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| Did you Know . . . In 1982 Prime Minister Pierre
Trudeau and his three sons made a surprise visit to St. John's Church.
Father Bill Scanlon was astonished when he was informed by RCMP officers of the
prime minister's intention to attend Sunday morning Mass ten minutes before
his arrival. |
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Parish History
Part
I: 1800 to 1994
(Part
II: 1994 to present is under construction)
The information on the History pages is
copyright
2010 St. John Chrysostom Church, Newmarket,
Ontario.
All rights reserved. Unauthorised
reproduction is prohibited
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ST.
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
PARISH HISTORY
Part I: 1800 to 1994
by
Theresa Reid
based on "Saint John
Chrysostom Parish Newmarket 1841 - 1994"
by Murray W. Nicolson, Ph.D.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS LINKS - Page 1
-
the
town of Newmarket - 1800
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hotbed of political descent - 1830's
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the rise of Irish
Catholics
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St. Mary's Mission and
"Paddy" Town - 1840's
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typhus epidemic
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Irish
oppression & Equal Rights Association (ERA)
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a new church - 1872
- Catholic community grows
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1950-1970's
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creation of the Newmarket
Catholic Schools
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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| 1 |
The history of our parish can be traced alongside
the history of both the Archdiocese of Toronto and the Church in Upper Canada.
St. John Chrysostom Parish is one of the oldest in the Archdiocese and its
history has been a very interesting one. In order to fully appreciate this
history, we must first explore the history of our town, Newmarket.
In June 1800, Timothy Rogers, a Quaker from Vermont, came north to explore the
area around the Holland River and up to Lake Simcoe. He sought to create a new
home for the Quakers as they had experienced much difficulty after refusing to
participate in the violence that accompanied the American Revolutionary War. The
following year, he brought several Quaker families from Vermont and Pennsylvania
to settle in the 8,000 acres of land which had been granted to him around Yonge
Street. At the time, these lots were a part of both Whitchurch-Stouffville and
King Townships respectively. However, these settlers soon became the first
residents of Newmarket.
By Christmas of 1801, Joseph Hill had constructed a mill on the Holland River,
at what is now known as Fairy Lake. Soon shops started to spring up just north
of this mill, as it became a natural spot where trade and commerce could take
place. This became Newmarkets Main Street. By 1820, Main Street had fourteen
buildings: three stores, an inn, a doctors office, a blacksmiths forge, a
shoemaker, a hatter, a number of millers and a meeting house.
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PICTURES on the History pages:
old St. John church sketch by Frank Nilsen
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The town continued to grow, and in the 1830s it became a hotbed of political
dissent. William Lyon Mackenzie, who had been elected as the first mayor of
Toronto in 1834, organized a number of reform-movement meetings in an attempt to
both overthrow the old order of the Tory establishment and reject the Family
Compact. One of the first of these meetings was held on Main Street in
Newmarket. York County was to become renowned as the birth-place of responsible
government.
This period of political turmoil saw a rise in Irish Catholics in the area.
Although they were a reform-minded group who detested Britain and its
institutions, at the advice of Kingston Bishop Alexander Macdonell these
settlers did not take part in the armed rebellion. Their silence was seen by the
government as a sign of loyalty and prompted the British Government to grant
approbation for the formation of the Diocese of Toronto in 1840. (Previously it
had been a part of the large Diocese of Kingston.)
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During the 1830s, a few Irish Catholics had become successful merchants in
Newmarket and, in 1838, they first started to plan for a church building in the
town. In the decade prior, there had been a real shortage of clergymen in Upper
Canada and it was clearly becoming more and more necessary that church
construction get underway. Many Catholics in the area north of Toronto (then
York) were emigrating from Upper Canada to the United States because they had no
clergyman. So, in 1837, a new mission was formed, consisting of Newmarket,
Holland Landing, West Gwillimbury, Brock, Mara and Thorah. This new mission was
taken on by Father John Cassidy and construction was completed on the first
church in Newmarket in the fall of 1839. This white-frame and rough-cast
building was situated in the centre of Block A on a hill in St. Patricks Ward,
west of the north end of Main Street. In todays location, it would have jutted
out onto the north side of Ontario Street, parallel to the parking lot that is
there today. Adjoining this building to the west (presumably where the parking
lot exists today) was St. Marys Cemetery which was later moved to its
present-day site. It was a pretty little church, but unfortunately had no
permanent priest to celebrate Mass in it.
