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I’m beginning a new series examining the reeves and mayors of Newmarket dating back to 1857 when Newmarket officially became incorporated as a village.
I hope to highlight each of our reeves and mayors in turn, a task that could, I admit, take me well into the new year. I will be mixing things up with other topics along the way but documenting our reeves and mayors will be my primary focus.
In this first article, I will begin with a general overview of how our local political system evolved and examine the fundamental changes that have taken place along the way, including how the actual office has changed and, along with it, the type of people that the position attracted.
I posted a listing on my History Hound Facebook page of the people that we will be examining over the next six months or so. I will likely not proceed in any order, but I will endeavour to cover everyone on the list.
In 1791, the Act of Constitution or the Canada Act created two provinces, Lower and Upper Canada. In 1792, the Province of Upper Canada was divided into 19 counties, the 14th of which was the County of York, which contained Newmarket and area. The Home District included the counties of York, Simcoe, Durham and Northumberland.
The County of York was then divided into townships in 1798 with the Township of Whitchurch surveyed in 1800. It was in the northwest corner of this township that the embryo settlement of Newmarket began to grow.
These districts were governed by justices of the peace, wardens, reeves, town clerks, and the like and were appointed by the Provincial Legislature up until 1846.
It was to this district that my relatives, the Lundys, emigrated in 1801. In an earlier article I spoke of the pseudo aristocracy that formed around the Governor of York, a collection of officials known for their incompetence, selfishness and corruption. Dissatisfaction soon arose, leading to the events of the Rebellion of 1837 with Newmarket sitting at the core of the uprising.
As a result of the uprising, the Municipal Corporation Act was passed in 1849, taking effect on Jan. 1, 1850. This act would be the basis of our municipal government structure until 1971, when regional government was introduced.
The Act of County Council established a system of elected reeves to represent the various villages, towns and townships. A warden was then appointed by this assembly of reeves as their chief officer within the county council.
The Township of Whitchurch, where we resided, was represented by a reeve, deputy-reeve and three councillors with the reeve and deputy reeve sitting on the county council. It is worth noting that the first census was conducted in 1853, providing valuable information on the electorate.
Newmarket had grown to such an extent that in 1854 we started to speak locally of separating from the Township of Whitchurch and incorporating as a separate, independent incorporated municipality. In January of 1857, a petition was sent to the Provincial Legislature requesting an Act of Incorporation for the Village of Newmarket. This was approved in March 1857, with the boundaries being set and the results of the census indicating a population of 700.
Our first municipal election was held on Jan. 4 and 5, 1858 with five citizens elected to our first council. Donald Sutherland was appointed reeve and Edwin P. Irwin became town clerk. This structure of a reeve and four councillors was to remain intact until 1881 when Newmarket was incorporated as a Town.
It is also interesting to note that it was not until 1874 that voting by ballot was introduced, replacing the open vote system. The town clerk job was to prepare the polls and ensure that those who had the franchise to vote did so.
Talk of incorporation as a town had begun in 1879 when the population had increased to 2,021. A public meeting was held in October 1879, where two resolutions were put forward; first to raise the village identity through incorporation as a town and second, to make the Riding of York into a separate county within the larger structure.
On May 7, 1880, a petition was sent to the Lieutenant-Governor to proclaim the village a town with three electoral wards and no changes to the town’s boundaries. On Aug. 7, 1880, we received formal Proclamation of Incorporation effective Jan. 1, 1881, to be commemorated every Aug. 7 in the form of a Civic Holiday.
The county separation was widely endorsed at the time, but it was not until Jan. 1, 1954 that it was realized. The county seat was moved to Newmarket and then on Jan. 1, 1971, the regional government offices appeared.
The Chief Magistrate became the Mayor in 1881 when Newmarket became a town. The elected council consisted of the mayor, reeve, deputy-reeve, and three aldermen from each of the wards making a total of 12 elected members of council.
In 1898, the ward system was abandoned as being far too cumbersome a political structure and not productive to the unified growth of the town.
In 1899, the council was reduced to seven members including the mayor, and six councillors. In 1907, a reeve was added and then in 1912, a deputy-reeve joined for a total of nine members. This was to continue until 1970 with the mayor and reeves representing the town on the county council.
Over the years, several of the citizens of Newmarket were appointed wardens of York County: William Cane 1874, E. Jackson in 1883, E. J. Davis in 1884, Thomas J. Woodcock in 1899, William Keith in 1909, P. W. Pearson in 1926, J.O. Little in 1938, F.A. Lindy in 1945, J.L. Spillette in 1952, P.S. Legge in 1965, J.O. Dales in 1966 and Garfield Wright in 1968.
William Cane was York County sheriff from 1931 to 1944 and, of course, Robert Forhan who was York Regional chairman from 1977 to 1984 after his stint as mayor 1971 to 1978.
With the coming of the regional government, Newmarket council changed again, replacing the reeve and deputy-reeve with an elected regional councillor. We now had seven elected councillors and the mayor and regional councillor representing us at the regional level.
Also, of note was the fact that a proposal for a two-year term was introduced in 1959 but not actioned until 1971. Then in 1982, a three-year term of office replaced the two term.
Until 1942, the positions of mayor and council were unpaid. In 1936, a proposal was put forward to pay the members of council but due to a lack of public support, it took six years to come about.
Joseph Vale, who was at the time serving as deputy-reeve, stated that serving on council was the duty of every citizen if called to do so, that it was both a duty and a privilege. When payment was endorsed, the mayor got $300/year and $5 per meeting attended. A maximum of $125/year was designated for council. As you can see, these payments have grown a bit since then. In fairness, these council positions were part-time with the officials maintaining their business positions concurrently.
Council meetings have moved around a bit since that first council meeting. Here is a listing:
- Railway Hotel (now the King George Hotel) from 1858 to 1866
- The Firehall 2nd. Floor Main and Millard from 1866 to 1951
- The Old Town Hall from 1951 to 1971
- The County Offices on Bayview from 1971 to 1973
- 171 Main Street from 1974 to 1988
- The Davis Tannery from 1988 to 2000
- The Municipal Office at 395 Mulock Drive from 2000 to Present
- Now that we have a bit of a background on our council structure, we will turn next week to the first of the reeves of Newmarket.
I believe that you will find that through the years the members of our councils have been devoted citizens serving as public servants with our best interests in mind. There is little doubt, as we examine them one by one, that they were most certainly people of their times and circumstances.
Join me next time when I look at Donald Sutherland, our first reeve and a bit of a character it would seem.
Sources: The History of Newmarket by Ethel Trewhella; Upper Canadian Politics – A series of Essays by G. W. Brown, J.M.S. Careless and P.G. Cornell; Newmarket 1861: A Village in Transition NHS Occasional Paper; The Councils of Newmarket – A Collection of Essays by George W. Luesby; The Newmarket Era; Canada: A Nation Unfolding - Newman, Epstein and Gini
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NewmarketToday.ca brings you this weekly feature about our town's history in partnership with Richard MacLeod, the History Hound, a local historian for more than 40 years. He conducts heritage lectures and walking tours of local interest, as well as leads local oral history interviews. You can contact the History Hound at [email protected].
