Over the last year, I have written about the effects of fire and flood and other misadventures that have altered the landscape of Newmarket, as well as highlighted businesses and merchants of old and their contributions to the growth of our community. This week I want to take a brief look at three survivors, companies…
Tag: Oral History
Let’s Go Back To A Year Of Change For Newmarket: 1906
Thanks to input from our readers, I get great ideas for future articles and, this weekend, I bring you one of those ideas. The concept is to pick a year from our past and detail what happened in Newmarket that year. I have chosen 1906, a year, I would argue, that was the beginning of…
Meeting Houses Reminder Of Newmarket’s Early Quaker Settlers
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…
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 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…
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…
History of Newmarket High School 3
THIRD HIGH SCHOOL (1894 – 1928) Immediately following the fire of March 16, 1893 plans were begun for a replacement. Mr. Oliver E. Tench* was engaged as architect and Wm. Cane and Sons were awarded the contract for construction. *Architect for King George and Stuart Scott Schools and associate architect for Pickering College. At 4…
History of Newmarket High School 2
INTRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN ONTARIO The early Grammar Schools in Upper Canada or Canada West (Ontario) provided haphazard education. A Grammar School had been established in Newmarket in 1843 but until 1853 there had been no official course, no school inspectors, and no local tax revenue to support education. The qualifications for admittance to…
History of Newmarket High School 1
CONTENTS FOREWARD Page 1 DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN ONTARIO Page 6 GRAMMAR HIGH SCHOOL 1843 to 1875 Page 9 – 12 SECOND HIGH SCHOOL 1877 to 1893 Page 13 – 15 THIRD HIGH SCHOOL 1894 to 1928 Page 16 – 18 FOURTH HIGH SCHOOL 1929 Page 19 – 20 FORMATION OF HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICTS Page 21 – 22 NORTH WING…
Newmarket Had A Longtime Romance With The Train
As a young boy, I used to love to stand on the Queen Street bridge and watch the train go by, particularly the trains making their way across the country, and dream of places far, far away. This week, let’s look at the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) and its descendant, the Canadian National Railway (CNR),…
