This is part three of a series on the historic hamlets around Newmarket. We continue our travels in the Township of King.
Some of these historic hamlets still exist, perhaps in a reduced capacity, but you'll find remnants of their existence if you know where to look.
We begin our excursion with the hamlet of Rafferty's Corners, which was the name given to the settlement at the intersection of the 3rd Concession and King Sideroad. In 1826, Thomas Ferguson purchased lots four and five, Concession 2, south of the King Sideroad, which was part of a 400-acre plot of Crown land. Francis Rafferty built a hotel and residence on the northeast corner of Dufferin Street and King Sideroad in the 1830s, and although it was torn down in 1915, the name of that area continued to be known as Rafferty's Corners.
The hamlet of Ansnorveldt is known today as the Holland Marsh, comprising an area in the northeastern part of King bordered by Highways 9 and 400. It winds along the Holland River and was eventually renamed in honour of Major J.S. Holland. Until the 1920s, the land produced only marsh hay, frogs and mosquitoes. Its initial use was quite interesting. In the late 1800s, marsh hay was cut, curled, dried and shipped for mattress making.
Around 1910, William H. Day, professor of physics at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, became interested in what was called the Holland swamp. After the Great War ended in 1918, Day continued his investigation of a drainage scheme for the Holland Marsh. In 1925, he obtained a signed contract from the councils of West Gwillimbury and King Township for the drainage of the marsh. The first crop on the drained marsh land was grown in 1927.
In 1934, a group of 18 families from Holland settled in the Marsh and became the first year-round settlers in the area. Their little settlement, comprised of a row of small houses, was initially named Ansnorveld(t). John Snor, a representative of the Netherlands Immigration Foundation, was instrumental in arranging for the settlement and naming it. “Ann” was the Christian name of John’s wife, plus “Snor” and veld(t) meaning field in Dutch became Ansnorveldt.
Among some of the first settlers were Jan Rupke, Abraham Havinga, Albert Biemold, M. Van Dyken, H. Prins, E. de Jong, John Van Dyke, Geo. Brouwer, L. Boonstra, Wm. Valenteyn, H. Neinhuis (storekeeper), J. Vandergoot, K. Miedema, S. Winter, and T.H. Oosterhuis.
The first elementary school, S.S. No. 16, was not erected on the Marsh until 1935 and it closed in 1963. That school was replaced with two new schools, the Graham Sideroad School and the Holland Marsh Christian School. Today, the principal crops grown in the Holland Marsh are onions, carrots, lettuce, and celery.
The hamlet of Eversley, on the corner of the 3rd Concession and 15th Sideroad, is believed to have been named for the village of Eversley, in Hampshire, England. The corner was originally named Tinline Corners after one of the early settlers James Tinline, who was the storekeeper, as well as the first postmaster when the post office opened in 1865. In 1878, Job Wells and his brother, James, built a cheese factory, in partnership with W.G. Lloyd. The fame of the cheese factory spread far, and wide and they say one could observe the farmers starting out early in the morning with their wagons filled with cans of milk, off to the factory.
There is a wonderful story of how the ‘Word of God’, in both Gaelic and in English, was heard by congregations in Eversley Presbyterian Church between 1860 and 1910 when Rev. Dr. James Carmichael served as its minister.
During the early years of last century, Eversley had its own station to tie in with the Schomberg and Aurora Railway line, which operated from 1902 to 1927 as an offshoot of the Metropolitan line that also served Newmarket. This railway crossed Concession 3, about a quarter of a mile north of Sideroad 15. The station was on the east side of the road, almost opposite to the Dufferin Street entrance to Seneca College.
Before there was a town called King, there existed a series of communities all with King in their name. One of those was the hamlet of King Creek. The early success of King Creek flowed from the foresight of Christopher Stokes. He was originally from England, emigrated to Canada in 1827, and settled in Machell’s Corner (Aurora’s original name).
In 1834, Stokes bought 200 acres, lots four and five, Concession 7 in King. Four years later, he built a grist and flour mill on the creek on lot four. Prior to the building of the mill, there had been a general store known as McMillan’s Store, located at the corner of lot six, just north of King Sideroad. The store eventually relocated as well to lot four, Concession 7, south of the creek, near the mill. This busy little centre, known first as Stoke’s Hollow was later renamed King Creek.
In 1866, postal service was to come to the hamlet and a post office officially named King Creek was established in the general store with Alex McMillan its first postmaster. The post office closed in 1913 when rural mail was instituted in the township.
As a result of the excellent waterpower provided, the hamlet of King Creek, on the east branch of the Humber River, became a thriving community with a flour mill, hotel, grist mill, general store and shoe shop.
There also existed a community at the junction of Jane Street and King Road named Kinghorn. The primary landmark remaining is the Kinghorn Methodist Episcopal Cemetery established in 1848. It sits on a small hill and contains 30 headstones, most cracked with age. A church was built at this location in 1849 but was closed in 1890 and records show that the cemetery was abandoned. The church became a house and, in 1906, was moved to a farm owned by John Wade. Like most communities of the day, it had a one-room school house until new facilities were built.
Kinghorn was the original location of the Davis Tannery that eventually relocated to Newmarket after it was destroyed by fire in 1903. In the 1800s, operations at the Andrew Davis and Son Tannery were apparently the pulse of business life in Kinghorn. The factory was on the northwest and northeast corners of Jane and King Sideroad, near what would become the famous Tannery Hill. The photo I attached is of the first tannery, which stood there from 1847 to 1884.
