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When Upper and Lower Canada were established in 1791, Colonel John Graves Simcoe was appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. Simcoe named the township of Markham, north of the town of York (now Toronto), after his friend William Markham, the Archbishop of York. Markham Township was originally surveyed in 1793–94, but not until 1801 was the township divided into 10 concession roads (now named streets with various designations) running north and south, with six sideroads running east/west (now numbered avenues or named streets). Here are just some of the concession and sideroads from the survey: List of concession and sideroads in Markham, Ontario Eventually, the boundaries of Markham occupied the area, as follows: * NORTH: Whitchurch Town Line (Between 19th Avenue and Stouffville Side Road) * SOUTH: Scarborough Town Line (Steeles Avenue) * EAST: Pickering Town Line * WEST: Vaughan Town Line (Yonge Street) The boundaries of present day Markham are as follows: Beginning at the southeastern corner, the boundary stretches northward along the York-Durham Line until approximately one half concession between 19th Avenue and Stouffville Side Road. The boundary continues westward until it reaches highway 404, where it runs in a southerly direction until intersecting Regional Road Seven, (formerly King's Highway 7.) From this point it stretches westward following Langstaff Road until Yonge Street, and travels south until Steeles Avenue East. The Southern border straddles the centre line of Steeles Avenue East until it reaches the city's southeastern corner at the York-Durham Line. All boundaries and concessions are straight lines at slightly more than a right angle to each other, forming a geographical area roughly in the shape of two connected parallelograms. In 1794, William Berczy led 75 German families from New York State to Markham Township, an area known as German Mills today. Each family was granted 200 acres (0.8 km²). Because of hardships, many returned to York and Niagara and the area became a ghost town. In 1797, because of the revolution in France in 1789, many nobility fled the country and set off for Canada to take advantage of free land grants in Upper Canada. They were totally unprepared for survival under such crude conditions and most of them returned to their homeland. From 1803 to 1812, the largest group of settlers were Pennsylvania Germans, most of whom were Mennonites. These highly skilled craftsmen and knowledgeable farmers had the best chance for survival because they had already survived harsh conditions in Pennsylvania. Prior to 1825 the community is referred to as Reesorville.〔(Markham Village - A Brief History 1800-1919 ), Markham Public Library (website).〕 From 1830 on, many Irish, Scottish and English emigrated to Upper Canada to escape the famine and overpopulation of their homeland. Markham's early years blended the rigours of homesteading with the development of agriculture-based industries. The many rivers and streams in the Township soon supported water-powered saw and grist mills and, later, woollen mills. With improved transportation routes, such as Yonge Street and the growing population, urbanization increased. In 1850 the Township of Markham is create and by 1857 most of the Township had been cleared of timber and was under cultivation. Villages like Thornhill, Unionville and Markham greatly expanded and new, specialized industries such as wagon works, tanneries, farm implement and furniture factories sprang up. In 1871, the Toronto and Nipissing Railway Company, with stations in Unionville and Markham, officially opened its line from Scarborough to Uxbridge. Initially, the railway brought renewed prosperity and rapid development. Farmers and millers had a more convenient means of transporting their products to Toronto. Other merchants had easier access to supplies and business boomed. The first form of structured municipal government occurred in 1850 when the Township of Markham was created. On November 20, 1872, the Warden of York County signed the By-law of Incorporation, which provided for the election of a Council for the Village of Markham. The Village of Markham grew to a population of 1100 by 1891. The increased communication with Toronto brought on by the railway and further enhanced by the development of the telegraph, the telephone and the automobile, ultimately led to the demise of the villages in the Township after the turn of the century. Local industries were simply unable to compete with the larger manufacturers and suppliers of Toronto, and Markham soon reverted to a quiet, rural community. ==Post War Growth== From 1945 onward, the face of Markham began to change rapidly. It was no longer a community whose inhabitants worked mainly within the area. It evolved into a fast-growing suburb, where the majority of its residents commuted into Toronto. As a result, rural Markham disappeared in the face of tremendous urban growth. By 1969, the Township of Markham consisted of several villages, including Markham, Unionville, and parts of Thornhill. In 1971, the Regional Municipality of York was established by the Government of Ontario. Northern portions of Markham Township were annexed to the municipalities of Richmond Hill and Whitchurch-Stouffville, while the balance of Markham Township was incorporated in the Town of Markham and the present town boundaries set. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Markham, Ontario」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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