Downtown Core, Stratford

Curtain up at the Avon, dinner reservations two doors down, and City Hall presiding over Market Square as it has since the 1890s. Victorian storefronts, independent everything, the whole festival city, condensed into a few lively blocks.

The 2021 census counts about 200 homes in the Downtown Core. More than half are apartments, most of them in buildings under five storeys, and just over a quarter are single detached houses. About two in three were built in 1960 or earlier.

The Stratford Transit terminal, at 290 Downie Street, is downtown, and all seven city bus routes start and end there. Stratford's VIA Rail station, on Shakespeare Street, is about 0.8 km from City Hall. Ontario Street (Highway 7), Huron Street (Highway 8), Downie Street and Erie Street are the main streets.

The Avon Theatre and the Studio Theatre are both downtown, along with City Hall, the Stratford Public Library and the YMCA of Stratford-Perth. Veterans Drive Parkland and Battery Park are the Downtown Core's own green spaces. The Stratford Festival Theatre and Upper Queens Park are about 1.2 km away, and the Stratford Lions Pool about 0.4 km.

• Romeo Public School — JK to Grade 6. The public school for most of the Downtown Core.
• Hamlet Public School — JK to Grade 6. The public school for the streets along Erie Street.
• Stratford Intermediate School — Grades 7 and 8. The public middle school, on St. Andrew Street, with French immersion.
• Stratford District Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school, on Forman Avenue, with French immersion.
• Anne Hathaway Public School — Grades 1 to 6 in French immersion. The public French immersion school for these streets, on Bruce Street.
• St. Ambrose Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school for most of the Downtown Core.
• St. Joseph's Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school for the west side, along Erie Street and Huron Street.
• Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic French immersion school, on Grange Street, with immersion from Junior Kindergarten.
• St. Michael Catholic Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school, on Oakdale Avenue.