Our Past
Markham’s history is as illustrious and diverse at its’
current corporate citizens.
Around 1690, the Native Indian population began settling southward
from the northern
regions of modern-day Ontario and beyond. The Rouge River, running
through present
day Markham, played an important role in their daily lives, providing
ample resources for
fur trading, hunting, fishing and agriculture. Many famous explorers
and traders soon
travelled through the land to be known as Markham Township.
After the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783,
Britain rewarded many
of its’ British and German soldiers with land grants in the
new British colonies. The
Town of York, later known as Toronto, was the military headquarters
of Upper Canada,
and was a natural choice to settle and populate. Soon, the outlaying
regions were settled
and some of the soldiers sold their land grants to incoming settlers.
In 1790, William Berczy, a German aristocrat, recruited 200 Germans
to settle in Upper
New York State as part of the British settlement program. However,
conditions in New
York proved unfavourable and Berczy soon favoured the aggressive
settlement policy
sponsored by the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, Colonel John
Graves Simcoe.
Simcoe’s policy offered grants of 200 acres to anyone willing
to clear five acres, build a
house, and create a road in the front. The policy was designed to
attract settlers from
Europe who wanted to escape the hardships of wars and political
instability that were
prevalent in Europe. Berczy negotiated 64,000 acres with Simcoe
and soon the 200
German settlers moved northward in the winter of 1794-95 from New
York state into
primitive log houses in the forests of Markham Township bordering
the Rouge River.
Markham Township was surveyed in 1793-94 and named after William
Markham,
Archbishop of York (England) and a personal friend of Colonel Simcoe.
The Township
extended from Yonge Street in the west to the Pickering Town Line
in the east, Steeles
Avenue in the south and the Whitchurch Town Line to the north. The
borders remain
intact to this day. Soon a number of English, Irish, and Scottish
settlers immigrated to
Markham Township to escape the hardships of famine and industrialization
in their
homelands. Markham’s early pioneers included the Buckendahls,
Eckardts, Hagermans,
Hendricks, Lunaus, Pingles, Quantzes, Armstrongs, Buttons, Crosbys,
Langstaffs,
McKinnons, Millers, Millikens, Milnes, Mustards, Ramers, Reesors,
Robinsons and
many more.
Here starts the humble beginnings of modern day Markham, "Canada’s
High-Tech
Capital" and one of the most affluent communities in all of
North America.
Our Present
Markham’s present day success mirrors it’s pioneering
past with a favourable business
and family environment.
Strategically located in the heart of the prosperous Greater Toronto
Area, today’s
Markham is home to over 200,000 residents, up from 120,000 in 1984,
and projected to
reach over 260,000 by 2011. More than 6000 businesses employ over
95,000
individuals, mostly in high-tech, financial services, telecommunications
and light
manufacturing. With over 800 high-technology companies, Markham
also lays official
claim to the title of "Canada’s High-Tech Capital".
Among its corporate citizens are
some of the world’s best know corporations such as IBM, American
Express, Apple
Computer, MAC Cosmetics, Lucent Technologies, Sun Microsystems,
Toshiba,
Mitsubishi, ATI Technologies, Allstate Insurance, Nike and Hyundai.
Corporate
Markham also recently attracted Motorola, Philips Electronics and IBM Software Labs
to its business community.
Why Re-Locate to Markham?
Markham offers 10 major advantages for prospective corporate clients
to re-locate here:
1
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Low Tax Rate ~ residential,
industrial and office realty taxes are among the lowest
in Southern Ontario and have consistently remained very competitive
in the
Greater Toronto Area, as evidenced by the impressive roster
of firms in Markham
today.
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2
|
Transportation Infrastructure
~ Markham is centrally located in the Greater
Toronto Area with easy access to several major highways and
roads including
Highways 401, 404, the 407 ETR, Highway 7, Highway 48, Steeles
Avenue, 14th
Avenue, 16th Avenue and Yonge Street. In addition, Markham’s
local Toronto
Buttonville Municipal Airport, Canada’s 9th busiest airport,
caters primarily to
U.S. business travellers while Pearson International Airport,
Canada’s largest and
busiest airport, is only 20 minutes away.
