Milliken and Milliken Mills are neighbourhoods in the cities of
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
and
Markham Markham may refer to:
It may also refer to brand of of clothing which originates from South Africa which saw it's establishment in 1873.
Biology
* Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia
* ...
. Milliken is situated in the north west section of
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
, whereas Milliken Mills is situated in the south-central portions of Markham. The neighbourhoods are centered on
Kennedy Road and
Steeles Avenue
Steeles Avenue is an east–west street that forms the northern city limit of Toronto and the southern limit of Regional Municipality of York, York Region in Ontario, Canada. It stretches across the western and central Greater Toronto Area from ...
, the latter street serving as the
boundary
Boundary or Boundaries may refer to:
* Border, in political geography
Entertainment
*Boundaries (2016 film), ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film
*Boundaries (2018 film), ''Boundaries'' (2018 film), a 2018 American-Canadian road trip ...
between the cities of Markham and Toronto.
A huge percentage of people own their homes, which are primarily single detached homes. As the homes were built when the farming left (1980s) there are many two storied houses with garage, typical of the time of building and affordability.
History
The area now called "Milliken" or "Milliken's Corner" was first settled in 1798 by Captain William Demont (Dumond).
Norman Milliken
Norman Milliken (July 11, 1771 Trenton, Maine – February 2, 1843 Markham, Province of Canada) was a loyalist, farmer, lumber mill owner and hotel/tavern keeper in York County, Ontario. The community of Milliken Mills in Markham, Ontario is nam ...
settled in the area around 1807. In 1814, Milliken received the deed for lot 1, concession 5, Markham Township. Milliken operated a lumber business in what was then a rural hamlet called ''Milliken Corners''.
The hamlet became a postal village when the first post office was established in 1858 (on the now Markham side) and was called Milliken after Norman Millken.
The
Ebenezer United Church (1878; originally Milliken Primitive (also as Milliken Corners) Methodist Church on southeast side in Toronto) is one of a few structures remaining in the area. The church once stood on the south side of Steeles Avenue with another church on Brimley Road. Plots at the church are many of the early families of Milliken: Thomson, Rennie, Harding, Hood, Hagerman and L'Amoreaux. The church is now located on Brimley Rd, north of Steeles Ave in Markham.
Another structure that survives from the 19th century is Benjamin Milliken House constructed circa 1855. It is a Georgian Classic Revival house built by Norman Milliken's son,
Benjamin Milliken II, on his farm located on Part of Lot 5, Concession 5, Markham Township. It was designated by the Town of Markham as a historic building under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1994. Benjamin Milliken House is located at 7710 Kennedy Road, Markham and is now a pub called The Major Milliken.
To the Milliken community, municipal boundaries were just lines on a map and the community's history can be found in the Archives of both Scarborough and Unionville. School Section # 2 was established here in 1847, and a log school was built during the same year.
In 1954, the area south of
Steeles Avenue
Steeles Avenue is an east–west street that forms the northern city limit of Toronto and the southern limit of Regional Municipality of York, York Region in Ontario, Canada. It stretches across the western and central Greater Toronto Area from ...
was severed from
York County, forming the
Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto
The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, which ...
. As the community was situated along Steeles Avenue, it was split between the two county/metropolitan governments. The southern portion of the community, Milliken, became a part of Metropolitan Toronto, whereas the northern portion of the community, Milliken Mills, remained with York County (reorganized into the
Regional Municipality of York
The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional M ...
in 1971).
Once agricultural land, much of which disappeared with residential development beginning in the 1970s and ending near the late 1980s. The City of Markham initiated an initiative to develop "Main Street Milliken" around Old Kennedy Rd. The area has suffered from years of neglect, and revitalization plans have been welcomed by community members. New developments include a condominium development on Kennedy and Denison, Dairy Queen, Major Milliken Pub and a new housing project on Old Kennedy Rd.
The neighbourhood only gave up its final farming activities in the early 1980s and is modernizing by the year. There are green spaces such as Milliken Park, Goldhawk Park and many others, also the Milliken Trail is a walking tour of the neighbourhood.
