Box Grove, Ontario

Last updated
Box Grove
Unincorporated community and former hamlet
Coordinates: 43°51′29″N79°13′50″W / 43.85806°N 79.23056°W / 43.85806; -79.23056
Country Canada
Province Ontario
Regional municipality York
City Markham
Population
 (2006)
 • Total13,023 [1]
Time zone UTC-5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-4 (EDT)
Area code(s) 905 and 289
NTS Map030M14
GNBC CodeFALBQ

Box Grove is a unincorporated community and one of the original hamlets of Markham, Ontario.

Contents

History

A Middle Iroquoian settlement existed on the west bank of a tributary of the Little Rouge Creek in the fourteenth century in the area which is today called Box Grove. [2] In 1815, William Beebe was the first European settler in this area; Sparta or Sparty-Wharf (Box Grove in 1867) was registered as a hamlet in 1850. The name suggests that at an early date there was boat traffic on the Rouge River. The hamlet changed to its present name during Canada's Confederation in 1867 when it was granted a post office (McCaffrey General Store later as Box Grove General Store moved to what is now Shell Service Station after 1901). The origin of the name is unclear; it may be due to the activity at the box-making woodworking factory, a reference to the many boxwood trees around the hamlet, or linked to the hamlet of Boxgrove in West Sussex, England. [3] In 1867 the hamlet had "a Church, a schoolhouse, two taverns, woolen mill, sawmill, a store, a blacksmith and two axe-makers shops capable of supplying the whole country with axes and augurs on short notice." [4]

The hamlet was the centre of local and small-scale industrial activity. A saw mill, cotton mill wool factory, and "shoddy mill" (for shredding old woolen fabrics for cheaper cloth and stuffing) along the banks of the Rouge River appeared after 1815. [5] The working hamlet had a cheese factory, [6] hotel, and three taverns for a population of 150 (1880); some neighbouring Mennonites had a "pessimistic" view of worldly Sparta, and sought to avoid travel in the hamlet. [7] A Temperance House was opened in the 1860s by Joseph Lathrop on 14th Avenue. By the end of the nineteenth century the mills had closed (victims of floods and fire), and the White Rose Hotel and Tavern also closed its doors by 1910 (later replaced by residential dwellings and located at what is now 6788 14th Avenue). [8] While industry disappeared in Box Grove, the hamlet remained. The Box Grove General Store (6772 14th Avenue c. 1860), Box Grove Church (2 Legacy Drive c. 1870) and Box Grove Schoolhouse, S.S. #18 (7651 9th Line c.1870), are the only reminders of the once-vibrant hamlet (the Tomlinson family is buried in the church's graveyard). Many homes along 9th Line from north and south of 14th Avenue date to the mid to late 19th Century.

A few prominent families were part of Box Grove:

Today, Box Grove has undergone a transformation from protected agricultural land to residential and commercial use. Box Grove is located in the area around Ninth Line (also known as Box Grove By-Pass) and 14th Avenue. Residential development began in the late 1990s and continues today.

In 1950 the Box Grove Golf course was built by businessman Nelson Davis on the Tomlinson property which included a portion of the Rouge River valley where their mills were located. One of the Tomlinsons was buried on the site and the golf course was built leaving the grave and headstone intact. In 1953, Nelson invited Arnold Palmer to play his course. Arnold apparently shot an 82 and declared it to be one of the toughest courses he had ever played. Davis built a lovely stone clubhouse which included a locker room with beautiful wooden lockers. In 1967, IBM purchased the golf course primarily for use by its employees. The golf facility included a 9-hole par 3 course and the tough 18-hole course, 9 holes in the valley and 9 holes on the flat ground on the north side of the valley. In 1997, IBM sold part of the course to Minto for a residential development called Legacy and the Town of Markham took ownership of the valley portion of the course which is now called Markham Green Golf Club. The original clubhouse has been modified extensively, first by IBM then by the Town and is now an attractive community centre. The Tomlinson grave was moved to the Box Grove Church graveyard and the original gravesite now on the south side of Legacy Drive is marked with a stone monument.

The Box Grove post office was lost in the early 20th century. The current post office is located inside the Rexall pharmacy at Ninth Line and Copper Creek Drive.

Neighbourhoods in Box Grove

Within Box Grove there are two distinct residential developments (neighborhoods) built from the former IBM Canada Golf Course, but are not historically considered as communities:

Transportation

Most commuters in the area travel by car as bus service is infrequent and slow. Despite the proximity to Cornell Bus Terminal, York Region Transit has a somewhat limited service in the community (due to limited scheduling). Bus routes running through Box Grove include: 1 Highway 7, 2 Milliken (weekends only), 9 9th Line (weekdays only), 14 14th Avenue (weekdays only), 305 Box Grove Express (4-7PM, weekdays only) as well as the YRT school routes (411, 416 and 401). Highway 407 serves the area from the Ninth Line interchange; however there is no access onto eastbound Highway 407 from Ninth Line northbound. This has been an ongoing problem for most Box Grove residents who tries to go east on the highway as access to the Highway 407 eastbound is limited. Option 1 is to enter the Highway 407 east from Markham Road which is west of this community, option 2 is to enter the Highway 407 east from York-Durham Line but the interchange is far from this neighbourhood, and option 3 is to make a U turn at Highway 407 and Ninth Line or Donald Cousens Parkway to go east.

Parks and Recreation

Luenta Gardens is named former name of the park (formerly Luneta Park and now Rizal Park) in Manila where Jose Rizal is buried. The small park also has a statue of Rizal.

Other parks in the area includes:

Note: This is not a complete list. There may be some parks left out.

Box Grove Community Centre

Box Grove Community Centre at 7651 9th Line is housed in the old Box Grove Schoolhouse (S.S. #18) built around 1870. Renovated with two additions to the original school house, it has 2 rooms and home a co-operative day care centre. There is also an outdoor pool that operates during the summer months.

Outside is small grass area and two tennis courts.

The community centre historic school house is twin of Cedar Grove Community Centre, formerly Cedar Grove Schoolhouse (S.S. #20) c. 1869.

Films shot at Box Grove

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References

  1. ↑ Box Grove's Location and statistics
  2. ↑ Archaeological Services, Inc., Stage 4 Archaeological Excavation of the New Site AlGt-36 [ permanent dead link ], June 2010.
  3. ↑ For a fuller account of Box Grove's history, cf. Isabel Champion, ed., Markham: 1793-1900 (Markham, ON: Markham Historical Society, 1979), 287-289; 88; 177; 112; 339. See also the detailed 1878 map, "Township of Markham," Illustrated historical atlas of the county of York and the township of West Gwillimbury & town of Bradford in the county of Simcoe, Ont. (Toronto: Miles & Co., 1878).
  4. ↑ Letter to Markham Economist, 1867, cited in Champion, ed., Markham: 1793-1900 , p. 339.
  5. ↑ http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/images/maps/townshipmaps/yor-m-markham.jpg The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project: County Map Showing Box Grove
  6. ↑ Complete pronouncing gazetteer, or, geographical dictionary of the World, p. 78
  7. ↑ "Historic Tours Markham". Historictours.ca. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  8. ↑ "York Region Ontario Travel In-Town: York Region region's Heritage attractions information, listings and links". Foundlocally.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  9. ↑ I. Champion, Markham: 1793-1900 , 79.

43°51′29″N79°13′50″W / 43.85806°N 79.23056°W / 43.85806; -79.23056

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