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Camp Yungvelt
Demolished Recreational in Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Nov 13 2011
| Recent status | Demolished |
| Location # | 3480 |
Nestled in the trees to the east of Church Street, just north of its junction with Rossland Road West in Ajax, sits a little cluster of buildings all in a row, hidden from view, abandoned and forgotten by time.
For forty-five years, this site served as a camp for Jewish children. Camp Yungfeld (Youth World) was established by the Toronto Workmen's Circle in 1925, as an extension of the school curriculum of its two yiddish secular schools in Toronto, on Beverly and on Mariah Streets. The original site was on Lake Wilcox, but moved to the Pickering site after its first year.
In 1927, Itche Goldberg took over as camp director. Goldberg is an internationally reknown Yiddish writer of children't books, poet and literary critic. He was a passionate life long activitist for the preservation of the Yiddish language and secular Yiddish culture. At Camp Yungvelt, he created "Yungvar", a journal recording camp activities, which eventually became a children's magazine.
Camp Yungvelt closed its doors in 1971, selling the land. One of the cabins was lost to a fire on July 26th, 2011. Boarded up and abandoned, these buildings that hold so much history and so many memories, quietly await their fate, most likely victims of a wrecking ball making way for a widening of Rossland Road.
On Nov 14th, 2009 an alumni reunion took place at the Workmen's Circle Centre.
2012 - owner lives on site
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Drove past here today. They're cutting down all the trees on the property and there's a Coughlan Homes fence around it. There's a development proposal sign which I believe said they're going to build a subdivision. It appears as though this location doesn't have much time left.
last summer's fire here was in fact an arson...I have the misfortune of knowing the idiots who were responsible. Also: Is anyone aware of the current ownership situation? I have heard that the owner of the land lives in one of the buildings, close to church street, meaning the property may not be fully abandoned and thus may pose a risk to explorers. (info as of last summer)
3 years ago
Important info update: These buildings have been replaced with a Coughlan Homes townhouse development. A commemorative wall was built adjacent the complex's pool and states the actual youth camp and facilities were on the east side of Duffins Creek - the current site of Devonside Park and another string of new townhomes. Apparently the West side of the creek, the site this page claims is the youth camp, was a cottage settlement of Workmen's Circle families. The cottages were passed on through generations until abandonment in the 1980s. There was also a dam built to create a larger swimming area. I found this dam crumbled in a side trail off Devonside Park earlier today. Those trails cover the youth camp property and some foundations and pipes are still visible.