Markham Museum
Encyclopedia
Markham Museum offers a unique family and educational experience featuring over 20 historic buildings on 25 acres of parkland. Recently opening one of the first LEED gold standard museum spaces in Canada, the Museum represents the main themes of settlement as it relates to the environment, and the technologies used to adapt to life. Our many quality programs focus on the ongoing growth of the region and our exhibitions and events engage the community as a whole and attract over 50,000 visitors to Markham and the Greater Toronto Area each year. The museum is located at 9350 Markham Road / York Regional Road 68, on the northwest corner of 16th Avenue (York Regional Road 73).
All of the historic buildings were moved to the site from other places around Markham with the exception of the Mount Joy School. The name Mount Joy has also been preserved in the name of the nearby Mount Joy GO Transit
train and bus station, as well as the Mount Joy Community Centre to the east.
Markham Museum is open year-round to visitors, event rentals and researchers. An Ontario Historical Plaque was erected in front of the Markham Museum by the province to commemorate the founding of Markham's role in Ontario's heritage.
Saturday and Sunday: 12 noon to 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday to Sunday: 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Closed Holidays (Special events, facility rentals, camps & pre-registered groups excepted)
Construction is complete on the new Collections Building at the Markham Museum. The 17,000 square foot, fully accessible building incorporates gallery space for temporary exhibitions, a research area to study Markham’s history and local genealogy and much needed storage areas for the Museum’s collections. The new building is one of the first in Canada built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold standards. It is truly a benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance “green” buildings.
Mennonite
house was built in 1824 for Christian K. Hoover and his new wife, Anna Lehman. Moving to a new brick home in 1851, Christian and Anna gave this frame house to their eldest son, Abraham, at the time of his first marriage to Veronica (Fanny) Grove. The house was used by Russian Mennonite immigrants as a stopping point on their way west to Manitoba between 1873 and 1875. In the 1950s, the Hoover House was sold out of the family to Dr. Charles Williams. The house and the smokehouse behind it were then donated to the Museum in 1975.
), Nathan Chapman Jr., a gentleman farmer, purchased 98 acres (396,592.3 m²) of land in May 1831. Born in 1810, Nathan was the son of United Empire Loyalists
Nathan Chapman Sr., and Susannah Fockler, who were some of the first settlers to the area of Thornhill
. The Chapman House was most likely built in 1832 around the time of Nathan’s marriage to Elizabeth Lameraux. Nathan was married a second time in 1842, after Elizabeth’s death, to Amelia Humberstone, the daughter of Thomas Humberstone who ran Humberstone Pottery in York Township. After Nathan’s death in 1892, the property and the house were left to his daughter. The house was eventually relocated to Markham Museum in 1978.
) in the Township of Scarborough
, this log house was constructed by James Maxwell c. 1850. At first, James and his wife, Euphemia, operated a power grist mill as early as 1828 on the Rouge River on property south of the house site, but by 1847 their interests had changed to farming. In 1894, after James’ death, the log cabin and surrounding land was sold out of the family. The Little family, the last owners of the building, donated the cabin to the Museum in 1962, and when a suitable site was found for the home in 1970, the building was relocated to the Museum grounds.
went through and damaged the church. The church underwent changes through its lifetime but it did operate as a church until 1958, at which time declining numbers caused it to close. It was moved to the Museum, brick by brick, in 1981 and opened as a non-denominational church in 1982. This church is very busy in the summer months for weddings.
faith. The front façade features two gothic arched windows and a central entrance with double gothic arched solid paneled doors. The 6-over-6 windows on this elevation are of a smaller size than those on the east and west sides. There is a red brick header above the windows and doors. The roof is of a low pitch with returned eaves and plain boxed cornice. A one-storey board and batten addition (not original to the building) is to the rear of the main structure. The First Baptist Church was actually dismantled brick-by-brick and reassembled on the Museum grounds. It would have been like doing a puzzle with 35,000 pieces because that’s how many bricks this structure is made of.
. The exterior side walls are unique in that the stucco
finish has been outlined to imitate stone blocks, which would have been a more expensive building material.
