Northglen

Northglen is the northwest corner of built-up Oshawa, bounded by Rossland Road West to the south, by Taunton Road West to the north and by the Whitby town line to the west. Its east edge follows the Oshawa Creek valley near Rossland and then Stevenson Road North farther up, where the City's community map hands over to Centennial; some real estate maps run the creek as the line the whole way, so treat the strip between Stevenson and the creek as roughly drawn. Thornton Road North runs up the middle and splits the 1960s and 1970s streets on its east side from the newer subdivision on its west. The Oshawa Executive Airport occupies the block below Taunton Road between Thornton and the north end of Stevenson.

East of Thornton Road, the streets north of Rossland such as Westdale Street and the crescents around it hold the community's first houses: three-bedroom bungalows and raised bungalows from the early 1960s, then back-splits, side-splits and colonial two-storeys with attached garages through the 1970s, most on lots in the 50 to 65 foot range, some deeper where the street backs onto the creek valley or the airport fence. Basements are full height and many have been finished, with and without permits. West of Thornton, the 1990s subdivision around Snowbird Street and Beaver Valley Crescent brought two-storeys with four bedrooms, double garages, ensuite baths and 40-foot lots, and its houses are now due for their first roofs and furnaces. The most recent additions are a handful of custom and builder infill houses on Stevenson Road North and the lots created where original owners sold off a wide yard. There are almost no condominiums here; Northglen is a detached community by design, with a scattering of semis near Rossland.

Rossland Road West carries the 916 PULSE, which runs from the Pickering Parkway Terminal across Whitby and Oshawa to Harmony and Conlin, and Taunton Road West is served by the 915 PULSE toward Ajax GO and by the 905 on its run between Whitby GO and Simcoe Street. Thornton Road North itself has no frequent service, so most residents drive. Whitby GO station, reached down Thickson or Brock, is about ten minutes away, and Oshawa GO, at Bloor Street West, takes a comparable time down Thornton Road. Highway 401 is reached at the Thickson Road or Stevenson Road ramps, and Highway 407 reportedly has an interchange at Thornton Road North a short drive north, with Highway 412 to the west linking the two highways at Lake Ridge Road. For cycling, the Oshawa Creek path on the east edge runs south toward downtown, and the City has a Thornton Road North bike lane in its capital plan.

Public elementary assignments split by block: Durham District School Board addresses in the older streets have generally fed Adelaide McLaughlin Public School on Stevenson Road North, while others go east to Sunset Heights on Mohawk Street, so put the address into the board's finder. R.S. McLaughlin Collegiate at 570 Stevenson Road North is the public secondary school. Catholic families, whose board is Durham Catholic District School Board, have their high school inside Northglen: Monsignor Paul Dwyer at 700 Stevenson Road North, with St. Christopher Catholic School on Annapolis Avenue and Sir Albert Love Catholic School serving the elementary grades depending on the street. Francophone families have Viamonde on the public side and MonAvenir on the Catholic side, each with Oshawa schools. Trent University Durham is a short drive down Thornton Road South, and Durham College's second campus in Whitby, off Champlain Avenue, is closer than the Simcoe Street campus.

Northglen Park and Sunnyside Park give the older streets their playgrounds and ball diamonds, and the Oshawa Creek valley on the east side offers the closest real walk, with paths dropping down to the water from the ends of several streets. The airport doubles as a spectacle: the fence line along Taunton draws plane-watchers, and the flight schools based there keep the pattern busy on fair-weather weekends. For a pool or a gym, residents split between the Civic Recreation Complex on Thornton Road South and the Delpark Homes Centre, the former Legends Centre up on Harmony Road North. Shopping is a matter of direction: Taunton Road West and Rossland Road West have the local plazas, Thickson Road North in Whitby holds the big-box retail, and the Oshawa Centre is ten minutes' drive south via Stevenson Road. Lakeridge Health Oshawa on Simcoe Street is the hospital, about fifteen minutes away, and the closest public library is the Northview branch, on Beatrice Street East.

Northglen suits the buyer who values a wide lot, a mature street and a solid 1960s or 1970s house over new finishes, and who has the budget or the skills to update it. It works for families around R.S. McLaughlin and Dwyer, for Whitby households who want more house for the money a few hundred metres over the line, and for 401 commuters heading west. It will not work for anyone unable to live with light aircraft overhead, who needs to walk to frequent transit, or who wants a brand-new open-concept house; those buyers are better served in Windfields or the Whitby subdivisions to the west.