Uxbridge Ontario Book 2 in Colour Photos: Saving Our History One Photo at a Time

Uxbridge is a township in the Regional Municipality of Durham in south-central Ontario and is located about forty kilometers northeast of Metropolitan Toronto. The main center in the township is the community of Uxbridge. Other communities within the township include Coppins Corners, Goodwood, Leaskdale, Sandford, Siloam, Victoria’s Corner, and Zephyr.It was named for Uxbridge, England, a name which was derived from ＂Wixan’s Bridge＂.The first settlers in the area were Quakers who started arriving in 1806 from Pennsylvania. The community’s oldest building, the Uxbridge Friends Meeting House, was built in 1820 and overlooks the town from Quaker Hill, a kilometer to the west.The first passenger-carrying narrow-gauge railway in North America, the Toronto and Nipissing Railway arrived in Uxbridge in June 1871, and for over a decade Uxbridge was the headquarters of the railway. In 1872, the Village of Uxbridge was separated from the Township and incorporated as a separate entity.With the creation of the Regional Municipality of Durham in 1974, Uxbridge Township was amalgamated with the Town of Uxbridge and Scott Township to create an expanded Township of Uxbridge.Today, Uxbridge is as a mostly suburban community in northern Durham Region. Major manufacturing employers include Pine Valley Packaging (packaging, containers and portable shelters), Koch-Glitsch Canada (mass transfer systems) and Hela Canada (spice and ingredient manufacture). Many residents commute to other centers in Durham and York Regions and beyond.The Thomas Foster Memorial Temple, erected in 1935-36 by the former mayor of Toronto, is situated a short distance north of town. Inspired by Foster’s visit to India, the Temple was designed by architects J.H. Craig (1889-1954) and H.H. Madrill (1889-1998). The former home of famed author Lucy Maud Montgomery of Anne of Green Gables fame is situated in Leaskdale. Montgomery lived in the area from 1911 to 1926, and wrote half of her books at what is now the site of the Leaskdale Manse Museum.