Three Quaker meeting houses stand front and centre for having a key role in our past. A huge wave of immigrants from the Pennsylvania area of the United States began arriving in our area beginning in 1801. Known as the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), they established homesteads along Yonge Street from Aurora to Newmarket…
Tag: History
Architect John Stokes Helped Shape Face Of Early Newmarket
We are travelling back to the year 1849, when a young man who would have a profound influence on Newmarket and what was then York County arrived from England and took up residence in what is now Sharon. John Stokes was one of Newmarket’s most respected businessmen and a prolific architect, whose designs of places…
Newmarket’s Champion Drum, Bugle Corps Demanded Dedication
The concept of the drum corps traces its roots to the American tradition of the Drum and Fife from the 1800s and bugle bands of the early 1900s. Today, those drum and bugle corps have evolved, spreading throughout North America and offering a disciplined display of musical pageantry. It is from this tradition that our…
Roots Of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church More Than 185 Years Deep
When the Presbyterian Church arrived in Newmarket is uncertain. Records indicate that Presbyterianism dates to at least 1813, when a Col. Graham of the Aurora area donated 40 acres, known as Lot 25 on the 2nd Concession of King Township, for a ‘glebe’, land meant for the building of a manse. While it was later…
Newmarket’s Club 14 Welcomed Soldiers, Lit The Fire For Romances
Let’s go back to 1942, when slow waltzes and lively swing tunes were the music of the day and Newmarket was at the height of its war-time activities. A small building on Millard Avenue, known as the old I.O.O.F (International Order of Odd Fellows) Hall was in the midst of its transformation into the Soldier-Citizen…
45 Newmarket Properties Officially Designated As Heritage
This week, I thought I would tackle a topic that seems to be misunderstood by many of the people I meet on my heritage walks or during my heritage talks: the Ontario Heritage Act and how it shapes Newmarket’s heritage preservation strategy. All municipalities in Ontario fall under this act. My thanks to Dave Ruggle…
Canada’s Unofficial Anthem First Sung At Main Street Church
On July 25, 1874, the cornerstone was laid for the Christian Church (now the Christian Baptist Church) at the top of Main Street. This event was surrounded by much pomp and ceremony. Six triumphal evergreen arches were erected over Main Street as the town welcomed the Earl of Dufferin, governor general, who arrived to lay the…
Most Of Newmarket’s Growth Came At The Expense Of Farmland
I have often stopped and thought of just how the tiny little town in which I was born back in the 1950s has become a major urban centre on the brink of becoming a city before my very eyes. Let’s take a look at the urbanization of Newmarket and, in particular, the development of the subdivisions that…
Stickwood Walker House A Heritage Tribute To The Founding Family
An historic property in the news this week is the Stickwood Walker farm, located on Mulock Drive, just east of Leslie Street on the south side. This one-and-a-half storey Gothic Revival house is constructed of grey/white brick and rests on a stone rubble foundation. Over the years, it has had a number of names; the…
Many Of Newmarket’s Prominent Families Called St. Paul’s Their Spiritual Home
Over the next few months, it is my goal to highlight the history of the many churches in our town, beginning with St. Paul’s Anglican Church currently located on Church Street at D’Arcy Street. While the current structure was erected in 1884, there are many predecessors as far back as the early 1830s. Rev. Adam…
