Mount Albert is a village located within the Town of

East Gwillimbury East Gwillimbury is a town (lower-tier municipality) on the East Holland River in the upper-tier municipality the Regional Municipality of York. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area of southern Ontario, in Canada. It was formed by the amalgama ...

and is part of

York Region 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 ...

. It is located 65 km north-east of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, 21 km south of

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

, 45 km west-southwest of Beaverton and 30 km north of

Markham Markham may refer to: Biology * Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia * Markham's grass mouse (''Abrothrix olivaceus markhami''), a rodent subspecies found on Wellington Island and the ne ...

. Mount Albert is accessible by Highway 404 and Highway 48. The population is currently about 4,900. Housing developments are slowly continuing north and south of the village. The downtown area is centred at Centre Street and Main Street. The town itself is bordered on the west by Highway 48, which connects Markham and Sutton, on the east by Durham Regional road 30, which serves as the townline between

and

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

, Doane road to the north and Herald road to the south. Vivian Creek passes through Mount Albert. The outlying area is forested mainly by private woodlots and some regionally owned and maintained

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

forests while farmlands are found throughout the area. The major industry is farming (livestock, feed, and potatoes).

Nearest communities

* Holt, Ontario, west *

Musselman Lake Musselman's Lake is a community settled adjacent to a kettle lake of the same name in the town of Whitchurch–Stouffville, Ontario, Canada. It is located about 6 km north-northwest of urban Stouffville, and is part of the Greater Toronto A ...

, south * Newmarket, south-west *

Sharon Sharon ( 'plain'), also spelled Saron, is a given name as well as a Hebrew name. In Anglosphere, English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name, but historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In Israel, ...

, west *

, north *

, south-east *

Zephyr In European tradition, a zephyr is a light wind or a west wind, named after Zephyrus, the Greek god or personification of the west wind. Zephyr may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional characters * Zephyr (comics), in the Marvel Comics univers ...

, north-east

Geography

*Population: About 4,900 *Name of inhabitants: Mounties, Mount Albertarians

History

The establishment of what is now Mount Albert began in the early 19th century, when land in the area was granted by the Crown to friends of the

Family Compact The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada (today's Ontario) from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in L ...

, the governing council of

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

. In 1821, Samuel and Rufus Birchard,

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

from

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

, bought parcels of land, and by 1850, a village had developed. Originally, the settlement was called Birchardville. The name was later changed to Mount Albert, named after then Prince Albert,

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

(later

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

) son of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

and

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel; 26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the husband of Queen Victoria. As such, he was consort of the British monarch from their marriage on 10 February 1840 until his ...

, in honour of his visit to

in 1860. Industries were primarily agricultural, with grist, flour, woollen and lumber mills located along the Mount Albert Creek. The first known store was built in 1850 to supply dry goods to the villagers and surrounding farmers. The main north-south road in the village, Centre Street, was built along the path of an Algonquin Indian trail. Housing developments slowly expanded the original village in the mid-to-late 20th century, beginning in the 1970s in the south and east quadrants. More development began in the late 1990s expanding to lands north west of the heart of Mount Albert. This subdivision was first established in 1995, with the third phase still under construction as of 2016 in the north east. A smaller development began in the south west in 2009. Children were originally schooled in two local Grammar Schools, one to the north, and one south of the village. A public school opened in 1890 on Centre Street, and served the surrounding community until 1968. The Ross Family Complex now stands on the former school grounds. A continuation school was constructed in 1926 and taught public school graduates until 1948 when students were bused to

Newmarket High School Newmarket High School is a secondary school located in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. It is one of four high schools in Newmarket under the jurisdiction of the York Region District School Board and currently educates approximately 1400 students from ...

. Mount Albert Public School opened in 1967, housing Kindergarten to Grade 8. Robert Munsch Public School opened in September 2014, and services JK to grade 3, while Mount Albert Public School continues with grades 4 to 8. Mount Albert students are now primarily bused to Huron Heights Secondary School in Newmarket. Brooks Farms (A farm in Ontario) is also located in Mount Albert.

References

External links

The Community of Mount Albert
{{authority control Communities in the Regional Municipality of York East Gwillimbury

Nearest communities

Geography

History

See also

References

External links