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Vaughan Township Historical Society

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Vaughan Township Historical Society

VTHS, formed in 1970, promotes the study of local history and preservation of Vaughan's heritage.

The Vaughan Township Historical Society first met on January 26th, 1970. Approximately 30 Vaughan residents gathered at the Maple Community Hall as they watched a slide presentation given by Mr. Roy Barker who had taken photos of many older buildings that were no longer standing. 26 members joined the Society that night that chose George Snider as their first President. Some of those present inclu

ded Janet Berton, Fred Constable, Jesse and Jean Bryson, Roland Keffer, Harold Hayhoe and Ernest Redelmeir. Other familiar local names would become members that year including Pierre Burton, Albert Rutherford and Garnet Williams.

06/14/2026

Members of the Primitive Methodist Church in Carrville began meeting in local homes. A frame church was built, but there was a need for a larger building. The original church then became a home for the Bone family. Thomas Cook provided the funds and land for a church that was built from local bricks in 1857. At that time the church was known as Cook’s Mills Primitive Methodist Church. The church became the Carrville United Church in 1925.

06/06/2026

The Methodist Church in Edgeley was built in 1877. Prior to that settlers travelled to the Zion Lutheran Church in Sherwood. Andrew Mitchell, an early settler of Edgeley (known as Mudville at the time) was the only Methodist in a family of Presbyterians and willed a corner of his farm for the church. The church was built within a year of his death. The church was part of the Yonge Street Circuit until 1884 when it joined the Maple Circuit with churches from Maple, Hope, Carrville and Concord. In 1925 the congregation voted to join the new United Church. The Edgeley Church closed in 1961, with the congregation joining the Maple Church. Eight years later the Edgeley United Church was demolished, however the bell was preserved. In 1975 the bell was installed in the bell tower of the Maple United Church.

05/29/2026

Samuel Plunkett married Martha Topper in 1906 and moved onto the farm, located on Lot 3 Concession 7. The entrance to the farm was off the east side of 8th Avenue (later Kipling), south of Highway #7. The railway crossing was situated at the brow of the hill and was very dangerous on this farm. A small boy of the Plunkett family lost his life there. This was a dairy farm with milk shipped to Toronto. The red brick house was built in 1906. The farm was sold to the Dominion of Canada for a military hospital in 1917. When the war ended in 1918 the hospital was not needed, so Plunkett bought the farm back in 1919. The barn on the property burned down in 1970, and not long after the house burned down too – assumed to be caused by vandals as the house was not occupied. Samuel Plunkett died in 1940. Charles Smith bought the farm in 1941, but never worked it – renting it out to several different people.

05/22/2026

Frank and Ralph Line farmed land in Maple in the southwest quadrant of Major Mackenzie and Keele Streets. In 1959 much of that farmland became known as the new subdivision in Maple. Minnie Clegg was Frank Line’s daughter. She and her husband Roy moved into one of the original farmhouses (pictured). If you took piano lessons in the 1960s there is a pretty good chance you took those lessons from Mrs. Minnie Clegg. Minnie was the organist at the United Church and was the go-to piano teacher for the kids of Maple in the 1960s. Aside from being a music teacher Minnie was also one of the town’s hairdressers. In 1988 Bruce Murchison held an auction for Roy and Minnie Clegg. Those who were there that day could have bid on numerous music books or walked off with the tilt chair or commercial hair dryer from her hairdresser days. Minnie Clegg graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1946.

05/17/2026

Many of the early inhabitants of Purpleville came from County Tyrone, Ireland between 1820 and 1840. Others were of Scottish, English, United Empire Loyalista and Pennsylvania German descent. The post office was established in 1866 by John Morrow. John was a staunch Orangeman and he chose the name Purpleville for the post office to demonstrate the strong connection of the local people with the order. Purple represents an advanced, higher tier of membership known as the Royal Arch Purple Degree. It is also a primary color used in the flags, sashes, and marching regalia of the Orangement. The home owned by James Orser (pictured in 1979) located at the corner of Pine Valley Drive and Teston Road was the post office from 1866 to 1931. It is difficult to believe the two homes pictured here are the same home. Some photos courtesy of Vaughan Archives.

