Boxgrove Community Centre

In the mid-19th century, a hamlet of tradesmen and labourers grew up around a cluster of industries located on the banks of the Rouge River. In the early years, the community was known as Sparta, after the celebrated city-state of ancient Greece. By 1867, the year of Canada's Confederation, a local post office was opened with the name Box Grove.

The Tomlinson family, along with the Kirkhams, played a prominent role in the establishment of a sawmill, woollen mill, and shoddy mill (for recycling old cloth) in the Rouge Valley, close to the crossroads of 14th Avenue and 9th Line. These and other industries took advantage of the water power available from the creation of a dam and mill pond in the hollow. In time, modest houses for workers in the numerous local industries were built on village lots subdivided from the Tomlinson and Beebe farms. A general store, two taverns, a blacksmith shop, and cooperage were built to serve the needs of the local residents and the surrounding farm families.

In 1877, a Methodist church was built overlooking the valley. That same year, the old frame school on the west side of 9th Line that had become too small to accommodate the growing number of scholars in Markham Township School Section No. 18 was replaced. A new building of patterned brick, a classic "little red school house", was constructed on a part of the Samuel Reesor farm on the opposite side of the road. George Freeman, a farmer and former pupil who lived on the Markham-Scarborough Town Line, planted a row of spruce trees on the north side of the school, and maples on the south.

This school operated until the 1960s, after which students traveled to larger, more modern central facilities. The old school was converted to a community meeting hall by the municipality and continues in this function today.

For inquiries and rental opportunities visit the Boxgrove Community Centre website or e-mail.