Stouffville

Stouffville (/ˈstoʊvɪl/) is the primary urban area within the town of Whitchurch-Stouffville in York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is situated within the Greater Toronto Area and the inner ring of the Golden Horseshoe. The urban area is centred at the intersection of Main Street (York Regional Road 14), Mill Street, and Market Street. Between 2006 and 2011, the population of the Community of Stouffville grew 100.5% from 12,411 to 24,886, or from 51% to 66% of the total population of the larger town of Whitchurch-Stouffville.[2] The population of Stouffville from the 2021 census is 36,753. [3]

This article is about the unincorporated urban area of Stouffville. For incorporated municipality, see Whitchurch-Stouffville.

Stouffville
Unincorporated town
Motto: 
Country close to the City
Stouffville is located in Regional Municipality of York
Stouffville
Location within York
Coordinates: 43°58′N 79°15′W
CountryCanada
ProvinceOntario
Regional municipalityYork Region
TownWhitchurch-Stouffville
IncorporatedVillage of Stouffville 1877
Amalgamation (with Whitchurch Township)January 1, 1971
Government
 • MPPPaul Calandra
 • MPHelena Jaczek
Area
[1]
 • Land14.17 km2 (5.47 sq mi)
Elevation
266 m (873 ft)
Population
 (2021)[1]
 • Total36,753
 • Density2,593.6/km2 (6,717/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC−05:00 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−04:00 (EDT)
Forward sortation area
L4A
Area code(s)905, 289, 365, and 742
Websitewww.town.whitchurch-stouffville.on.ca

History

Founded in 1804 by Abraham Stouffer, the hamlet was originally named Stoufferville.[4] Stouffer built a sawmill and grist-mill[5] on the banks of Duffin's Creek in the 1820s.[6] The community name was shortened to Stouffville when its first post office opened in 1832.[7]

In 1877, Stouffville became an incorporated village.[8] On January 1, 1971, the Village of Stouffville amalgamated with Whitchurch Township and was designated a community within the larger town of Whitchurch-Stouffville; with amalgamation, the boundary of the town was also moved four farm lots south of the original boundary of Main Street (the land was formerly a part of Markham Township). The population of urban Stouffville in 1971 was 5,036.[9]

In 2003, a large 16th-century Huron village was discovered in Stouffville during land development; approximately 2000 people once inhabited the site, dubbed Mantle Site, which included a palisade and more than 80 longhouses, yielding tens of thousands of artifacts.[10]

Geography

Urban Stouffville is approximately 4.5 km long, stretching from the York-Durham Line to Highway 48, and approximately 2.7 km wide with development north and south of Main Street. Stouffville is bounded by farmland and a golf course. The community is located on the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Rouge River watershed.

Transportation

GO Transit's Stouffville line passes through the community with commuter trains stopping at the Stouffville GO Station in the downtown core and terminating at Old Elm GO Station. When no trains are scheduled a bus service from Toronto serves the town with some runs continuing to Uxbridge.[11]

York Region Transit's bus#15 travels around the community of Stouffville and along the Stouffville Road to Yonge Street in Richmond Hill,[12] and their bus#9 (9th line) travels from the town to Markham Stouffville Hospital and thence to Box Grove Plaza.[13]

Stouffville Road (Regional Road #14) is the main east-west route that passes through downtown and connects with Highway 404 in the west.

Demographics

In 2006, urban Stouffville had a population of 8,000 to 10,000 people, or about one-third of the population of the larger Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville.[14] The Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville estimates that the population grew more than 58% between 2006 and 2011; most of that growth was limited to the Community of Stouffville or the Community of Ballantrae.[15] Based on the 2021 census the town's total population is 36,753, growth of 8.8% from the 2016 population of 32,634.

Growth

With connection to a massive new sewage system (also known as the Big Pipe) and a water pipe from Lake Ontario, urban Stouffville began to grow rapidly after 2005. The first of the new subdivisions were south of Main Street along Hoover Park Drive (Wheler's Mill and Wheler's on Main subdivisions), and north of Main Street along Millard Street west of Ninth Line.

In 2008, construction began to widen Stouffville Road / Main Street from two lanes to four lanes, from Ninth Line to the edge of urban Stouffville at Highway 48 (the community of Ringwood), and further to McCowan Road. Construction was completed in June 2010. Stouffville Road has since been widened up to Highway 404.