Culture
A growing hub of community activity is Milliken Park Community Recreation Centre, which is located on the Northwest corner of Milliken Park and at the Southeast corner of the intersection of Steeles Avenue and McCowan Road. The centre is home to a variety of camps, after-school programs and cultural activities designed to cater to local demand. To provide optimal service for the area, City of Toronto staff are in regular consultation with an advisory board, which includes representatives from local community associations, such as the Goldhawk Community Association, Brimley Forest Community Association, Richmond Park Association, and the Milliken Park Community Association. Annually, the City of Toronto staff, the advisory board, and the community associations organize special events for the communities at Milliken Park Community Recreation Centre. Some examples of these major events include the annual Community Christmas Party, Spring Fling, and Fall Fair.
![Splendid China Tower](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Splendid_China_Tower.JPG)
The demographics of the community is made up of mainly immigrants with a strong
Chinese Canadian
, native_name =
, native_name_lang =
, image = Chinese Canadian population by province.svg
, image_caption = Chinese Canadians as percent of population by province / territory
, pop = 1,715,7704.63% of the ...
presence. It is home to one of several
Chinatowns in Toronto
Toronto Chinatowns are ethnic enclaves in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with a high concentration of ethnic Chinese residents and businesses. These neighbourhoods are major cultural, social and economic hubs for the Chinese-Canadian communities of th ...
. There are two, large Chinese-theme malls in Milliken,
Pacific Mall
Pacific Mall is an Asian shopping mall in Markham, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest indoor Asian shopping mall in North America and has been reported as the largest Asian shopping mall in the Western world. The mall is located on the northea ...
and
Splendid China Mall
Splendid China Mall (Traditional Chinese: 錦繡中華; Simplified Chinese: 锦绣中华) (formerly known as Splendid China Tower) is a Chinese-themed ethnic shopping centre located at the southeast corner of Redlea Avenue and Steeles Avenue i ...
.
Market Village
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
, another Chinese-theme mall which used to be located next to Pacific Mall, was demolished in 2018 to make way for the
Remington Centre
Remington Centre () is an upcoming Chinese-themed mall to be built at the corner of Kennedy Road and Steeles Avenue in Markham, Ontario, Canada, on the site of the former Market Village mall which closed on March 1, 2018. It will be connected to ...
which is currently under construction.
In recent years, the South Asian population has also boomed within the region, particularly the
Sri Lankan Tamil
Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n
Gujarati
Gujarati may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India
* Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat
* Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them
* Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...
community. For example, a South Asian movie theatre is now located at the Woodside Square Mall at McCowan and Finch and plans are also in place for a major South Asian mall to be developed at Finch and Middlefield.
Education
Two
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
school board
A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution.
The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...
s, and three
separate public school boards operate in the neighbourhood. Only one of the five school boards that operate schools in the community is French
first language
A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
public school board,
Conseil scolaire Viamonde
The Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV) is a public-secular French first language school board, and manages elementary and secondary schools in the Ontario Peninsula and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The school board operates 41 elementary schools an ...
(CSV). CSV is a French-based public secular school board that operates one public
elementary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
in Milliken, École élémentaire Laure-Rièse. The elementary school provides schooling for students throughout Milliken, Milliken Mills, and adjacent communities in Markham and Scarborough.
In addition to CSV, the separate
Toronto Catholic District School Board
The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB, known as English-language Separate District School Board No. 40 prior to 1999) is an English-language public-separate school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada, headquartered in North York. I ...
(TCDSB), and secular
Toronto District School Board
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), formerly known as English-language Public District School Board No. 12 prior to 1999, is the English-language public-secular school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The minority public-secular franco ...