. This train station building replaced an earlier station c. 1887 that had been destroyed by fire in 1935. In 1884, the Ontario and Quebec Railway
, in cooperation with the Canadian Pacific Railway
, purchased land from William Button for the purpose of building a station. The first station was a two-storey building with an apartment available for the stationmaster on the second floor. In 1884, the trains began to run between Perth
and Toronto
, enabling Locust Hill to become a bustling village. Service through Locust Hill Station stopped in 1969 and the building was later moved to the Museum grounds in 1983.
Company and was put into service in 1922. At first, it was used by the Board of Railway Commissioners to transport members across Canada on railway business for the government. In 1958 it began to be used to transport other officials, dignitaries and special guests. The Acadia Car was used by Princess Margaret on her 1958 tour of Eastern Canada, by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
on his 1963 campaign trail, and by Pierre Trudeau
when he was in office, before it went out of service in 1974. The Museum purchased the Acadia in 1985 and the exterior was restored in 1991.
Markham Township. The blacksmith shop was built by Henry Lapp c. 1862 and it remained in his ownership until 1905. For the 30 years between 1866 and 1896 there was a succession of 9 blacksmiths who located their business in this building. The final blacksmith was Arthur Clendenen who first began working in this shop in 1896 and was known to be able to single-handedly put on 90 horseshoes in one day. He purchased the shop from Henry Lapp in 1905 and continued to work there for ever 60 years until 1956. In 1977, the Cedar Grove Blacksmith Shop was relocated to the Museum grounds.
, Pickering Township
. The owner of Altona Mills, Peter Nighswander, purchased the screw press from the Stouffville Vinegar Works. The Museum rebuilt the drive shed and installed the equipment between 1981 and 1983 and the mill was fully operational in 1983 for Markham Museum’s First Annual Applefest.
from the head of the Little Rouge River on their property. The Ratcliff sawmill was passed on through the family generations, until it ceased operation in the 1970s. In 1936, this water-powered sawmill came to be powered by a massive diesel engine
. The working components of the mill and this diesel engine were moved to the Museum for safekeeping after the mill closed down in the 1970s. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the actual mill building structure in 1982. Ashmore Reesor donated a barn for the new mill on the Museum grounds and the original Ratcliff Mill mechanical equipment was installed and made operational. Also located in the mill is additional equipment, dating from the early 20th century, which was typically used in Markham in the production of wood.
. Other past exhibits include an exhibit about the Rwandan genocide
called "We Said Never Again: The Silent Voices of Rwanda", "Space and Heroes", "e-factor: understanding alternative energies", and "On the edge: A history of hockey and skating in Markham" to coincide with the opening of Markham Museum's new outdoor skating rinks in the winter of 2006/2007.
All of the historic buildings were moved to the site from other places around Markham with the exception of the Mount Joy School. The name Mount Joy has also been preserved in the name of the nearby Mount Joy GO Transit
GO Transit
GO Transit is an inter-regional public transit system in Southern Ontario, Canada. It primarily serves the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area conurbation, with operations extending to several communities beyond the GTHA proper in the Greater Golden Horseshoe...
train and bus station, as well as the Mount Joy Community Centre to the east.
Markham Museum is open year-round to visitors, event rentals and researchers. An Ontario Historical Plaque was erected in front of the Markham Museum by the province to commemorate the founding of Markham's role in Ontario's heritage.
Victoria Day to Labour Day (Spring/Summer Season)
Monday to Friday: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.Saturday and Sunday: 12 noon to 5:00 p.m.
Labour Day to Victoria Day (Fall/Winter Season)
Monday: ClosedTuesday to Sunday: 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Closed Holidays (Special events, facility rentals, camps & pre-registered groups excepted)
The Site
There are about 20 buildings and structures on Markham Museum's 25 acres (101,171.5 m²) site, and here are a few of them:The new Collections & Exhibit Building
(Opened 2011)Construction is complete on the new Collections Building at the Markham Museum. The 17,000 square foot, fully accessible building incorporates gallery space for temporary exhibitions, a research area to study Markham’s history and local genealogy and much needed storage areas for the Museum’s collections. The new building is one of the first in Canada built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold standards. It is truly a benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance “green” buildings.