05/09/2026

The Weston, High Park and Toronto Street Railway Company was incorporated in 1890. The name was changed to Toronto Suburban Railway Company in 1900. In 1904 it was authorized to extend its operations to additional communities, with service to Woodbridge beginning in 1914. In 1915 it was permitted to operate all day on Sundays, including having permission to transport milk on the Lord’s Day. In 1923 routes in Toronto were taken over by the Toronto Transit Commission. At that time Canadian National Electric Railways operated the lines in Guelph and Woodbridge. The railway line was active until early 1925, when passenger service stopped. Freight may have still been carried on the line until the 1930.

04/30/2026

From 1959-1973, Reverand and Mrs. Berton Andrew served the congregation of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Maple. Following their time in Maple they moved into the old Bryson School. The school had been converted into two apartments and the Andrews lived on the first floor. In June of 1974 the Andrews opened up their home to more than 90 visitors to see how the old schoolhouse looked. Guests who visited that day included two former teachers at the school, Mrs. Elmer Witherspoon and Mrs. Stewart MacDonald. After the school was closed the belfry had to be replaced. A carpenter on the roof cut off the old belfry and a helicopter was used to remove the old belfry and bring a new one to be installed. Timbers on the old belfry succumbed to dry rot. The new belfry was built by Derek Rolfe of Maple. The Sikorsky S-55 helicopter had to wait for a few days until the weather was right. A good sized crowd watched the event.

04/25/2026

Peter Patterson had designed and was selling a fanning mill in New York state. He and his brothers moved to western Ontario around 1840 and began selling the product in Canada. After stints in London and Dundas they moved to Richmond Hill, where he purchased an old hotel at Yonge and Richmond Streets. He was manufacturing and selling a large selection of farm implements and his business outgrew which led him to buy the property on Major Mackenzie between Bathurst and Dufferin in 1855. This was where he built a factory and a town to support it, complete with a church, post office, store, 30-40 homes, mill, foundry and offices. Four teams of horses were hauling implements to the Maple railway station. With no railway line he moved his business to Woodstock in 1896. Some photos courtesy of Vaughan Archives.

04/18/2026

The hamlet of Nashville appears to have come into being because of the railway station. It got its present name from a resident named Jonathan Scott who had come from Nashville, Tennessee. It was previously known as East’s Corners. Matthew East was the
first postmaster. The presence of the railway station once supported commercial enterprises such as Card’s lumber yard, a hotel, and more than one grain elevator, the last of these being built about 1930. The importance of the railway to the prosperity of
Kleinburg’s mills created an important connection between the two communities.

04/10/2026

In 1864, the residents of Vaughan expressed concern that the Hegler school, located at Highway 50, was too distant for the families. So in 1864 a carpenter named Samuel Bolton was hired to build Burrlington School. The school was completed in the fall of 1864 and opened its doors to twenty students on January 1st, 1865. Over the years the school underwent many modifications. In 1899 it got a new foundation and was brick-clad. Through the years additional grounds were added, a new roof and flagpole were installed, and in 1928 a bell tower was built. The gate posts we remember standing out front were added in 1937 and flush toilets were installed in 1955. As a school, it served the rural area for over 100 years. The main branch of the Humber River flows through the property. The site also offered field, forest, marsh and meadow. Although the school may have only had one room, it had almost 1,200 acres as a playground, which was Conservation land that they had permission to use. The school closed as a public school and became a nature study classroom in 1967. The school takes its name from a small village that disappeared long ago. According to local history, Roland Burr, the man considered the founder of Woodbridge, built a saw and grist mill not far from where the school would be later built. The double ‘r’ in Burrlington comes from Mr. Burr’s name.

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Aurora, ON

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