MARKHAM, ONTARIO

'Markham' (2006 Population 261,573 Community highlights for Markham ) is located in York Region, directly north of Toronto, and is part of Toronto's CMA. It is larger than many Canadian cities. Despite its qualifications regarding population, it has not had the title of city conferred upon it by the province, and retains its legal status as a town. Markham is part of the Greater Toronto Area, and is one of the fastest-growing communities in Canada.

Contents

Introduction

Geography

Demographics

History

Government

Law and order

Town issues

Urban growth

Transit plan

Markham's neighbourhoods and communities

Parks

Culture

Education

Economy

Sports

Attractions

Performing arts

Annual events

Shopping

Local media

Hospitals

Transportation

Roads

Public transportation

Air transportation

Notable people from Markham

Athletes

Media

Musicians

Sister cities

References and footnotes

External links

Introduction

Markham was first surveyed as a township in 1793 by William Berczy (Johann Albrecht Ulrich Moll 1744-1813), first settled in 1794 and incorporated as a town in 1972.
Markham is the fourth-most populous municipality in the Greater Toronto Area, and home to many cultures. It claims to be 'Canada's Hi-Tech Capital' with a number of key companies in the area, such as IBM, Motorola, Toshiba, Lucent, Apple, and home to the head office of graphics card producer ATI now part of AMD.

Geography

Markham is bounded by 5 municipalities:
To the west, the town is bounded by Vaughan (boundary is at Yonge Street between Steeles Avenue and Highway 7), and Richmond Hill (boundary is at Highway 7 from Yonge Street to Highway 404 and at Highway 404 from Highway 7 to somewhere between 19th Avenue and Stouffville Road). To the south, Markham is bounded by the City of Toronto (boundary is at Steeles Avenue). To the north, it is bounded by the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville (boundary is from Highway 404 to York-Durham line somewhere between 19th Avenue and Stouffville Road). And to the east, Markham is bounded by the City of Pickering at York-Durham Line. Markham is at .

Demographics

Markham has experienced tremendous growth since the 1980s. York Region's planning department reports a mid-year 2005 population estimate of 268,200, which is a 29% increase from the 2001 census. Economic & Development Review Mid-Year 2005
According to the 2001 census, 56% of the population consists of visible minorities. Immigrants in Canadian Cities: 2001 census − What do the data tell us?
Immigration characteristics (2001):

★ Canadian-born population: 46.4%

★ Foreign-born population: 52.9%

★ Non-permanent residents: 0.8%
Total population by religion (2001):

★ Catholic: 25.5%

★ Protestant: 20.6%

★ Hindu: 5.7%

★ Muslim: 5.3%

★ Jewish: 5.3%

★ Christian Orthodox: 4.9%

★ Other Christian: 4.3%

★ Buddhist: 3.4%

★ Sikh: 1.6%

★ Other Eastern Religions: 0.2%

★ Other religions: >0.1%

★ No religious affiliation: 23.1%

History

Main articles: History of Markham, Ontario

Government

The Markham Town Council consists of the Mayor, four Regional Councilors and eight Ward Councilors each representing one of the town's eight wards (The Mayor of Markham is Frank Scarpitti - replacing the now retired Donald Cousens, former PC MPP for Markham and Presbyterian church minister). The Mayor and four Regional Councilors are elected by the community to represent the Town of Markham at the regional level.
The members of Council, called Councilors, are elected by the municipality's voters. Councilors are paid by the municipality for their services, but in many municipalities, members of Council usually serve part-time and work at other jobs as well.
The current members of council were elected by the residents to a four-year term of office, in accordance with standards set by the Province. The selection of members for the offices of Mayor and Regional Councilors are made town-wide, while Ward Councilors are elected by individual ward.
The town offices are located at the Markham Civic Centre at Highway 7 (Ontario) and Warden Avenue. The previous offices on Woodbine Avenue have disappeared (a funeral home is on the site), but the historic Town Hall on Markham Main Street is now a restored office building.
The Mayor's Youth Task Force was created to discuss issues facing young people in the town and to plan and publicize events. Its primary purpose is to encourage youth participation within the community.

Law and order

There are no courts in Markham, but the town is served by a court in Newmarket. Policing is provided by York Regional Police at a station at the coner of McCowan Road and Carlton Road and Highway 7. Highway 404, Highway 407 and parts of Highway 48 are patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police.

Town issues

Like most cities and towns in the 'Greater Toronto Area', Markham has a few issues it must deal with:

Urban growth

There is a desire by the Town to control urban sprawl by requesting higher density for new development. The town plan calls for more growth along Highway 7 and less towards the farm land to the North. A similar development in Cornell promotes the need for services to be closer to residences.

Transit plan

Linked to the concern of urban growth, Markham through York Region Transit (YRT) has implemented a new transit system called Viva to ease the strain on the region's congested roads. Viva is similar to YRT but is used as an express bus service with the ability to alter immediate traffic signals so it will not be late. The YRT is also planning to build a transit terminal somewhere near Cornell soon.

