What’s in an area’s name?

Some will tell you they live in the South Junction Triangle.

Some will tell you they’re in the Junction, or near the Junction.

And some are just plain confused.

A group, calling itself Fuzzy Boundaries, called a meeting of residents to discuss the area’s history and to try and instil a strong sense of community in their neighbourhood.  

“A neighbour and I had been pondering ideas about how we could improve the neighbourhood,” said the initiative’s leader Kevin Putnam. “We realized that the area lacked a name and thought that would be a good starting point.”

For many, the area in question, which extends more or less from Davenport Rd. to the bottom of Perth Ave., and between the train tracks east of Dundas St. West and west of Lansdowne Ave., is already known as the Junction Triangle.

However others feel that name doesn’t apply to their ever-changing and eclectic neighbourhood.

“Maybe a new name will emerge or perhaps a name from the past will re-emerge,” said Putnam. “But we want all residents to have a say.”   

But many residents — especially long time residents — feel the name Junction Triangle does the neighbourhood justice.

“Some people, including myself, like the name Junction Triangle,” said local history buff Michael Monastyrskyj at the meeting. “Other people, like Kevin Putnam, point out the name was only coined in the mid-1970s and has since fallen out of use. There’s some truth to that.”

As Monastyrskyj recounts, the Junction Triangle’s railroads played a vital role in the area’s history as they brought along a lot of industry.

But along with the industry came the pollution and in the 1980s, he said, it led to tensions.

The groups who fought the pollution from the factories named their neighbourhood the Junction Triangle, so for many long-time residents, that name is a part of their history, said Monastyrskyj.

Whether residents decide to baptize their neighbourhood the Junction Triangle or give it a new name doesn’t matter as much to Fuzzy Boundaries as long as it’s the local residents who do the naming.  

“If we don’t get out in front of the issue and make a decision then we leave the door open for outsiders to label the area as we have seen property developers do in other neighbourhoods,” said Putnam.

Fuzzy Boundaries hopes to host a dialogue where possible neighbourhood names can be brainstormed.

“Whether residents have lived in the area for a month, a year or five years,” said Putnam, “they have as much right to shape the future of the neighbourhood as anyone else.”