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3
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Communications Infrastructure
~ Markham’s telecommunications
infrastructure is considered among the most advanced in the
world today and
based on advanced fibre-optic technology which supports high
speed data and
facsimile transmissions, advanced commercial and cellular
phone services, video
conferencing, video databases, high definition television
and video entertainment;
newer residential communities such as Cornell in east Markham
also feature state-
of-the-art fibre-optics and smart-wired homes.
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4
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Prime Commercial and Industrial Space
~ Markham has over 17 business
parks with several more already under development; construction
cranes are a
common sight in the area; a major development is progressing
in the Warden
Avenue and Highway 7 area with over 7.5 million square feet
of employment area
to be added, currently one of the largest development projects
in North America.
Several commercial parks permit a wide range of corporate
and industrial uses and
range in price from $200,000 to $750,000 per acre while industrial
lease rates
range from $5.50 to $7.50 per square foot.
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5
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Canada’s High-Tech Capital
~ Markham has the highest concentration of high
technology companies per capita in all of Canada. In fact,
Markham is officially
known as "Canada’s High-Tech Capital" and has
been dubbed "Silicon Valley
North" as new high-tech companies continue to cluster
in the area, partly attracted
by their Fortune 500 competitors who also call Markham their
Canadian
headquarters; there are now over 800 high-tech companies located
in the Markham
area including multinational giants like IBM, Apple and Compaq.
Moreover, the
Greater Toronto Area was ranked by a recent Deloitte and Touche
study as the
third largest software producing region on the continent –
Markham continues to
lead the way in this high growth market.
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6
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Quality of Life ~ the Town of
Markham is consistently rated as one of the most
desirable and affluent communities in Canada with many high
quality homes,
schools, shopping facilities, chic boutiques, antique shops,
recreational facilities,
cinemas, live theatres, parks and up-scale restaurants, all
with a unique small-town
charm. Markham also lays claim to the largest urban park in
North America – the
11,600 acre Rouge Valley Park which incorporates five major
tributaries flowing
into Lake Ontario. More impressively, the United Nations recently
ranked
Canada first internationally in their overall quality of life
studies. Markham has
managed to maintain a strong sense of community spirit and
family values
together with its commercial success.
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7
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Highly Educated Labour Force
~ Canada is highly regarded internationally for
its educational system with several world-renowned post-secondary
institutions
located in the Greater Toronto Area; these include the University
of Waterloo
(with the most sought after computer science graduates in
the world today), the
University of Western Ontario (with it’s internationally
acclaimed Ivey School of
Business) and the prestigious University of Toronto (consistently
ranked as the
best post-secondary institution in all of Canada and also
regarded as a top
international research facility); Corporate Markham employs
many to these
graduates with over 60% of its’ labour force possessing
a post-secondary
education.
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8
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Significant Market ~ the Greater
Toronto Area, Canada’s economic engine and
leader in finance, communications, high-tech, manufacturing
and distribution, is
rated as one of the top consumer markets in North America
with over 4.9 million
residents; Markham, being centrally located in this significant
market, is also
within one day’s drive of over 120 million North American
consumers and over
56% of the continent’s industrial market.
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9
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Pro-Business Environment ~ The
Town of Markham has consistently
maintained low commercial and residential tax rates and encouraged
high quality
growth and development; this philosophy has attracted both
Fortune 500
companies and new high-tech firms as well as up-scale residential
development.
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10
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Corporate Headquarters Centre
~ Over 400 of Canada’s best known
companies are headquartered in Markham, including ATI Technologies,
American
Express, Apple, IBM Canada, Liberty Mutual, Lucent Technologies,
Nike, Office
Depot, Pioneer Electronics, Sun Microsystems and Timex. Corporate
Markham
also recently attracted Motorola, Philips Electronics and IBM Software Labs to its business community.
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Currently, the Town of Markham and its’ residents
are witnessing several new and
exciting initiatives including a new multi-billion dollar regional rapid transit
system, the multi-billion dollar "Markham Centre" commercial and residential development across
from the
Markham Civic Centre, the opening of a new community centre and Olympic-ready
sports complex in Angus Glen and
several new and award-winning residential communities. Markham’s future
continues to shine as bright as its’ corporate stars! Ironically, today’s Markham is much like yesterday's with newer residents
co-existing
peacefully with long-time families and building a new and prosperous future
together, all
in a progressive family and pro-business environment.
Welcome to Markham, Ontario, Canada!
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About Markham – 