Markham's neighbourhoods and communities

Markham is made up of many communities (many of which, despite being technically suburban districts today, are still signed with official 'entering community' signs on major roads) each with a distinctive character:

★ Angus Glen

★ Armadale

★ Berczy Village

★ Box Grove

★ Buttonville

★ Cachet

★ Cashel

★ Cedar Grove

★ Cornell

★ Crosby

★ Dixon's Hill

★ Gormley

★ Greensborough

★ Legacy

★ Locust Hill

★ Markham Village

★ Milliken Mills

★ Quantztown

★ Raymerville/Markville East

★ Rouge Fairways

★ Sherwood - Amber Glen

★ Unionville

★ Thornhill

★ Vinegar Hill

★ Wismer
Thornhill and Unionville are popularly seen as being separate communities. Thornhill actually straddles the Markham-Vaughan town line (portions of it in both municipalities).

Parks

Culture

Until the 1970s, Markham was mostly farmland and marsh, which is still reflected in events like the Markham Fair. Today Markham boasts as Canada's High Tech Capital with many new major technology and large corporations choosing to locate their offices within the town. Markham is in the process of building a new downtown, bordered by Kennedy Road, Highway 7, Warden Ave. and the new Enterprise Avenue. Markham is now very diverse, most notably with a large Chinese population, with Pacific Mall, First Markham Place, Peachtree Centre and other major Chinese stores and centres within the vicinity. Markham is known as one of the best places to live in Canada, and has a balance of both new and old (2 main streets), and very diverse.
Markham is also known for its love of performing arts, demonstrated most profoundly in the critically and audience acclaimed 'Markham Little Theatre [1]'. Thriving for the past 40 years and presenting over 100 plays, Markham Little Theatre's performances draws audience members from residents and those of neighbouring communities.
Markham Youth Theatre [2] also demonstrates the love of arts in the youth of the town. A small theatre company completely run and organised by youth in the area.

Education

Markham is served by a number of high schools. St. Robert Catholic High School, Markville Secondary School, Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School, Unionville High School, Middlefield Collegiate Institute, St. Augustine CHS, Brother Andre CHS, Markham District High School, Milliken Mills High School, Thornlea Secondary School, Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy, Bur Oak Secondary School, and Thornhill Secondary School all have consistent high scores on standardized exams and have some of the highest rate of graduates attending universities.
Markham currently does not have any universities itself, but Seneca College has satellite campuses at Highways 7 and 404 and at Buttonville Airport. Most high school graduates continue to post-secondary education in universities across Ontario. There are local transit services that connect to York University, Ryerson University, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, McMaster University and the University of Toronto, as well as to Toronto campuses of Seneca College, Centennial College, George Brown College, Humber College and The Michener Institute, along with Durham College and Sheridan College.

Economy

In the 19th century, Markham was a vibrant, independent community with distilleries and breweries around the Highway 7 and 48 intersection. The Speight Wagon Works exported products around the world, and it was said that Markham was more active than York (former name for Toronto) was early on.
Today, it claims to be 'Canada's Hi-Tech Capital' (2nd to Ottawa) with a number of key companies in the area, such as IBM, Motorola, Toshiba, Lucent, Apple Computer, Genesis Microchip, and is home to the head office of graphics card producer ATI (recently merged with AMD).
Markham also maintains economic and cultural cooperation agreements with the city of Laval, Quebec (which is the second largest city of the Greater Montreal Area and has a very high financial profile).

Sports

Main articles: Sports in Markham, Ontario

Attractions

Markham has retained its historic past in part of the town. Here a just few places of interest:

★ Frederick Horsman Varley Art Gallery

★ Heintzman House [3]- Home of Colonel George Crookshank, Sam Francis and Charles Heintzman of Heintzman & Co., the piano manufacturer.

★ Markham Museum

★ Markham Village

★ Reesor Farm Market

★ Thornhill village
Heritage streets preserve the old town feeling:

★ Main Street Markham (Markham Road/ Highway 48)

★ Main Street Unionville (Kennedy Road)/ Highway 7
There are still farms operating in the northern reaches of the town, but there are a few 'theme' farms in other parts of Markham:

★ Devonshire Stables & Country Bumpkins Pony Farm

★ Galten Farms

★ Whittamore's Farm

★ Forsythe Family Farms

★ Markham (GO Station) - built in 1871 by Toronto and Nipissing Railway and restored in 2000

★ Locust Hill Station - built in 1936 and re-located to the grounds of the Markham Museum

★ Unionville Station - built in 1871 by Toronto and Nipissing Railway and restored as a community centre

Performing arts

Markham is home to several locally-oriented performing arts groups:

★ Markham Little Theatre

★ Markham Youth Theatre

★ Unionville Theatre Company

★ Markham Concert Band

★ York Symphony Orchestra
A key arts venue is the 'Markham Theatre For Performing Arts', at the Markham Civic Centre located at Highway 7 and Warden Avenue.