History
Originally located on Lot 34, Concession 6 (present day McCowan and Stouffville Roads, Whitchurch-Stouffville) in Markham Township, this Pennsylvania DutchPennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
house was built in 1824 for Christian K. Hoover and his new wife, Anna Lehman. Moving to a new brick home in 1851, Christian and Anna gave this frame house to their eldest son, Abraham, at the time of his first marriage to Veronica (Fanny) Grove. The house was used by Russian Mennonite immigrants as a stopping point on their way west to Manitoba between 1873 and 1875. In the 1950s, the Hoover House was sold out of the family to Dr. Charles Williams. The house and the smokehouse behind it were then donated to the Museum in 1975.
Architecture
The Hoover House is an excellent example of a frame dwelling built c. 1824 influenced by Pennsylvania German architecture. The use of plain square wood posts supporting a steeply pitched front roof and unpainted exterior wooden walls are just some examples of the simplistic approach of the Mennonites displayed throughout the building. The 1 ½ storey home is 4 bays wide and 2 bays deep with simple wood windows having a 9 over 6 pane division on the lower level and a 6 over 6 pane division on the upper windows.History
Originally located on Lot 26, Concession 5 in the hamlet of Milliken’s Corners (located at Kennedy Road and Steeles AvenueSteeles Avenue
Steeles Avenue is an east-west street that forms the northern city limit of Toronto and the southern limit of York Region, Ontario, Canada. It stretches across the western Greater Toronto Area from Milborough Townline in Halton Region east to the Scarborough-Pickering limit. It runs for within...
), Nathan Chapman Jr., a gentleman farmer, purchased 98 acres (396,592.3 m²) of land in May 1831. Born in 1810, Nathan was the son of United Empire Loyalists
United Empire Loyalists
The name United Empire Loyalists is an honorific given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris...
Nathan Chapman Sr., and Susannah Fockler, who were some of the first settlers to the area of Thornhill
Thornhill, Ontario
Thornhill is a community in the Greater Toronto Area of Southern Ontario, Canada, located on the northern border of the city of Toronto. Once a municipal village, Thornhill is now a community and postal designation geographically split into two municipalities along Yonge Street, the city of...
. The Chapman House was most likely built in 1832 around the time of Nathan’s marriage to Elizabeth Lameraux. Nathan was married a second time in 1842, after Elizabeth’s death, to Amelia Humberstone, the daughter of Thomas Humberstone who ran Humberstone Pottery in York Township. After Nathan’s death in 1892, the property and the house were left to his daughter. The house was eventually relocated to Markham Museum in 1978.
Architecture
The Chapman House is an excellent example of a regency style cottage built c. 1832. It is one of the few remaining buildings in Markham of plank-on-plank construction. The interior woodwork and trim suggests that the Chapman family had more resources to spend on such details. The house is 3 bays wide by 2 bays deep with a slightly recessed front door surrounded by decorative neo-classical trim. Louvered shutters and molded wood trim surround the wood windows which have a 12 over 12 pane division.History
Originally located on Lot 12, Concession 4 (Finch AvenueFinch Avenue
Finch Avenue is an arterial thoroughfare and concession road which travels east–west through the city of Toronto. The road also has short extensions into Peel and Durham Regions as Peel Regional Road 2 and Durham Regional Road 37.-History:...
) in the Township of Scarborough
Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough is a dissolved municipality within the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the eastern part of Toronto. It is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River...
, this log house was constructed by James Maxwell c. 1850. At first, James and his wife, Euphemia, operated a power grist mill as early as 1828 on the Rouge River on property south of the house site, but by 1847 their interests had changed to farming. In 1894, after James’ death, the log cabin and surrounding land was sold out of the family. The Little family, the last owners of the building, donated the cabin to the Museum in 1962, and when a suitable site was found for the home in 1970, the building was relocated to the Museum grounds.
Architecture
The structure is an example of a 1 ½ storey primitive structure constructed of timbers hewn to a square finish with traditional half-dovetail joinery. This log house is a good example of those early dwelling which dotted Markham’s rural lands and have since vanished from our agricultural landscape.History
This church is an excellent example of a Gothic Revival style church building constructed in 1848. The church was originally located on 9th Line, north of Major MacKenzie Drive (just north and east of the Museum). In 1954, Hurricane HazelHurricane Hazel
Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest and costliest hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed as many as 1,000 people in Haiti before striking the United States near the border between North and South Carolina, as a Category 4 hurricane...
went through and damaged the church. The church underwent changes through its lifetime but it did operate as a church until 1958, at which time declining numbers caused it to close. It was moved to the Museum, brick by brick, in 1981 and opened as a non-denominational church in 1982. This church is very busy in the summer months for weddings.
