Thornhill, Ontario 6.1

Thornhill is a Greater Toronto Area neighbourhood in the Regional Municipality of York in Southern Ontario, Canada. It resides immediately along Toronto's northern border and is bisected by Yonge Street—thus, it is part of both the city of Vaughan and the city of Markham. Once a police village, Thornhill is now a community and postal designation. According to the 2001 Census, Thornhill-Vaughan's population was 56,361, and the population of Thornhill-Markham was 47,333. It is immediately south and south-west of Richmond Hill.HistoryEarly historyThornhill was founded in 1794. Its first settlers on Yonge Street in Thornhill were Asa Johnson (who settled on the Vaughan side) and Nicholas Miller (c.1760–1810; who settled on the Markham side). Of particular importance was the arrival of Benjamin Thorne (January 4, 1794 – July 2, 1848) in 1820 from Dorset, England, who was operating a gristmill, a sawmill, and a tannery in the community. The settlement came to be known as Thorne's Mills, and later, Thorne's Hill, from which its current name is derived. (Thorne committed suicide in 1848, after a serious wheat market crash.)Between 1830 and 1848, Thornhill experienced a period of continued growth and prosperity. The business district of Thornhill developed on its portion of Yonge Street, between Centre Street and John Street. Stagecoaches travelled between Holland Landing (Lake Simcoe) and York (Toronto) as Yonge Street's road conditions improved with new stonework. During this prosperous period, several churches, many of which are still standing today, were constructed.