Annual events

Events taking place annually include the Markham Youth Festival, Unionville Festival, Markham Village Music Festival, Markham Jazz Festival, Milliken Mills Children's Festival, Thornhill Village Festival, Markham Fair, Markham Festival of Lights, Markham Santa Claus Parade, Olde Tyme Christmas Unionville, Markham Ribfest & Music Festival,Cornell Garden Festival and the Cornell Easter Egg Hunt

Shopping

Markham is home to several large malls of 100+ stores. These include:

★ Market Village (170 stores)

★ Markville Shopping Centre (250 stores)

★ Pacific Mall (450 mini-shops)
There are also a lot of higher-profile malls in nearby Toronto, and elsewhere in York Region. Many shopping centres in Markham are also Asian-oriented. This is a reflection of the large Asian, particularly Chinese Canadian, population found in Markham. They carry a wide variety of traditional Chinese products, apparel, and foods.
There are also some smaller shopping centres in Markham, such as:

★ First Markham Place

★ Metro Square

★ Peachtree Centre

★ The Shops on Steeles and 404

Local media

★ The Liberal - serving Thornhill and Richmond Hill

★ Markham Economist and Sun - local paper owned by Metroland Publishing [4]

★ MarkhamOnline.com - Community Online Website

★ The York Region Business Times - business news

★ York Region News Group - Online news

★ North of the City - magazine for York Region [5]

★ Rogers Cable 10 - local community TV station for York Region, owned by Rogers Media

★ The Cornell Crier - local news and lifestyle

Hospitals

The main healthcare facility in the town is Markham Stouffville Hospital, located in the far eastern end. Markham is also home to Shouldice Hospital, one of the world's premier facilities for people suffering from hernias.

Transportation

Main articles: Transportation in Markham, Ontario

Roads

Major highways passing through Markham include Highway 404 (from Toronto to Newmarket) and Highway 407, a toll highway that passes north of Toronto and connects Markham with Vaughan, Brampton and Burlington.
Highway 407 runs parallel to Highway 7, also known as York Road 7, which is a major east-west artery suffering from congestion due to development along its route. Other major east-west routes include 16th Avenue, Major MacKenzie Drive, and Steeles Avenue which forms Markham's southern boundary with Toronto.

Public transportation

York Region Transit (YRT) connects Markham with surrounding municipalities in York Region, and was created in 2001 from the merger of Markham Transit, Richmond Hill Transit, Newmarket Transit and Vaughan Transit. YRT to connects to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) subway system by way of Viva 'Bus Rapid Transit' from Finch station along Yonge Street, and Don Mills station through Unionville and on to Markville Mall.
The TTC also provides service in Markham on several north-south routes, such as Don Mills Road, Warden Avenue, Birchmount Road, McCowan Road and Markham Road. Unfortunately, these routes charge riders a double fare if they are travelling across the Steeles border and consequently many Markham residents choose to travel by car instead of public transportation.
GO Transit provides train services which connect Markham with downtown Toronto through the Stouffville commuter rail service, with stops at Unionville (GO Station), Centennial (GO Station) Markham (GO Station), and Mount Joy (GO Station).

Air transportation

Toronto/Buttonville Municipal Airport is one of Canada's top ten airports, which caters to general aviation and business commuter traffic to Ottawa and Montreal. Operators at Buttonville include:

★ NexJet Aviation Inc

★ Million Air

★ Executive Edge Air Charter

★ Aviation Limited

★ Canadian Flyers International

Notable people from Markham

Athletes

★ Bill Crothers, track and field athlete, Olympic medalist, chair of the York Region District School Board

★ Brad May, NHL hockey player, Anaheim Ducks

★ Sean Morley, WWE wrestler, known by the ring name ''Val Venis''

★ Ken Pereira, field hockey player, Pan American Games medalist

★ Tammy Sutton-Brown, WNBA basketball player

★ Steve Thomas, retired NHL hockey player

★ Raffi Torres, NHL hockey player, Edmonton Oilers

★ Stephen Weiss, NHL hockey player, Florida Panthers

Media

★ Steve Byers, actor, ''Falcon Beach''

★ Emmanuelle Chriqui, actress, ''Entourage''

★ Hayden Christensen, actor, best known for his role as Anakin Skywalker in ''Star Wars'' (Episodes 2 and 3)

★ Talan Torriero, actor, ''

Musicians

★ Justin Peroff, drummer for the band Broken Social Scene

Sister cities

★ Cary, North Carolina, USA

★ Nördlingen, Germany

★ Pearland, Texas, USA

★ Wuhan, People's Republic of China^[1]

References and footnotes

1. http://www.sister-cities.org/icrc/directory/Americas/Canada

External links

★ Town of Markham official website