Another ‘Did You Know’ item from our rich local history!
I have related the story of Yonge Street’s toll booths in a few of my articles on Newmarket Today and as part of a collection of small historical facts online I have often been asked to expand on the topic and identify the location of more toll booths along Yonge Street in York Region.
Along Yonge Street, the concept of toll booths was associated with the Yonge Street Turnpike Trust, which operated from the early 19th century to raise money for road improvements. Travellers paid tolls at gates placed at intervals along the highway.
Let us begin with those Yonge Street Toll Gates located in the Newmarket Area. Perhaps the best-documented toll gate near Newmarket was located at Armitage (south of Newmarket) near present-day Yonge Street and Mulock Drive. This gate collected tolls from travellers entering or leaving Newmarket along Yonge Street. Why was it situated there? It was situated near the historic hamlet of Armitage, which at the time was one of the earliest settlements in the area.
The Armitage gate became a familiar landmark for farmers bringing their produce to Newmarket, stagecoaches travelling between Toronto and Lake Simcoe and travellers stopping at nearby inns such as Gamble’s Inn (“Bucket of Blood”).
Because Newmarket was becoming the principal market centre north of Toronto, the toll gate south of town was one of the busiest along upper Yonge Street.
Other Yonge Street toll gates in York County were located approximately every 10 to 12 miles, including those in:
- Richmond Hill
- Thornhill
- King Township vicinity
- Aurora vicinity
- Further north towards Holland Landing and Bradford (north od what is now Green Lane)
The tollgate keeper lived in a small cottage beside the road. A long wooden gate or swinging barrier crossed the highway. Travellers were charged according to the number of horses, wagons or carriages and livestock you were driving along the road.
As one would expect, local residents would often know routes around the tolls and sometimes used side roads to avoid paying.
By the late 1800s, toll roads had become unpopular. Counties and municipalities increasingly funded road maintenance through taxation instead of direct user fees. The Yonge Street toll gates were eventually removed, and travel through Newmarket became free.
From a local-history perspective, if one stood today near Yonge Street and Mulock Drive, one would be very close to the historic crossroads where travellers encountered the Armitage settlement, Gamble’s Inn (“Bucket of Blood”), said Yonge Street toll gate, and the southern entrance to Newmarket.
This, of course, made Armitage one of the most important transportation nodes in early Newmarket history.
I hope that you have found this tiny bit of history of interest
Be well and enjoy your weekend.
The History Hound