(TDSB) also operates English-based public schools in Milliken, providing schooling for students that reside in the neighbourhood. Presently, both TCDSB and TDSB only operate
elementary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
s in the area. They include:
* Agnes Macphail Public School (TDSB)
* Banting and Best Public Elementary School (TDSB)
* Brimwood Boulevard Junior Public School (TDSB)
* Macklin Public School (TDSB)
* Milliken Public School (TDSB)
* North Agincourt Junior Public School (TDSB)
* Port Royal Public School (TDSB)
* Prince of Peace Catholic Elementary School (TCDSB)
* Sir Alexander MacKenzie Senior Public School (TDSB)
* St. Rene Goupil Catholic Elementary School (TCDSB)
* The Divine Infant Catholic School (TCDSB)
![Milliken Mills High School, April 2018 (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Milliken_Mills_High_School%2C_April_2018_%282%29.jpg)
The separate
York Catholic District School Board
The York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB, known as English-language Separate District School Board No. 42 prior to 1999) is the English-language public-separate school district authority for the Regional Municipality of York in Ontario, Canad ...
(YCDSB) and the secular
York Region District School Board
The York Region District School Board (YRDSB) is the English-language public school board for the Regional Municipality of York in Ontario, Canada. The York Region District School Board is the province's third-largest school board after Toronto' ...
(YRDSB) operates public schools, and provides schooling for students in Milliken Mills. Presently, YRDSB presently operates one
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
,
Milliken Mills High School, located in Milliken Mills East. Elementary schools located in Milliken Mills include:
* Aldergrove Public School (YRDSB)
* Coppard Glen Public School (YRDSB)
* Highgate Public School (YRDSB)
* Milliken Mills Public School (YRDSB)
* Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School (YCDSB)
* Randall Public School (YRDSB)
* St. Benedict Catholic Elementary School (YCDSB)
* St. Francis Xavier Catholic Elementary School (YCDSB)
* Wilclay Public School (YRDSB)
Recreation
Milliken is home to a number of recreational amenities.
Public parks and recreational facilities situated in Milliken is managed by the
Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division
Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation (PFR) is the division of Toronto's municipal government responsible for maintaining the municipal park system and natural spaces, regulation of and provision of urban forestry services, and the delivery of rec ...
, whereas parks and recreational facilities located in Milliken Mills East and West, are managed by Markham.
![May 2018, Milliken Park10](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/May_2018%2C_Milliken_Park10.jpg)
Municipal parks situated south of Steeles Avenue, in Milliken include:
* Audrelane Park
* Goldhawk Park
*
Milliken District Park
* Muirlands Park
* Port Royal Park
Municipal parks in Milliken Mills includes:
* Aldergrove Park
* Denison Park
* Harvest Moon Park
* Highgate Park
* Milliken Mills Community Park
* Randall Park
* Risebrough Park
* Wilclay Park
The City of Markham also manages the Milliken Mills Arena, a multi-purpose ice rink, was erected in 1982. In 1989, construction of Milliken Mills Community Centre was completed, which included a library, swimming pool (Alex Chiu Pool), gymnasium, weight room, and racket courts.
Milliken Mills Community Park is located east of the community centre, and includes an open area with soccer pitches and an indoor soccer dome. Milliken Mills Park is located west of the community centre and features five soccer pitches and five baseball fields.
Transportation
Public transportation
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
is provided by three services,
GO Transit
GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven millio ...
, the
Toronto Transit Commission
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...
(TTC), and
York Region Transit
York Region Transit (YRT) is the public transit operator in York Region, Ontario, Canada. Its headquarters are in Richmond Hill, at 50 High Tech Road.
YRT operates 65 full-time, rush hour and limited routes, 35 school services, and six Viva bus ...
(YRT). The TTC and YRT provide local bus routes.
GO Transit
GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven millio ...
commuter
rail
Rail or rails may refer to:
Rail transport
*Rail transport and related matters
*Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway
Arts and media Film
* ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini
* ''Rail'' ( ...
services can be accessed from
Milliken GO Station
Milliken GO Station is a GO Transit train station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the neighbourhood of Milliken, Ontario , Milliken which is on the city's northern border with Markham, Ontario.
Description
The station is located so ...
.
References
External links
MillikenCity of Toronto profile
{{authority control
Ethnic enclaves in Ontario
Neighbourhoods in Markham, Ontario
Neighbourhoods in Toronto
Scarborough, Toronto