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Unionville Festival

Unionville Festival 2008

Every year the Unionville Festival celebrates the special character of Unionville's Main Street, one of the few 19th century village streetscapes to survive in the Greater Toronto area.

A Short History of Main Street

Pioneer Days:

The Berczy Settlers, Markham's first pioneers, arrived in the Unionville area in late 1794, shortly after Markham Township was surveyed and the concession road system laid out through what was then dense forest. By 1803, several pioneer homesteads were established along the line of the 6th Conccession (later known as Kennedy Road or Main Street). Initially, the village community that served these pioneers were centred near the crossroads of 16th Avenue and the 6th Concession.

Union Mills:

Then, in the 1840s, Ira White built a grist mill, the Union mills, along the southeast bank of the Rouge River where it crosses Carlton Road, and the village's business community gravitated southward toward the Mill. The laneway to the mill along the 6th concession from the south curved westward so that horse-drawn wagons could avoid the low ground along the Rouge River. As the business section of Unionville developed near the mill, this curve was followed and reamians to this day.

The Railway Arrives:

When the Toronto & Nipissing Railway came through Unionville in 1871, the village's business centre shifted further southward along Main Street toward the railway station.

Cars Take Over and Main Street Declines:

In the 20th century, cars and trucks began to take over from rail transport, and the business section of Unionville gradually went into decline. The automobile increased resident mobility and lessened reliance on local shops. At the same time, new businesses were being established further south, along the King's Highway (Hwy No. 7). In the 1920s, Kennedy Road was paved from Stouffville Sideroad down to Steeles Aveneue, and became the main route for Toronto-bound traffic from the north and east to Unionville. By the 1950s, there were many vacant storefronts along Main Street.

Main Street Threatened:

In 1965, York County Council approved a 10-year county road improvement program, which included widening Kennedy Road to 4 lanes. For Unionville, this widenening would have required straightening out Main Street's curve and the demolition of many heritage buildings. The community began looking for ways to save Main Street from "progress".

Origins of Unionville's Festival:

The Festival began in 1970, as part of the community's campaign to build a bypass road around the village and save Main Street from the York County road widening scheme. The bypass was intended to carry commuter and commercial traffic around the village, and leave winding Main Street and its 19th century heritage streetscape intact. Community activists organized the Festival, with its parade, musical performances, races, contests and street dance, to attract visitors and raise awareness of Main Street's unique heritage character. In the words of Stan Neal, Chairman of the Unionville Conservation and Development Association, as published in the program guide for the first Festival in 1970:

"This festival is a by product of our efforts to re-direct Kennedy Road. We feel the festival will awaken the concern of a broad spectrum of people to the dangers that could befall Unionville should Kennedy Road be short-sightedly rammed through the centre of Town. We hope that those who today are delighted with the charm of this old town will support our efforts to have a by-pass built around unionville."

Building the Bypass:

The community campaign for a bypass succeeded. In 1975 a Transportation Study initiated by the Regional Municipality of York recommended that kennedy Road be realigned to the east of Unionville's Village Centre through what were then undeveloped lands. Further study determined the location for the current alignment of the four-lane north-south arterial road that bypasses Unionville's Main Street. After 13 years of community activism, the bypass finally opened in 1982.

Websites

Unionville 150th: Origins of a Community

Digital exhibit created by Markham Public Libraries in 2004 in support of the celebration of Unionville's sesquicentennial (150 years from its naming).

The Official Website of the Unionville Festival

The Heritage Plannig Section of the town of Markham Development Services Commission

Describes the Unionville Heritage Conservation District

Unionville Information

Unionville's Main Street business listings, festivals and events in site maintained by the Unionville Board

Wikipedia article on Unionville

Unionville Information in the Markham Archives

A wide range of local history materials, including the Unionville tweedsmuir Histories (Scrapbooks of local history compiled by the Women's Institute of Unionville) and various documents the Unionville Historical Society have scanned into Markham Archives. This website provides reasearch access to Town of Markham photographs, paintings, drawings and prints, and an extensive library of historical documents from Heritage Markham, and Varley Art Gallery, Markham Museum and Markham Public Library.

More Information

The community battle to save Main Street from widening was what chronicled in the press. See for example "Must tranquility bow to traffic?" by Walter Gray, published in the Toronto Star in March 1967. Gray wrote, "This is a tale of two villagers - King City, which may lose its 19th century charm before the onslaught of 20th century traffic - and Unionville, where planners say they can accomodate both." The article provides a good overview of the impact of space related traffic pressures on villages throughout York County. Markham Public Libraries provides access to this and other content through its subscription to the online database Toronto Star Pages of the Past, available to all MPL cardholders.