Notable residents

Nearest communities

Urban Stouffville is situated in the southeast corner of the town of Whitchurch-Stouffville. Neighbouring communities within the town include Ringwood and Gormley to the east, and Bloomington to the north. Claremont, Uxbridge, and the ghost town of Altona (part of Pickering) lie to the east. Stouffville is bordered on the south by the city of Markham.

Heritage and culture

List of historic buildings
  • Bloomington Gospel Church - 13660 9th Line 1874
  • Bogarttown Public School 1857 - now part of Whitchurch-Stouffville Museum
  • Co-Op Grain Elevator c. 1916 – demolished 2015
  • James Brown Homestead 1850s - last lived in 1950s and transferred to Whitchurch-Stouffville Museum in 1984
  • Lebovic Centre for Arts & Entertainment – Nineteen on the Park 1896 - Romanesque Revival market/concert hall
  • St James Presbyterian Church 6432 Main Street 1894
  • Stouffville Memorial Christian Church - 6528 Main Street 1892
  • Stouffville Station 1871 - built by Toronto and Nipissing Railway, then as Grant Trunk Stouffville Junction and demolished in 1980s and replaced by current GO station
  • Stouffville Wesley Church 15296 Woodbine Avenue 1881
  • Vandorf Public School 1871 - now moved to Whitchurch-Stouffville Museum (14732 Woodbine Avenue)

Stouffville Farmer's Country Market / Downtown Farmer's Market

The town was home to the Farmers Country Market, founded 1952,[17] which sold a variety of produce, prepared foods, live animals, and household items. While once a popular town attraction, the market closed in 2016 after years of decline.[18] The land was sold in 2001 and was slated for re-development during the decade after the sale. Current barn, silo and stalls were demolished following the closure of the site in late 2016. The Liquidation Centre was moved online with pick-up location/cash and carry in Uxbridge, Ontario. Vendors either closed or relocated across the GTA.

Nearby was a downtown farmer's street market hosted by the town and ran from 2009 to 2016.[19] It too has closed and unsure if it will be opened again.

References

Citations
  1. Statistics Canada: 2012
  2. Statistics Canada, 2011 Census Profile: Stouffville, Ontario; Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, Council in Committee Report; Status Report No. 1, Attachment 2, #3.0, Sept. 18, 2012.
  3. "Stouffville, Ontario". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  4. Guillet, Edwin Clarence (1963). Early life in Upper Canada. University of Toronto Press.
  5. Schrauwers, Albert (2009). Union is strength: W.L. Mackenzie, the Children of Peace and the emergence of joint stock democracy in Upper Canada. University of Toronto Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-8020-9927-3.
  6. http://www.heritagefdn.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_5626_1.html Ontario Heritage Trust Founding of Stouffville
  7. For a complete history of the community of Stouffville, see Jean Barkey, Stouffville, 1877-1977 A Pictorial History of a Prosperous Ontario Community (Stouffville, ON: Stouffville Historical Committee, 1977); also Jean Barkey et al., "Stouffville," Whitchurch Township, 95-99; also Isabel Champion, ed., "Stouffville," Markham: 1793-1900 (Markham, ON: Markham Historical Society, 1979), 289-296.
  8. Cf. the detailed 1878 maps, Township of Markham; Township of Whitchurch, Illustrated historical atlas of the county of York and the township of West Gwillimbury & town of Bradford in the county of Simcoe, Ont. (Toronto : Miles & Co., 1878); also Stouffville Map (1880).
  9. Barkey et al., Whitchurch Township, 99.
  10. Archeological Services, Inc., Mantle Site Archived 2012-03-10 at the Wayback Machine; Toronto Museum Project, Dunsmere Pipe Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine; also Minutes, Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville Council, Huron Ancestral Village Resolution (C10-C0 & R00), June 17, 2007.
  11. "GO Transit Stouffville Line". GO Transit.
  12. "YRT Route 15" (PDF). York Region Transit. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  13. "YRT Route 9" (PDF). York Region Transit. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  14. "2006 Community Profiles, Whitchurch-Stouffville". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
  15. Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, Memorial and Bethesda Park Plans.
  16. McDermott, Patrick D. (October 3, 2015). "Nicole Dollanganger Sings For Freaks Like You". The Fader. Archived from the original on October 10, 2015.
  17. Mendleson, Rachel (March 19, 2013). "Stouffville Country Market pits animal rights activists against livestock farmers". Toronto Star. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  18. "Stouffville Country Market announces it's closing at end of the year".
  19. "Stouffville farmers' market in council's hands".

General references
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