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I have lived in ward 2 (at least according to the 2026 ward boundaries) for the past 6 years, and I have worked in ward 2 for 5. I think it’s unfortunate that it gets the reputation that it does and any time that outsiders tend to write about it they largely ignore its rich history and zoom in on the pavement, Argyle Mall or the Delmar. We do love our Delmar but, there’s more!
Dundas St east (formerly often referred to as Highway 2) used to be a main city gateway before the 401 was built in the 50’s. Clear with its still standing collection of 5 historical motels all in their 7th decade, albeit admittedly as with most things, not in the same condition that you see in the original pictures. This stretch is a victim of change but still survives and hasn’t been bulldozed for new plazas which is nice.
I moved here from Old North which while beautiful often felt out of touch with old money and oversized houses, where everyone had a lawn maintenance company and built in sprinkler systems. Moving into my particular neighbourhood of Pottersburg felt like the “just right” bowl of porridge from the Goldilocks tale. We are salt of the earth. We let our grass die when there is a drought and we don’t call the city to come fix what plow did to our lawn after a hard winter. I think we are an area with some of the lowest population density, so you can still find a parking spot at the shops and there are lot of single family (and heritage) homes or bungalows with a back yard larger than a postage stamp and fully grown trees. In spite of the construction, it’s still shockingly easy to move around in ward 2.
People often forget that The East Lions Community centre build faced a major challenge of happening during Covid. Considering that a lone, it’s not hard to understand why the build time took longer and the logistics got complicated. The community centre is beautiful including its outdoor amenities and boasts arguably the best user friendly indoor pool in the city. (The short term pool closure due to an isolated incident of vandalism to the windows, should sort out the last of its problems.) Contrary to the quoted social media comment about Walmart, I’d argue that the well used community centre is the best, most recent thing to happen to ward 2, if it wasn’t for the impressive new Humane society (which has called ward 2 home for over a century) and the addition of one of the city’s largest residential builds on the old psychiatric hospital grounds!
As for ward 2’s best kept secret, definitely beautiful Kiwanis Park which stretches nearly the entire north south length of the ward continuing to cross nearly the entire north south length of ward 1 as well. The old stone city boundary marker from before the city annexed Pottersburg actually still stands buried in the bushes along its north side.
There’s no argument that Gibraltars is an icon but its sister - the Western Fair Market has definitely stolen the show on harvesting potential. Maybe someday Gibraltar’s will grow into its old shoes.
Wow, thanks for this fulsome answer! We appreciate the extra information and opinions, which add to the richness of the article. Thanks for taking the time to reply!
I have lived in ward 2 (at least according to the 2026 ward boundaries) for the past 6 years, and I have worked in ward 2 for 5. I think it’s unfortunate that it gets the reputation that it does and any time that outsiders tend to write about it they largely ignore its rich history and zoom in on the pavement, Argyle Mall or the Delmar. We do love our Delmar but, there’s more!
Dundas St east (formerly often referred to as Highway 2) used to be a main city gateway before the 401 was built in the 50’s. Clear with its still standing collection of 5 historical motels all in their 7th decade, albeit admittedly as with most things, not in the same condition that you see in the original pictures. This stretch is a victim of change but still survives and hasn’t been bulldozed for new plazas which is nice.
I moved here from Old North which while beautiful often felt out of touch with old money and oversized houses, where everyone had a lawn maintenance company and built in sprinkler systems. Moving into my particular neighbourhood of Pottersburg felt like the “just right” bowl of porridge from the Goldilocks tale. We are salt of the earth. We let our grass die when there is a drought and we don’t call the city to come fix what plow did to our lawn after a hard winter. I think we are an area with some of the lowest population density, so you can still find a parking spot at the shops and there are lot of single family (and heritage) homes or bungalows with a back yard larger than a postage stamp and fully grown trees. In spite of the construction, it’s still shockingly easy to move around in ward 2.
People often forget that The East Lions Community centre build faced a major challenge of happening during Covid. Considering that a lone, it’s not hard to understand why the build time took longer and the logistics got complicated. The community centre is beautiful including its outdoor amenities and boasts arguably the best user friendly indoor pool in the city. (The short term pool closure due to an isolated incident of vandalism to the windows, should sort out the last of its problems.) Contrary to the quoted social media comment about Walmart, I’d argue that the well used community centre is the best, most recent thing to happen to ward 2, if it wasn’t for the impressive new Humane society (which has called ward 2 home for over a century) and the addition of one of the city’s largest residential builds on the old psychiatric hospital grounds!
As for ward 2’s best kept secret, definitely beautiful Kiwanis Park which stretches nearly the entire north south length of the ward continuing to cross nearly the entire north south length of ward 1 as well. The old stone city boundary marker from before the city annexed Pottersburg actually still stands buried in the bushes along its north side.
There’s no argument that Gibraltars is an icon but its sister - the Western Fair Market has definitely stolen the show on harvesting potential. Maybe someday Gibraltar’s will grow into its old shoes.
Wow, thanks for this fulsome answer! We appreciate the extra information and opinions, which add to the richness of the article. Thanks for taking the time to reply!