Editing Newmarket, Ontario (section)

===From village to town===
[[File:Main Street, Newmarket in 1856.jpg|thumb|right|Main Street in 1856]]
Newmarket was incorporated as a village in 1857 with a population of 700, with Donald Sutherland as the first reeve.<ref name="ontarioplaques.com"/> In 1858, [[Robert Simpson (merchant)|Robert Simpson]] co-opened "Simpson & Trent Groceries, Boots, Shoes and Dry Goods" in downtown Newmarket, the first store in what would become the [[Simpsons (department store)|Simpsons]] department store chain. In 1880, Newmarket became a town with a population of 2,000. William Cane was elected as the first mayor. Some years later, his sash and door factory would become the first Canadian manufacturer of lead pencils, the Dixon Pencil Company.<ref name="ontarioplaques.com"/>

In 1869, the population was 1,500 and a gazetteer described Newmarket as one of the most flourishing villages on the Northern Railway line. In addition to the train, stagecoaches were available to nearby communities.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Province of Ontario Gazetteer and Directory |year=1869 |publisher=Robertson & Cook |location=Toronto |page=[https://archive.org/details/provinceontario00mcevgoog/page/n278 334] |isbn=9780665094125 |edition=1869 |url=https://archive.org/details/provinceontario00mcevgoog|quote=newmarket. |access-date=13 November 2018}}</ref> By the time of the 1871 census, the population was 1,760 and by 1881, it had increased to 2,006; an elementary school and a high school were already in operation by then.<ref name="electriccanadian.com"/>

The [[Toronto and York Radial Railway]] arrived in Newmarket in 1899.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ontarioplaques.com/Plaques/Plaque_York17.html|title=Newmarket Radial Railway Arch Historical Plaque|website=www.ontarioplaques.com|access-date=May 1, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012115555/http://ontarioplaques.com/Plaques/Plaque_York17.html|archive-date=October 12, 2016}}</ref> This service operated along Yonge Street south of Newmarket, but turned east to run through the downtown area along Main Street; it would later be extended north to [[Sutton, Ontario|Sutton]]. At the time, it brought significant numbers of [[day-tripper]]s to Newmarket to shop at the market. Automobile traffic on Yonge Street, and the already existing mainline railway, had a significant effect on ridership, and the Radial was discontinued in the early 1930s.<ref>[http://www.newmarket.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_2738_1.html Historic Newmarket, Streetcar to Toronto] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222026/http://www.newmarket.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_2738_1.html |date=September 27, 2007 }}</ref>

North of Davis Drive in Newmarket, the East Holland River was straightened to prepare it for use as a commercial waterway to bypass the railway, whose prices were skyrocketing around the turn of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eastgwillimbury.ca/Things_To_Do/Parks__Trails___Sport_Fields/Trail_Maps/Holland_River_Trail.htm?PageMode=Print|title=Holland River Trail|website=www.eastgwillimbury.ca|access-date=May 1, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501154110/http://www.eastgwillimbury.ca/Things_To_Do/Parks__Trails___Sport_Fields/Trail_Maps/Holland_River_Trail.htm?PageMode=Print|archive-date=May 1, 2018}}</ref> Sir [[William Mulock]], the local [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Member of Parliament]], proposed a canal system running down the Holland River through Holland Landing and into Lake Simcoe. This would allow boats to connect from there to the [[Trent-Severn Waterway]] for eventual shipment south. The [[Newmarket Canal]] was almost complete by the summer of 1912, when it was cancelled by the incoming government of [[Robert Borden]]. Today, the locks are still visible and are known as the "Ghost Canal". The turning basin in downtown Newmarket was filled in and now forms the parking lot of The Old Davis Tannery Mall, on the site of the former Hill tannery.<ref>{{cite web|last=Carter|first=Terry|title=The Ghost Canal|url=http://www.newmarket.ca/en/lifestyle/theghostcanal.asp|work=newmarket.ca|publisher=Town of Newmarket|access-date=August 22, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130317011859/http://www.newmarket.ca/en/lifestyle/theghostcanal.asp|archive-date=March 17, 2013}}</ref>