Architecture
Built of red clay brick, the building represents the less elaborate and more refined style of the BaptistBaptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
faith. The front façade features two gothic arched windows and a central entrance with double gothic arched solid paneled doors. The 6-over-6 windows on this elevation are of a smaller size than those on the east and west sides. There is a red brick header above the windows and doors. The roof is of a low pitch with returned eaves and plain boxed cornice. A one-storey board and batten addition (not original to the building) is to the rear of the main structure. The First Baptist Church was actually dismantled brick-by-brick and reassembled on the Museum grounds. It would have been like doing a puzzle with 35,000 pieces because that’s how many bricks this structure is made of.
History
Originally located in the Village of Markham, the Wilson General Store was owned and operated by Henry Wilson in the late 19th century. Born in Markham in 1835, Henry Wilson married Clementina May in 1847 and the couple had six children together. By October 1862, he and Clementina were operating a successful millinery and fancy goods store in the Village. They relocated their store to this larger building in 1875. Clementina operated the dressmaking part of the business on the second floor. In 1918 the property was sold to Dr. John MacDonald. Dismantled and reconstructed, the building was relocated to the Museum grounds in 1995.Architecture
This front gabled store building is typical of local shops constructed in smaller villages throughout Ontario in the mid-to-late-19th century. The building is of a frame construction and the double store doors have paneled lower sections and windows above, flanked by two large store windows. Decorative posts and ornate trim characterize the store verandahVerandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
. The exterior side walls are unique in that the stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
finish has been outlined to imitate stone blocks, which would have been a more expensive building material.
History
Built in 1936, the Locust Hill Train Station was originally located on Lot 11, Concession 10 in the village of Locust HillLocust Hill, Ontario
Locust Hilll is an historic community of Markham, Ontario centred on Hwy. 7 and the Canadian Pacific Railway and within the boundaries of the future national Rouge Park.-History:...
. This train station building replaced an earlier station c. 1887 that had been destroyed by fire in 1935. In 1884, the Ontario and Quebec Railway
Ontario and Quebec Railway
The Ontario and Quebec Railway is a historic Canadian railway located in eastern Ontario.The railway had received a charter in 1881 and the Canadian Pacific Railway gained control, building the O&Q line between Perth and Toronto...
, in cooperation with the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
, purchased land from William Button for the purpose of building a station. The first station was a two-storey building with an apartment available for the stationmaster on the second floor. In 1884, the trains began to run between Perth
Perth, Ontario
Perth is a town in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, Canada . It is located on the Tay River, 83 km southwest of Ottawa, and is the seat of Lanark County.-History:...
and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, enabling Locust Hill to become a bustling village. Service through Locust Hill Station stopped in 1969 and the building was later moved to the Museum grounds in 1983.
Architecture
Based on a common plan for station buildings around 1936, this rectangular frame structure has a ticket wicket in the front square bay window where the station agent was located, a covered area for waiting passengers, and a baggage storage area at the north end.History
The Acadia Car was built in 1921 by the Canadian Car and FoundryCanadian Car and Foundry
Canadian Car and Foundry also variously known as "Canadian Car & Foundry," or more familiarly as "Can Car," manufactured buses, railroad rolling stock and later aircraft for the Canadian market...
Company and was put into service in 1922. At first, it was used by the Board of Railway Commissioners to transport members across Canada on railway business for the government. In 1958 it began to be used to transport other officials, dignitaries and special guests. The Acadia Car was used by Princess Margaret on her 1958 tour of Eastern Canada, by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...
on his 1963 campaign trail, and by Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
when he was in office, before it went out of service in 1974. The Museum purchased the Acadia in 1985 and the exterior was restored in 1991.
