Agriculture, arts and athletes: A look back at Thornhill's history
Group of Seven and women's hockey were part of early heritage
Yorkregion.com
June 21, 2017
By Simone Joseph
The south-west corner of Thornhill’s Yonge and Centre intersection is now home to a Petro Canada gas station.
But, if you could travel back in time to 1910, you would find the land being used for a very different purpose.
Reflecting the prevalence of agriculture in this area, this intersection was home to scales for weighing hay, cattle and grain.
The scales were installed in 1867, just a week before Confederation.
Local farmers and butchers used the scales to weigh loads of hay, grain or livestock, before taking them to markets in Toronto. Farmers from other locales, who were travelling through Thornhill, would stop to use these scales.
A monthly agricultural fair began in Thornhill with the purpose of selling farm stock around the same time as the installation.
It is not known exactly when these scales were dismantled but it is estimated to have been in the early 1920s.
In addition to appealing to farmers and butchers because of the usefulness of the scales, Thornhill was also appealing to sports enthusiasts - specifically ice skaters and hockey players.
Back in 1907, 15 shareholders joined forces to buy land just west of the Methodist Church on the north-west corner of Centre and Elizabeth Streets, with the hopes of building an arena. The work of these shareholders paid off when the arena, known as the Mammoth, officially opened on January 4, 1908.
A women’s hockey team was created which competed with its male team for local attention.
In the book Thornhill 1793-1963: The History of an Ontario Village written and illustrated by Thoreau MacDonald, there is a chapter by senior Willard Simpson. Simpson describes just how popular hockey was at that time: “Cars (of the radial line) were chartered to carry the home team and their supporters to distant games, and I must say that many of the N.H.L. play-offs seem quite tame in comparison to the rough and ready hockey of those days. When our boys played at Schomberg the car would be packed with standing fans, because residents there always welcomed us with open arms, and entertained with refreshments for everyone after the game.”
In the 1919-20 season, the Thornhill women won the Ontario championship in a game played against Ottawa in the Toronto arena.
But then hockey regulations changed, making it necessary to use larger rinks. Richmond Hill and Willowdale moved locations to follow the new regulations, but Thornhill did not. Interest in the local hockey teams decreased and The Metropolitan League disintegrated because of decreasing use and eventual closure of the radial line. (The Toronto and York Radial Railway was a transit operator providing services to the suburbs of Toronto). It was a subsidiary of The Toronto Railway Company. It ran from 1904-1948.
Thornhill's prime location along Yonge Street, a major transportation route, provided a huge boon to the community's growth during much of the 20th century. The introduction of an electric street railway on Yonge Street in 1898 towards Kleinburg, Georgina, and King made it possible for the first time for people to live in Thornhill and work in Toronto.
Finally, in 1935, the shareholders decided to sell the Mammoth rink.
By 1936, this rink had been torn down and replaced by a redbrick house (77 Centre St.) at the south-east corner of Brooke and Centre Streets.
Aside from drawing hockey players, Thornhill also become known as fertile ground for artists.
Group of Seven founder James Edward Hervey MacDonald (J.E.H.) MacDonald, began living in Thornhill in 1912. “His presence here encouraged several of his contemporary artist friends to join him. Four future members of the Group rented houses for brief periods, while other artists visited regularly for sketching outings,” according to the Society for the Preservation of Historic Thornhill’s newsletter February 2016.
In 1912, (J.E.H.), his wife and their eleven-year-old arrived in Thornhill. They rented the brick house at 18 Centre St.
When the owner decided to return to the house and live there himself in late 1913, the MacDonalds decided to buy the house and property at 121 Centre St. The property became known as Four Elms and soon drew visiting artists such as Group of Seven infamous painter Tom Thomson. The home and grounds at 121 Centre St. have been preserved so they appear much as they did during the time of the MacDonalds.
J.E.H. painted “The Tangled Garden” at 121 Centre St. It now hangs in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. Another of MacDonald’s works, “Morning Sunshine (The Artist’s Wife)”, painted in 1926, was clearly set close to the back door of his Centre Street home.
Four other members of the Group of Seven followed J.E.H. MacDonald and lived for a short time in Thornhill: Arthur Lismer, Fred Varley, Frank Johnston and Franklin Carmichael. They rented houses on John Street between 1913 and 1920.