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St. Marys mission in Newmarket began in 1840 with a Father James Quinlan,
originally of Ireland but who had served in parishes in: Saint John, New
Brunswick; Cincinnati, Ohio and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as well. The size of
the parish swelled throughout the 1840s, especially during the years 1846
through 1848, when the Irish Potato Famine brought the hugest influx of
immigrants that had been seen yet. Most of them settled in the area known as
Irish or Paddy Town- around Main Street, just north of Davis Drive in East
Gwillimbury. Here they built small homes out of logs, with a window in the east
and a door in the west, using fieldstone fireplaces for heat. Gardens and small
orchards were planted and barns were built to raise livestock. The Irish dietary
staples of cabbage and potatoes were replaced with wild berries and venison.
They sold excess produce in the village. Though the men took up jobs as
labourers in Newmarket and its surrounding areas, the Irish Catholics were
ostracized in their small community- excluded from the public school system and
not allowed to live in the village.
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The conditions on the boats which brought people to North America from Ireland
during the famine were atrocious, and many who had been well prior to their trip
became ill while at sea. Huge numbers of Irish lost their lives on these ships
and many still died once they arrived. The typhus epidemic raged among Irish
immigrants and spread to many others who had contact with them. This became a
very huge issue in the Diocese as most of those affected were Catholics, a group
already heavily burdened by negative stereotypes, who now faced fears from
others of being the carriers of infection. In fact, Toronto Bishop Michael Power
died of typhus after being exposed to it through his work in the fever sheds
along Lake Ontario, leaving the Diocese without a leader for nearly three years.
To combat epidemic in the village of Newmarket, a clinic was established on what
was then Boulton Street and today is known as DArcy Street (just west of Water
Street.) It is very likely that this clinic was founded by Father John Baptist
Proulx, as he had a background in medicine and was the priest appointed to the
Newmarket mission at the time, however this is not known for certain.
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Throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century, the Irish in Upper Canada
experienced a great deal of oppression, as their loyalty was called into
question by groups such as the Equal Rights Association (or ERA), who were quite
strong in Newmarket. The ERA was formed in the 1860s as the Fenian Brotherhood
in Ireland grew in strength and numbers. Fears of an Irish armed rebellion were
rampant throughout Upper Canada and increased suspicions of the Catholic
population and its alliances.
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Main Street in Newmarket circa 1890 -
the banner reads "Equal Rights to All" |
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7 new pictures |
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7 pictures of old
St. John's Church: courtesy of Wes Playter
click the thumbnail pictures to view them at full size
click "back" in
your browser to return to this page - or backspace
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By 1872, the Catholics of Newmarket had outgrown
the tiny building that was St. Marys and were in need of a new place of
worship. Then-parish priest, Father Patrick Joseph Keane thought that the best
spot for the new building would be on the site of the existing cemetery.
Parishioners opposed this idea, because it involved the disinterment of the
bodies in the cemetery. Many families had not been able to afford headstones
during the famine and they feared that the remains of some of their loved ones
would be left behind. Intervention by Archbishop John J. Lynch decided that the
church would, in fact, be built on the site of the cemetery as a new burying
ground had been selected in Paddy Town, just beyond the public one.
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In 1873 a prominent Toronto architect, Henry Langley, was chosen to design the
new Catholic place of worship in Newmarket. Completion of this Gothic church
happened in 1875 and the red-brick building was regarded as quite beautiful by
all Newmarket residents- Catholic and Protestant alike. It made the view from
passing trains that much more quaint and picturesque. This new church was called
St. John Chrysostom, in commemoration of the golden-mouthed saint.
Later in 1875, the priests home (which was
across the street from the church, on the site of todays church) burned down
and was replaced in 1877 by an Italianate structure on the same site. St. John
Chrysostom School was built in 1880, directly across the street from the
present-day church and beside the existing church. This building served as the
Parish Hall from 1978 to 1994 when it was destroyed.
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architect drawings
of the old church 1873
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old St. John Church |
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As they are today, St. John Chrysostom parishioners were very generous in their
support of both their parish and Catholic institutions throughout the
archdiocese, such as: St. Michaels College, the House of Providence (todays
Providence Healthcare) and the Ecclesiastical Seminary in Toronto- among others.