History
Officially opened in 1989, with the permanent exhibit area completed the following year, the Transportation Building was established primarily to display the horse-drawn vehicles which had been donated by Douglas Ward. The collection was begun by Ward and his two brothers, Clifford and Frederick. From the first two horse carts purchased in 1945, the collection grew as the brothers continued to purchase carriages, sleighs, and wagons. Repairs and restorations to the vehicles were completed at the Ward farm in old Markham Township. In 1984, the forty-one vehicles were donated to Markham Museum by Mrs. Douglas Ward and these form the core of the Museum’s Transportation Collection.Architecture
The centre front-façade section is two storeys and represents the once popular boomtown front of some Ontario buildings. It was designed to replicate the 19th century Speight Wagon Works building that was located on Main Street Markham.History
This simple frame building was originally located on Lot 3, Concession 10 in the Village of Cedar GroveCedar Grove, Ontario
Cedar Grove is a community in Markham, Ontario on the Little Rouge River. It is centred around 14th Avenue and Reesor Road and within the boundaries of the future national Rouge Park.-History:...
Markham Township. The blacksmith shop was built by Henry Lapp c. 1862 and it remained in his ownership until 1905. For the 30 years between 1866 and 1896 there was a succession of 9 blacksmiths who located their business in this building. The final blacksmith was Arthur Clendenen who first began working in this shop in 1896 and was known to be able to single-handedly put on 90 horseshoes in one day. He purchased the shop from Henry Lapp in 1905 and continued to work there for ever 60 years until 1956. In 1977, the Cedar Grove Blacksmith Shop was relocated to the Museum grounds.
History
The components of the Cider Mill came from three separate mills in three different Townships. Originally, the building itself was an old drive shed from the Lapp property at Lot 3, Concession 10. The majority of the mill’s inner-workings were obtained from the Lapp Cider Mill on Lot 5, Concession 10. This cider mill is considered to be one of the earliest and largest cider mills operating in Markham Township in the mid-to-late-19th century. All of this old mill equipment was purchased and donated to the Museum by Austin Reesor. The line shafts, through which belts drive the machinery, are a third component of the Cider Mill and these were taken from Altona Mills which was located on Lot 31, Concession 9 in nearby AltonaAltona, Ontario
Altona is a ghost town located in Pickering, Ontario, at Sideline 30 and the Pickering-Uxbridge Town Line. It is just east of Whitchurch-Stouffville, and was named after Altona, now a borough of Hamburg, Germany....
, Pickering Township
Pickering, Ontario
Pickering is a city located in Southern Ontario, Canada immediately east of Toronto in Durham Region. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area, the largest metropolitan area in Canada.- Early Period :...
. The owner of Altona Mills, Peter Nighswander, purchased the screw press from the Stouffville Vinegar Works. The Museum rebuilt the drive shed and installed the equipment between 1981 and 1983 and the mill was fully operational in 1983 for Markham Museum’s First Annual Applefest.
History
William Ratcliff emigrated from England with his wife Sarah in 1846 and eventually settled in Markham Township on Lot 35, Concession 6. By 1851, the Ratcliff family were operating a water-powered sawmillSawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
from the head of the Little Rouge River on their property. The Ratcliff sawmill was passed on through the family generations, until it ceased operation in the 1970s. In 1936, this water-powered sawmill came to be powered by a massive diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
. The working components of the mill and this diesel engine were moved to the Museum for safekeeping after the mill closed down in the 1970s. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the actual mill building structure in 1982. Ashmore Reesor donated a barn for the new mill on the Museum grounds and the original Ratcliff Mill mechanical equipment was installed and made operational. Also located in the mill is additional equipment, dating from the early 20th century, which was typically used in Markham in the production of wood.
The Reception Centre
Officially opened in 2005 at the Museum's annual Applefest, this building became the new visitor entrance of the Museum. It features new exhibit space and has already housed a number of exhibits including "Passionate Vision: Intimate portraits of Canada's national parks", a photography exhibit by Canadian Astronaut and first Canadian woman in space Roberta BondarRoberta Bondar
Roberta Bondar,is OC, O.Ont, FRCP, FRSC is Canada's first female astronaut and the first neurologist in space. Following more than a decade as NASA's head of space medicine, Bondar became a consultant and speaker in the business, scientific and medical communities.-Education:Roberta Bondar had...
. Other past exhibits include an exhibit about the Rwandan genocide
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
called "We Said Never Again: The Silent Voices of Rwanda", "Space and Heroes", "e-factor: understanding alternative energies", and "On the edge: A history of hockey and skating in Markham" to coincide with the opening of Markham Museum's new outdoor skating rinks in the winter of 2006/2007.