area in 1943, when it leased Strathrobyn as an officer's mess and training school. It remains in service today as the
Canadian Forces College, one of the main officer training facilities of the Canadian Forces. In the 1950s, some of the neighbourhood's streets were destroyed due to the construction of Highway 401. One of the major streets in Toronto, Avenue Road, terminates at the Armour Heights neighbourhood at Bombay Avenue. There is an Avenue Road/401
Parclo A4 interchange just south of Bombay Avenue. The post-war years saw the steady development of the neighbourhood, and all the farmland was transformed into middle-class suburban housing by the beginning of the 1970s. It has become an important Jewish area of Toronto. It is just to the east of
Bathurst Manor, the most Jewish neighbourhood in Toronto. Bathurst Street is lined with a number of Jewish stores and restaurants, and synagogues such as
Adath Israel. According to the 2001 census, 12% of the population is Jewish. An important landmark is Toronto's Holocaust Memorial, which is located just north of the community in
Earl Bales Park. ==Education==