By the turn of the century, the ghetto that was Paddy Town had disappeared, and
Irish Catholics were clustered in the area surrounding the church and school-
from Huron Street (Davis Drive) south to Queen Street and Main Street west to
Niagara Street. The Irish Catholic community in Newmarket remained tightly knit
and fiercely loyal throughout the first half of the twentieth century, with
small numbers of English, Scottish and French settlers joining their
congregation. This group endured a great deal of persecution from groups like
the Masonic Order and the members of the Orange Lodge- among others.
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old church sanctuary 1895
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Era-Banner: Fri. Feb. 8, 1991 |
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demolition of the old rectory |
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After the Second World War, Canada experienced a great deal of immigration, in
particular from European countries which had been hardest hit by the violence of
the war. Newmarket was no exception, and in the 1950s a number of German,
Lithuanian, Dutch, Polish and Italian families settled in the St. Johns parish
community. By the 1970s, the community of St. Johns came to include members
from the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, India, Pakistan and
many different islands in the Caribbean. Organizations like the Catholic Womens
League, Knights of Columbus and St. Vincent de Paul Society came to include and
serve this growing multicultural community of faith.
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sanctuary of the old church circa 1960 |
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The preservation and promotion of Catholic education Newmarket has been an
important focus for St. Johns. The areas surrounding Newmarket- Sharon, Aurora,
Holland Landing- came to include large numbers of Catholics, and by the 1950s,
the tiny St. John Chrysostom School could not support so many students. In 1959,
Our Lady of Good Counsel opened as a two-room establishment in Sharon, which
somewhat eased the enrolment burden of St. Johns. This school remained under
the jurisdiction of St. John Chrysostom parish until the creation of St.
Elizabeth Seton parish in 1986.
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Our Lady of Good Counsel |
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In 1963, Notre Dame School on Lemar Road was established in 1963, taking all
Catholic pupils living east of Prospect Street and North of Davis Drive as well.
For the fall term of 1966, Notre Dame became an all-boys school while St. Johns
was used as an all-girls school. This lasted for only one year and Notre Dame
returned to a co-educational approach in 1968, focusing on senior students from
St. Johns and Our Lady of Good Counsel. Notre Dame moved to its new location on
Kingsmere Avenue in 1999.
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Notre Dame Catholic Elementary School |
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During the early 1970s, further development towards Yonge Street (and, in
particular, south of Eagle Street) made it quite evident that another school
needed to be built. So, in 1975, St. Pauls was established on William Roe
Boulevard as a relocatable school, consisting of seven porta pack classrooms, a
library, office space and a staff room. This school opened its doors with 212
pupils from grades one through six. However, junior and senior kindergarten
classes moved over from St. John Chrysostom School in 1978, once a permanent
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St. Paul Catholic Elementary School
Blessing St. Paul's Catholic School |
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The opening of St. Pauls in 1975 was concurrent with the opening of the York
Region Roman Catholic Separate School Boards (today known as the York Catholic
District School Board or YCDSB) first French language school. The building for
this school was located at the southwest corner of Main and Ontario Streets and
today serves as our parish centre. At first the school was called St. Johns
Catholic School for French-speaking students, but after the English kindergarten
classes from St. Pauls left in 1978, the name of the school was officially
changed to Ecole Catholique Saint-Jean. The existence of this school began to
attract many French-speaking families to the area, and soon the community at the
school had outgrown the building on Main Street and in September 1986 moved to
its present-day location in Aurora. Canadian Martyrs School (on London Road) had
opened the previous year and continues to grow as it serves the people of that
area.
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By the early 1990s, St. Pauls was simply becoming too crowded as development
west of Yonge Street increased. So, St. Nicholas School opened its doors to 450
families in the fall of 1993. Once St. Nicholas (located on Keith Avenue) became
overcrowded due to population growth south of Mulock Drive, it became necessary
for St. John Chrysostom School to open on Joe Persechini Drive in the fall of
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St. Nicholas Catholic Elementary School
St. John Chrysostom Catholic Elementary School
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Sacred Heart Catholic High School opened in 1979 as a Junior High School,
serving Catholic students in the northern part of York Region from grades seven
through nine. Each subsequent year an additional grade was added to complete the
secondary school program. Additions were made to accommodate the growing size of
the school in 1983, 1987, 2001, 2002 and 2004. Today there are 1620 students at
Sacred Heart.
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Sacred Heart Catholic High School |
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Marian altar in the old church -
these 3 photos courtesy of Mr. & Mrs. A. Fleischaker |
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old church before mass |
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