Park Lawn Cemetery

Park Lawn Cemetery is a large cemetery in Toronto, Canada. It currently has some 22,000 graves. It is managed by the Park Lawn Limited Partnership, which also runs five other cemeteries in Toronto. The cemetery offers ground burials and a mausoleum for above-ground interment and cremation urns. It is located south of Bloor Street, west of the Humber River in the district of Etobicoke.

Park Lawn Cemetery & Mausoleum opened in 1892 as Humbervale Cemetery and owned by local farmers in the area, sold in 1912 and finally in 1915 to Park Lawn Cemetery Company and renamed with the current name.^[1] In 1999 Park Lawn opened Paradise Mausoleum; phase two of Paradise Mausoleum was completed in 2007.

Controversy arose in 1995 when the company had re-zoned a section of the cemetery to permit construction of a condominium building. While the building was strongly opposed by some who had purchased lots, or had residents buried there, the OMB approved the project. The cemetery has twice been attacked by vandals, once in 1990^[2] and again in 2006. Both times several youths were convicted of damaging or toppling several hundred stones.

Notable interments

The cemetery contains 96 war graves of Commonwealth service personnel, 19 from World War I and 67 from World War II.^[3]

Ice hockey players and other athletes

• Harold Ballard - minor league hockey coach, manager, National Hockey League (NHL) owner Toronto Maple Leafs
• Glen Brydson - NHL player
• Lou Cavalaris Jr. - Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame trainer
• Busher Jackson - NHL player
• Butch Keeling - NHL player, minor league coach, NHL referee
• Andy Kyle - former Cincinnati Reds outfielder, minor league baseball player, hockey player with the National Hockey Association (NHA) Toronto Blueshirts, golf player
• Jack Marks - NHL and minor league hockey player
• Lou Marsh - sprinter, Toronto Argonauts football player, Canadian military officer, NHL referee, Toronto Star sports editor
• Alex Romeril - minor league and NHA player, NHL referee, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach
• Conn Smythe - ice hockey player and coach, owner of the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs

Source: Find A Grave^[4]

Politics

• Fergy Brown, Mayor of the City of York, Ontario
• John MacBeth - Ontario PC MPP (York West and Humber) and provincial cabinet minister
• Doug Ford, Sr. - Ontario MPP Etobicoke—Humber (buried at Riverside Cemetery)^[5]
• Rob Ford, Toronto City Coucillor - Ward 2, Mayor of the City of Toronto and son of Doug Ford, Sr. (buried at Riverside Cemetery)

Source: Find A Grave^[4]

Musicians

• Jeff Healey - jazz and blues musician

Source: Find A Grave^[4]

Business

• Sir Henry Pellatt - financier, soldier and builder of Casa Loma (Forest Lawn)

Source: Find A Grave^[4]

Others

• Gordon Sinclair - journalist with CBC and Toronto Star and for CFRB 1010 radio
• Frolick Stanley - lawyer, Ukrainian Canadian activist

Source: Find A Grave^[4]

Other cemetery locations

Five other cemeteries affiliated with Park Lawn are located in or near Toronto:

• Forest Lawn - established in 1911 (crematorium in 1980) is located on the west side of Yonge Street and north of Highway 401 in North York
• Hillcrest - established in 1916 is located at Islington Avenue and Highway 7 in Woodbridge
• Riverside - established in 1892 is located at Royal York Road and Lawrence Avenue West in Etobicoke
• Sanctuary Park - established in 1927 is located at Royal York Road and The Westway (across from Riverside) in Etobicoke
• Westminister - established in 1926 is located at Bathurst Street north of Finch Avenue West in North York and located next to the Jewish burial grounds Beth Tzedec Memorial Park and overlooks the G. Lord Ross Reservoir.

References

Coordinates: 43°38′50″N 79°30′03″W / 43.647094°N 79.500954°W / 43.647094; -79.500954