The Newmarket Citizens’ Band has a huge celebration coming up next year, so let’s take a look at its beginnings and the massive presence it has had in our history — the band has attended every major event that has occurred in Newmarket. Newmarket citizens had long desired a band of their own dating back…
Tag: History
‘We’re Glad Ye Cam To The Toon’: When The Royal Prince Visited Newmarket
Newmarket hosted a royal visitor in September 1860 when the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, the son of Queen Victoria, came to town. The village was all abuzz that fall. It was a very big deal. Countless boys born locally that year would be named in honour of the visiting Prince. Our elected reeve, the…
Newmarket’s ‘Chicken Blood Election’ One For The Storybooks
One of the most peculiar stories from our history books is the chicken blood election. Local politics can often present us with some funny and even weird stories, and this is certainly one of them. Through the annals of municipal contests in Newmarket, occasional bits of humour flash across the pages and this is a…
‘We’re Glad Ye Cam To The Toon’: When The Royal Prince Visited Newmarket
Newmarket hosted a royal visitor in September 1860 when the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, the son of Queen Victoria, came to town. The village was all abuzz that fall. It was a very big deal. Countless boys born locally that year would be named in honour of the visiting Prince. Our elected reeve, the…
Newmarket’s ‘Chicken Blood Election’ One For The Storybooks
One of the most peculiar stories from our history books is the chicken blood election. Local politics can often present us with some funny and even weird stories, and this is certainly one of them. Through the annals of municipal contests in Newmarket, occasional bits of humour flash across the pages and this is a…
History Reminds Us, And Gives Us Hope, Newmarket: We Will Get Through This
As mentioned in my article on the Spanish Flu, history contains so many examples of us having been taken to the breach and our ancestors fighting their way back, eventually becoming even stronger than ever. The Great Depression of the 1930s is such an event. The Great Depression was a shock worldwide, both socially and…
Area Indigenous Peoples Ceded Their Territory In Later Disputed Toronto Purchase
In this second of a two-part series, History Hound Richard MacLeod highlights the story of how lands were acquired by the Canadian government, paving the way for settlers. Let’s return to the story of the development of our area before the arrival of our earliest settlers and the story of the Indigenous peoples who lived in our…
Indigenous Trails Were ‘Highways’ For Newmarket Area’s First Settlers
Let’s look back at the time before many of our ancestors arrived in 1801. In this first of a two-part series, I’ll focus on the Indigenous in this area pre-1799. The opening of the region north of the Oak Ridges Moraine, the elevated area between Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe, in large part occurred because…
The Spanish Flu Vs. Covid
This weekend on Newmarket Today, we look at a topic that is very much in the news world-wide, that of pandemics and the Canadian connection. They say that learning from the lessons of the past is essential to our species’ survival and the case of the Spanish Influenza 1918-1920 is certainly such an event. The…
Newmarket’s Boer War Soldiers Honored With Pomp And Ceremony
The story behind Newmarket’s connection with the Boer War isn’t well known. In 1899, Great Britain declared war on the Boers in South Africa. At once, Lt. Col. T.H. Lloyd of Newmarket, commanding the 12th Battalion, York Rangers, offered their services and a cablegram of acceptance was received from the Imperial War Office shortly afterward. At…
