Let’s visit the one-room schoolhouse that once sat on the southwest corner of Yonge Street and Polar Bank Sideroad, which is now Green Lane. Doreen Needler, the mother on one of my childhood friends, was involved both in the anniversary festivities and the placing of the cairn to commemorate the school, and in tribute to…
Tag: Oral History
Southern Ontario Was Home To 2 Notorious Residential Schools
This is part two of my two-part series on the history of the residential school system,with a focus on southern Ontario. You can read part one here. In Ontario, there were roughly 15 residential schools and 13 of those were attended by Nishnawbe Aski Nation children. I have listed below the Ontario schools and posted a…
Residential Schools An Appalling Chapter In Canada’s History
This is the first of a two-part series on residential schools in Canada. In part one, we will examine the subject from a national perspective, while in part two, we will narrow our focus to southern Ontario. I hope to start the discussion by addressing some facts that you may not currently know or perhaps…
Queen’s York Rangers Cadets Have Long And Storied History
This is the third and final article in a series on the Queen’s York Rangers, with a focus on the Cadet program. In the future, I plan to do an article on the regimental band. The Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regiment) R.C.A.C. is a Canadian Army Primary Reserve Royal Canadian Armoured Corps regiment based in Toronto and Aurora. The regiment is part of 4th…
‘These Are Stirring Times’: Newmarket Men Could Be Counted On To Answer The Call To War
This second in a three-part series on Queen’s York Rangers looks at the various historic events tied to the unit and how the early Roger’s Rangers evolved into our modern-day militia. In part one, I outlined the lineage of the Queens York Rangers (QYR) and now we will focus on the various perpetuations of the unit,…
Newmarket’s 12th York Battalion Fought In Fenian Raids, North-West Rebellion
This is the first of a series of articles on the history of our very own Queen’s York Rangers. This first article will focus on the origins and early history of the organization. In subsequent articles, we shall narrow our focus to more of a local perspective, military service, cadet program, and provenance of its…
Distant Relative Of Buffalo Bill, NHL Player Among Those Honored On Newmarket Streets
In our continuing series on Newmarket street names, we move on to Ward 5. However, let us first look at a couple of the streets left over from Ward 4. Brooks Howard Court is named after a farmer with strong historical roots in the community. He was the son of a prominent Quaker family who…
Once Mighty Holland River Played A Key Role In Newmarket’s Growth, Prosperity!
While the Holland River has changed considerably over these many hundreds of years, it remains embedded in our historical psyche of the area to this day. The Holland River was originally known as Micicaquean Creek, its Indigenous name. It was renamed by Lieut.-Gov. Simcoe after Capt. Samuel (Johannes) Holland, (1729–1801), the Dutch-born, first surveyor general of British North America….
Ward 2 Street Names Honor Pickering College, Farmers, Merchants, Politicians
As we continue our look at the provenance of street names in Ward 2, we will learn about old merchant families, politicians, doctors and professional people and our pioneer families. We have frequently named a street after someone who has served the community in a professional capacity, such as Robert Alexander (Alexander Road), a teacher at…
Accidents, Misadventures Mark Railroad’s Early Years In Newmarket Area
This is the second of my two-part series on the railroad and the part it has played in our local history. Part one looked at the arrival of the railroad, now we will look at the effects of its arrival, including the numerous accidents and misadventures resulting from the rapid growth of this new medium of…