After Kinghorn's first tannery was destroyed by fire in April 1884, a second and larger building was completed in October 1884, however it was almost destroyed by fire in 1903.
In the 1850s, there existed a building known locally as the British Hotel, with 30-inch pine flooring, paned windows and panelled doors. It is said to have offered "the finest whisky at 25 cents a gallon" and "overnight accommodation for four teams." The hotel would eventually become a chopping mill and was demolished in 1960. Most of the remaining buildings were relocated to neighbouring communities like Concord over the intervening years.
Laskay was located on the 6th concession between King Sideroad and the King-Vaughan townline. The name was given to the area by Joseph Baldwin, a pioneer in the 1830s, in honour of his native “Loskey” (Loskie) in Yorkshire, England. The present spelling of the name came into use about 1861. The settlement carried the nicknamed “Bulltown” owing they say to a story about the annual fall fair, and a bull breaking loose and charging the crowd.
Baldwin and David Reesor divided Laskay into two parts, east and west. Baldwin had the east side, which included a grist mill, carding and finishing mill and the Laskay Emporium. The west side development began in 1856 when Reesor of Markham subdivided 50 acres on the west side of the 6th concession. In this area a sawmill, plaster mill, turning lathe mill for making chairs and beds, a tailor shop, store, butcher shop, slaughterhouse and barber shop were erected.
The first store in Laskay was built in 1845 on the northeast corner of Mill Road and Concession 6 by Baldwin. It was generally known as the Laskay Emporium. In 1960, the historic emporium was donated to the Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Arbuckle and was moved to Black Creek Pioneer Village in 1960.
Several of the original buildings in the community have been moved to other locations. In August 2017, Laskay Hall was moved from its original site to the grounds of the King Township Museum in King City.
If you are looking for the hamlet, you head west of King City and Highway 400, south of the King Road and Weston Road intersection.
The village of Schomberg was established in 1862. Prior to 1862, it had been known as Brownsville. In 1830, John R. Brown settled on lot 26, Concession 8. Brown and his brothers, Thomas, Robert and Garrett, emigrated from Pennsylvania and settled in the area. In 1836, Thomas built the first mill in what was then named Brownsville. The mill, as is quite often the case, became the nucleus around which the village would gradually grow.
In 1862, Brownsville would change its name to Schomberg on the suggestion of Thomas R. Ferguson. MPP for South Simcoe, after the Duke of Schomberg who died in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. By 1862, when the post office had first opened, Schomberg was a large trading centre. The village grew and prospered, and businesses included a tailor shop, bakery and confectionary, furniture store, butcher, blacksmith, jewelry store and two hotels.
In 1902, the Aurora and Schomberg Railway, a spur of the Yonge Street Radial Railway (Metropolitan Line), came to Schomberg from Oak Ridges. The arrival of the “Annie Rooney” would spur another period of prosperity and change.
Pottageville is on Aurora-Schomberg Road at the corner of the 7th Concession. It was named for Edward Pottage, a bailiff and leading citizen who owned about 100 acres of land on the southeast corner of the main intersection from 1844 to 1879. It was blessed to have been situated on an excellent timber stand, prompting two busy sawmills to locate there at an early date.
The Cedarville Mill, on the west side of the 7th Concession, north of the main corner, was the first stationary sawmill to operate in King Township, and it was the last to cease operation. Pottageville post office would open in 1876 on the south side of Aurora-Schomberg Road, east of the intersection with Concession 7, on the property owned by Edward Pottage and closed in 1887.
As was the case with many local hamlets, the mail was delivered by stagecoach, providing mail service to local post offices and much needed transportation for settlers. The post office reopened in 1889 and closed again in 1900. In 1906, it opened once again as, at that time, the Schomberg and Aurora Railway was operating, and a small open station stood on the 7th concession north of the main Pottageville corner. The hamlet had a hotel, blacksmith shop, tannery, and store. There were also several coopers who plied their trade making barrels for the prosperous potash trade.
The hamlet of New Scotland extended north and south of the 16th Sideroad and 7th Concession. The name was given because of the many Scottish families who settled among the rolling hills that reminded them of their homeland. Names of the Scottish families include Kelly, Mitchell, Booie, MacMullin, MacMurchy, MacCallum, MacGill and MacTaggart.
As is often the case, the number of farms increased and, in 1846, it was determined there was a need for a school. The first schoolhouse of log or plank was built by the settlers on lot 16, east half, Concession 7. By 1891, a new and larger frame school stood on the same site, complete with wooden desks and seats and a pot-bellied stove. By 1898, the old school was bricked and modernized. About 1914, the school grounds were enlarged, and the school was the centre for most community activities. It was closed in 1961 and the property sold.
We have now completed our look at the historic hamlets of King Township, but I will be back with more historic hamlets in the coming weeks
Sources: Photo from Kettleby Tweedsmuir History; Photo from Temperanceville Tweedsmuir History; Photo from Schomberg Tweedsmuir History; Photo from Album of Oldies/ Elizabeth McClure Gillham; Archives King City Public Library Photo from Early Settlements of King Township/ Elizabeth McClure Gillham; Articles from the King Historical Society.
Newmarket resident Richard MacLeod — the History Hound — has been a local historian for more than 40 years. He writes a weekly feature about our town's history in partnership with NewmarketToday, conducts heritage lectures and walking tours of local interest, and leads local oral history interviews
