This weekend on Newmarket Today we will examine an organization which has been focused on contributing to natural beauty and its communal beauty for over 146 years in Newmarket. The Newmarket Horticultural Society has been dedicated to making Newmarket a more pleasant place to live for all of us. Perhaps before we look at the…
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The Newmarket Legion Soap Box Derby
For this weekend’ article on Newmarket Today I turn my attention to an annual event which captured the heart of the whole community for generations and in which many of us participated in our youth. That event is the Newmarket Legion’s annual ‘Soap Box Derby.’ The Newmarket Legion ‘Soapbox Derby’ was a beloved annual event…
An Examination of Newmarket’s Historic Water Table
This weekend my article for Newmarket Today will examine the ‘water works’ in the Newmarket area, a topic that I have touched upon in previous articles but have never examined in any detail. Over the years, many people have commented on the existence of small streams or creeks scattered around town and have asked me…
Looking Back At The Origins of NHS Student Council and Yearbooks
I have written a series of columns on the history of Newmarket High School, from its humble beginning as a grammar school to a series of buildings of higher learning that were prone to fire. The moniker ‘the Phoenix’ is well placed regarding this educational institution given its ability to rise from its ashes time and time again….
Some Winter Storms Go Down In History
In this week’s column, History Hound Richard MacLeod recalls when winter was really winter, and some of ‘storms of the century’ As winters go in southern Ontario, this year’s has been a breeze so far, but it hasn’t always been so. Let’s look back at some of those winters where we experienced some of our…
Artist Dorothy Clark McClure Renowned As ‘Keeper of Our Past’
Our region’s history has a golden period that included a bevy of local artists. Among them were the likes of Isabel VanZant, George Luesby, Dorothy Clark McClure and many more. This column will focus on one of these artists from the golden age of local heritage art, the pride of Aurora, Dorothy Clark McClure. I both knew and admired…
Newmarket Historian Dedicated Years To Sharing Town’s Past
This column highlights the life and contributions of an individual who I believe is ‘the mother of Newmarket history,’ Ethel Willson Trewhella. If you have followed my columns, presentations, or videos over the past 40 years, you know her work is the foundation on which I and other local historians have built our narratives. She,…
Prospect Of Bypass Drives Quest To Find Lost Fort
This topic is one that resonates both from our historic past and the events currently before us — the Bradford Bypass extension. I hope to show a knowledge of our past can quite often benefit us when it comes to current issues. One of the first major export industries in our area was the fur…
Some Of Aviation’s Best Minds Designed, Built Arrow
This is the second article in a series on the Avro Arrow story, exploring the design and construction phases of the storied craft. Next, the story continues with Feb. 20, 1959, the day that became known as Black Friday in Canada, the day the Avro Arrow project was cancelled. The infamous Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was unveiled to…
The Final Days Of The Avro Arrow
In this final instalment of my three-part series on Canada’s Avro Arrow, I will look at the cancellation and fallout from the project’s termination, including its effect locally. In a future column, I will look at some of the many conspiracies that surrounded its demise. After all, no piece of history is immune to a…