Capturing our local history to ensure that it is never lost, and readily available to generations to come, is a topic close to my heart. I have been interviewing people and conducting oral history interviews for years, back to my university days. Now that I am getting a little older, it is my passion to…
Tag: Oral History
Neighbouring Glenville One Of The Region’s Many Lost Villages
Glenville was once a small but thriving neighbouring village of Newmarket in 19th-century pioneer York County that, due to the fickleness of historical fate, eventually declined and completely disappeared. Glenville’s fate was similar to other villages, like Newmarket’s Bogarttown, that disappeared, leaving nothing but crossroad signs and sometimes a millpond to mark their existence. Glenville,…
Gorman Name Lives On In Newmarket Lore, Nation’s Sporting Memories
Peter Gorman, who was a familiar figure for many of us in Newmarket, was a major force within the very fabric of our community. Mr. Gorman, like many others who found their way to our town over the years, proved to be an incredible addition to Newmarket. Arriving with his family from London, Ontario, he…
Newmarket Marked Reign Of Queen Victoria With Large-Scale Celebrations
This is the second in a two-part series on Newmarket from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s looking at the local impact of national and international events. You can read the first part here. In Newmarket, the celebration of Dominion Day 1887 was combined with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the coronation of Queen…
Newmarket And The Riel Rebellion
This article is the first in a two-part series in which I’ll highlight events from the mid-1800s to the turn of the century, a period that saw several historic events occur in Canada, which were reflected here in Newmarket. Prior to the uprising in 1837, William Lyon MacKenzie and Robert Gourlay had advocated for a…
Bob Forhan Blazed A Path In Hockey, Politics Remembered To This Day
Robert Norman “Bob” Forhan — best known as just Bob around town — seemingly excelled at every aspect of his life. Born in Newmarket in March 1936, Forhan was an athlete, politician, teacher, diplomat and community leader. My problem is just how you capture the history of a gentleman who was the modern equivalent of…
It Wasn’t An Occasion Without The Newmarket Citizens’ Band
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…
‘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…
