Willowdale

Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted December, 2011

On the northeast corner of Church Avenue and Yonge Street there is a 1996 Corporation of the City of North York plaque on a post which says:

Plaque coordinates: 43.773976 -79.413825

The original community of Willowdale was established between Lansing and Newtonbrook on today's Park Home and Finch Avenues. Jacob and Elizabeth Cummer (Kummer) and their family were some of the earliest to settle in the area along with the Johnston, Willson and McBride families. The early community was often referred to as Kummer's Settlement.

The Cummers are credited with having donated land on which a Methodist log chapel was built in 1834 at the north east corner of to-day's Yonge and Church Avenue. Adjacent to the church, the Johnston family offered part of their land to serve as a family burial ground. In 1856 the log church was replaced with a brick structure which boasted a towering, artistic spire that could be seen for miles around until a severe storm tore it down. Part of the original church site still remains as this pioneer cemetery built in memory of the early settlers who helped to establish the Willowdale Methodist Church.

Willowdale boasted one of the earliest schools located at present-day Yonge Street and Ellerslie Avenue. The Willowdale School, SS #4 also known as Brown's School was originally built in 1842 with bricks made on the neighbouring farm of David Gibson.

David Gibson, a land surveyor, farmer and politician is best remembered for his actions in the ill-fated Rebellion of 1837. As a result of his participation in the rebellion, Gibson's first home, which he and his wife, Eliza, built in 1829, was torched by government troops. With a price on his head for high treason, Gibson fled to the U. S. He and his family returned to Willowdale and, in 1851 built a new home on the same site. The Gibson House still stands today as a historic museum on Yonge Street north of City Hall. In 1855 Gibson opened the Willowdale post office just north of his farm, naming it after the number of willow trees in the area, thereby giving the community its name.

Related web pages
Willowdale
Lansing
Newtonbrook

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Towns and Villages
North York plaques

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Posted April 19, 2009
I'm amazed that this little cemetery that I used to walk through as a kid is still there. Located right next to the Northtown plaza I thought it would have disappeared long ago. It was kind of neglected then and I figured it was living on borrowed time. I live in BC now and lately I wondered what everything looked like now and I read that they relocated the Dempsey brothers hardware store where I bought mesh for my pet hamsters cage and that the library I used to attend regularly has six floors. Wow.

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