Just a few days removed from our celebration of All Hallows’ Eve, I am sharing with you some of the ghost stories from my annual heritage walk for charity in downtown Newmarket. To my way of thinking, most ghost stories have a firm footing in history, whether it be an event, a historic structure or…
Tag: Oral History
Theatre Productions Once Highlight Of Newmarket’s Entertainment Scene
This topic is one that I have wanted to cover for awhile now: the History of Theatre in Newmarket. Let me begin by apologizing if I have forgotten an organization or a builder while writing this history, though I am trying to cover nearly 110 years of entertainment within our town. In this part, I’ll review…
Who’s Who Of Newmarket Attended Trinity United Church
One of the big white churches on Main Street is the Methodist Church, which became Trinity United Church in 1925. While the United Church was the result of a merger of three churches in 1925, the Methodist Church was founded in 1824. The roots of the Methodist Church in Newmarket date back to 1824, when…
Retracing The Steps Of Yonge Street’s Original Settlers
I want to take you on a little walking tour of Yonge Street, albeit only in your mind, stretching from St. John’s Sideroad, north to Green Lane, to retrace the steps of Yonge Street’s original settlers. Reading through the names of the settlers who came from the United States, post American Revolution, along with Timothy…
County Once Manned Toll Gates For Travel Along Yonge
Rather than focus on one topic this week, I am sharing several interesting “did you know” items that I have found during my research — facts many of you likely didn’t know about Newmarket. Previously, I have written about the rise of the subdivision on the fertile farms that surrounded Newmarket. At the end of the Second…
Ila Haines Kept Memories Alive Of Growing Up In Early 1900s Newmarket
I want to touch on one of the real pleasures of getting involved in our local history: the incredible people you chance to meet. Very few of you who grew up in Newmarket and area do not know the name Ila Haines. I want to share my recollections of two conversations I had with Miss…
Three Early Newmarket Business ‘Survivors’ Thrive Today
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…
Three Early Newmarket Business ‘Survivors’ Thrive Today
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…
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…
