Editing Wimbledon, London (section)

===19th-century development===
[[File:Wimbledon map.jpg|thumb|Wimbledon section of [[Edward Stanford]]'s 1871 map of London]]

The first decades of the 19th century were relatively quiet for Wimbledon, with a stable rural population coexisting alongside nobility and wealthy merchants from the city. Renewed upheaval came in 1838, when the opening of the [[London and South Western Railway]] (L&SWR) brought a station to the south-east of the village, at the bottom of Wimbledon Hill. The location of the station shifted the focus of the town's subsequent growth away from the original village centre.

For several years Wimbledon Park was leased to the [[Edward St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset|Duke of Somerset]], who briefly in the 1820s employed a young [[Joseph Paxton]] as one of his gardeners, but in the 1840s the Spencer family sold the park off as building land. A period of residential development began with large detached houses in the north of the park. In 1864, the Spencers attempted to get parliamentary permission<ref name=Gazette1>{{London Gazette |date=25 November 1864 |issue=22915 |pages=5834–5835}}</ref> to [[enclosure|enclose]] the common as a new park with a house and gardens and to sell part for building. Following an enquiry, permission was refused and a board of conservators was established in 1871 to take ownership of the common and preserve it in its natural condition.<ref name=Gazette2>{{London Gazette |date=25 November 1870 |issue=23682 |pages=5244–5245}}</ref><ref name=Gazette3>{{London Gazette |date=18 August 1871 |issue=23768 |page=3643}}</ref>

In the second half of the century, Wimbledon experienced a very rapid expansion of its population. From under 2,700 residents recorded in the 1851 census, the population grew by a minimum of 60 per cent each decade up to 1901, to increase fifteen-fold in fifty years. Large numbers of villas and terraced houses were built along the roads from the centre towards neighbouring Putney, [[Merton Park]] and [[Raynes Park]].

Transport links improved further with railway lines to Croydon (Wimbledon and Croydon Railway, opened in 1855) and Tooting (Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway, opened in 1868). The [[District Railway]] (now the [[London Underground]] [[District line]]) extended its service over new tracks from Putney in 1889.

The commercial and civic development of the town also accelerated. Ely's [[department store]] opened in 1876 and shops began to stretch along Broadway towards Merton. Wimbledon built its first police station in 1870. Cultural developments included a Literary Institute by the early 1860s and the opening of Wimbledon Library in 1887. The religious needs of the growing population led to an [[Anglican]] church-building programme, starting with the rebuilding of St Mary's Church in 1849 and the construction of Christ Church (1859) and Trinity Church (1862).

Street names reflect events: Denmark Road, Denmark Avenue and the ''Alexandra'' pub on Wimbledon Hill mark the marriage of [[Edward VII|Edward, Prince of Wales]], to Princess [[Alexandra of Denmark]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/news/10267280.heritage-wimbledons-danish-link-and-where-our-pub-names-come-from/|title=Wimbledon's Danish link and where our pub names come from|website=Wimbledon Times|date=8 March 2013 |access-date=11 June 2022}}</ref>

The change of character of Wimbledon from village to small town was recognised under the [[Local Government Act 1894]], which formed Wimbledon Urban District with an elected [[Local Government in the United Kingdom|council]].