Markdale | |
---|---|
Country | Canada |
Province | Ontario |
County | Grey County, Ontario |
Municipality | Grey Highlands, Ontario |
Time zone | UTC−5 (EST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
Forward sortation area | |
Area code(s) | 519, 226, 548 |
Highways | Highway 10 |
Markdale is a community in the Municipality of Grey Highlands, in Grey County, Ontario, Canada. The population was 1,216 in 2016, an increase of 3.5% from 1,175 in 2011. In 2016, the average age of the population was approximately 43 years old.
Markdale was first settled in 1846 and originally called East Glenelg, after a nearby township. In 1864, it was renamed Cornabus after the Scottish hometown, Islay, of the postmaster, Donald MacDuffie (1814–1892). The post office was established in 1869. [1]
In the 1870s, new railways were a vital economic engine for small Ontario towns, as evidenced by nearby Flesherton, which had failed to prosper after the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway decided to bypass it. [2] In 1873, the same railway wanted to make Cornabus a stop on its route from Toronto to Owen Sound if it could find land on which to build a station. A local landowner, Mark Armstrong, sold a parcel of land to the railway on the condition if the new station bore his name. Accordingly, the hamlet of Cornabus became Markdale and saw an immediate increase in business when the railway station opened. Fifteen years later, Markdale was incorporated as a village in 1888. [3]
The local newspaper, The Markdale Standard , was first published in 1880 and continued until 2012.
In 1957, the Regal Films production of the 1958 B film, Wolf Dog , starring Allison Hayes and Jim Davis, was filmed on location in Markdale as well as nearby Holland Township.
In 2001, Markdale was amalgamated with the townships of Artemesia, Euphrasia and Osprey to form Grey Highlands.
On August 20, 2009, an F2 tornado originated in Durham, 20 km southwest of Markdale, with one fatality. It continued on to Markdale and caused F0 damage locally.
Markdale is home to several industries including Chapman's Ice Cream and Medike Leather Products. Public services include an Ontario Provincial Police detachment, a fire department, 80-bed Bright Shores Health System Hospital, a public library, an arena and community centre, and a curling and golf club.
There are several annual festivities, including the Rotary Club's Street Frolic in July, and the Agricultural Society's Markdale Fall Fair in late August.
The village was a charter member of the Central Ontario Hockey League and participated at the senior and junior levels under several nicknames, including Markdale Majors. For two seasons, the Grey Highlands Bravehearts of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League played out of the Centre Grey Recreation Complex. The Grey Highlands Hawks are an original member of the Canadian Premier Junior Hockey League that played out of the Centre Grey Recreation Complex.
Dundalk, first called McDowell's Corners, was originally located on the Toronto-Sydenham Road, but moved about a mile to the west to be closer to the Toronto Grey and Bruce railway when it went through in the 1870s. Dundalk was incorporated as a village in 1887. On January 1, 2000, it was amalgamated with the Township of Proton and the Township of Egremont to form the Township of Southgate, in the southeast corner of Grey County. The mayor of Southgate is Briane Milne. Dundalk services the surrounding agricultural area and also has a few small manufacturing plants. Dundalk has the highest elevation of any populated place in southern Ontario at 526m. A rail line that used to pass through Dundalk is now removed, but its roadbed has become a multi-use trail sponsored by the federal government.
Thomas Simpson Sproule was a Canadian parliamentarian, Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada from 1911–1915, and a member of the Canadian Senate from 1915–1917.
Simcoe—Grey is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997.
Grey Southeast was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1917 to 1935. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1914 from parts of Grey East and Grey South ridings when the county of Grey was re-divided into two ridings, Grey North and Grey Southeast.
Grey—Simcoe was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1988. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1966 from parts of Grey North, Grey—Bruce and Simcoe East ridings.
Flesherton is a community in the Municipality of Grey Highlands, in Grey County, Ontario, Canada, located at the junction of Highway 10 and Grey County Road 4. Although the area initially showed a high rate of growth in the 1850s and its founder believed that it would become an important centre of economic activity, growth stagnated when an all-important rail link bypassed it, and the community never grew larger than a small village. The self-proclaimed "Gateway to the Beaver Valley" recently lost its autonomy as a village when it was amalgamated with the surrounding Artemesia Township.
Priceville is a village in the southwest corner of the Municipality of Grey Highlands, Grey County, Ontario, Canada. It is on the Saugeen River on Grey Road 4, east of Durham and southwest of Flesherton.
The Wiarton Rock was a Canadian Junior ice hockey team based in Wiarton, Ontario, and a member of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL). The Rock relocated multiple times, spending time in King City, Nobleton, Lefroy, and Markdale, Ontario.
Grey Highlands is a municipality in the southeast corner of Grey County, Ontario, Canada. It was formed on January 1, 2001, by the amalgamation of the village of Markdale and the townships of Artemesia, Euphrasia and Osprey, which included the unincorporated hamlets of Eugenia, Ceylon, Maxwell, Singhampton, Priceville, Kimberley, Badjeros, and Feversham. The former village of Flesherton is also located within the municipality and was amalgamated with Artemesia Township in 1998.
The Central Ontario Hockey League (COHL) was a highly competitive Intermediate ice hockey league in the central Grey County area of Ontario, Canada until the late 1970s. The league was originally sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Association, but later the Western Ontario Athletic Association incorporated it into their WOAA Senior Hockey League.
John Flesher was an Ontario merchant and political figure.
William Kingston Flesher was a settler of southwestern Ontario, a militia officer, businessman and political figure. As well as founding the village of Flesherton, he represented the riding of Grey East in the House of Commons of Canada as a Conservative member from 1872 to 1878.
James Drew Roberts is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played 106 games in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars between 1976 and 1979. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1976 to 1980, was spent in various minor leagues.
Eugenia is a small community in the municipality of Grey Highlands, Grey County, in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, located just north of the community of Flesherton. An unincorporated hamlet of Artemesia Township for most of its history, Eugenia was amalgamated into Grey Highlands in 2001. Due to nearby Lake Eugenia, Eugenia Falls, the Bruce Trail and the ski resorts of the Beaver Valley, it has become a popular tourist and cottage destination. The nearby Eugenia Power Station has the highest head of water of any hydroelectric generator in Ontario, and has provided a significant amount of electricity to the provincial grid for a century.
Osprey was a township community in Grey County, Ontario. In 2001 it was amalgamated with the village of Markdale and the townships of Euphrasia and Artemesia to form the Municipality of Grey Highlands.
Simcoe—Grey is a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1999.
The Boyne River is a river in the municipality of Grey Highlands, Grey County in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Great Lakes Basin, and lies entirely within geographic Artemesia Township.
The Grey Highlands Hawks were a United Hockey Union-sanctioned junior ice hockey team from Markdale, Ontario, Canada. They were a member of the Canadian Premier Junior Hockey League and began play in the 2016–17 season.
The Markdale Standard was a newspaper in Markdale, Ontario, in Grey County Canada from 1880 until 2012. The paper was continuously published for 132 years with a circulation of 1,300. The paper was known for its longevity and outlasting its peers, in 1880 there were 16 local newspapers in Grey County, but by 1920 only one remained, The Markdale Standard.
The Flesherton Advance is a weekly newspaper published in tandem with the Dundalk Herald based in Dundalk, Ontario, serving Grey Highlands. Founded in 1881, the paper was published in Flesherton until 1968 when purchased by the current publishers, the Walls family.