Grey Highlands Museum

08/31/2026

MUSEUM MONDAY

Twenty-five years ago, a new chapter in our local history began.

On January 1, 2001, the Village of Markdale and the Townships of Artemesia, Euphrasia, and Osprey were brought together through Ontario’s municipal restructuring process to form the Municipality of Grey Highlands. Flesherton had previously amalgamated with Artemesia Township in 1998. The new municipality brought together communities with their own distinct histories and identities under one municipal government.

This week’s photograph captures the first Grey Highlands Council, 2001–2003.
Back Row: Mayor Don McCausland; David P. Thompson; David Clarke; Deputy Mayor David Fawcett�Front Row: Manley Risk; Anastasia Sparling; Brian Mullin

As Grey Highlands celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2026, residents are once again preparing to decide who will represent them on council. The decisions made around the council table help shape our roads, recreation, planning, public spaces, services, and the future of our communities.

Twenty-five years after the formation of Grey Highlands, the responsibility for choosing the people who sit around that table still belongs to us. Learn about the candidates. Ask questions. Make your choice. And most importantly, vote.

Our history is shaped not only by the people whose stories we preserve, but by the people who participate in shaping what comes next.

08/26/2026

08/26/2026

Every second Wednesday for the rest of the year, we’ll be sharing a moment in Grey Highlands history, paired with a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork. Just as our shared history never truly breaks, our anniversary art will be created by a single, continuous line… pen never lifting from paper.

Twenty-five stories. Twenty-five uninterrupted lines. One community, traced thoughtfully across time.

INSTALLATION FIFTEEN: THE OLD MARKDALE FIRE HALL

Standing prominently on Toronto Street North, Markdale’s old fire hall has been a community landmark for more than a century.

Built by the Village of Markdale in 1913, the red-brick fire hall was designed with an unusually tall, 75-foot tower. More than an architectural flourish, the tower provided the height needed to hang and dry the brigade’s long canvas fire hoses. It also housed the community’s fire bell, which summoned Markdale’s volunteer firefighters when an alarm was raised.

For more than 80 years, generations of volunteer firefighters operated from the hall, protecting a community that had experienced several serious fires during its early history. Eventually, Markdale’s firefighters moved to a modern station, but the old hall continued serving the community as home to organizations and activities including the Chamber of Commerce, Agricultural Society, tourist information centre, and farmers’ market.

By 2012 deterioration had forced the building to close, and its future was uncertain. Community efforts helped save the landmark, and the original 1913 structure was protected under the Ontario Heritage Act before being sold and restored. In 2021, it reopened as Marilynne Restaurant, a locally focused restaurant created by Grey County chef Brandon Bannon, bringing new life to the old hall.

More than 110 years after it was built, Markdale’s old fire hall remains one of the community’s most recognizable landmarks.

08/24/2026

Exciting News!

Come to the Grey Highlands Museum this fall, to celebrate the history & heritage of curling in Markdale. On Thursday, October 1st, 2026, the museum will unveil our newest gallery display:

Stones, Brooms, and Belonging: Markdale Curling Club & the Power of Community Sport

Since its founding in 1922, the Markdale Curling Club has been bringing people together on and off the ice. Through interviews, photographs and artifacts, we’ll explore the power of friendship, volunteerism and competition, and how they empower community sport.

To celebrate the opening of our upcoming display, visit the museum between now and October 10, 2026 to fill out a ballot for your chance to win a one-night-a-week adult curling membership, courtesy of the Markdale Golf and Curling Club and the Grey Highlands Museum. Whether you’ve never thrown a stone or you’re a seasoned skip, everyone is welcome to enter! No purchase necessary. One lucky winner will be
selected in our main gallery on October 10th, 2026.

One day a week not enough to scratch your curling itch?

You can pay to upgrade your prize to a full adult membership and enjoy a full season of curling, friendship and camaraderie. But hurry in for your chance to win... HURRY HARD!

08/24/2026

Mark your calendar!

Mark your calendars - Earth & Fire is back on Saturday, September 19th!

Earth & Fire: Clay and Glass is a one-day event celebrating creativity and craftsmanship through clay and glass art. Explore handmade pottery, beautiful glasswork, and unique creations from talented artisans.

Event Highlights:
🟠Clay and glass vendors with items for sale
🟠FREE drop-in crafts for kids
🟠Pre-registered adult workshops (tickets available at dufferinmuseum.com/events)
🟠Silent Auction Art Fundraiser
🟠All galleries are open to explore, including the W. J. Hughes Corn Flower Glass Exhibition!

⭐Admission by donation!
www.dufferinmuseum.com/events

08/24/2026

MUSEUM MONDAY

This week we’re time travelling to 1908 Epping, where students have gathered outside S.S. No. 7 for this wonderful class photograph.

School Section No. 7 was established in 1856, with its first schoolhouse operating by 1860. A second, clapboard school was completed in 1873, and it is this building that appears behind the students in our photograph. Like many rural schools of the period, it brought children from neighbouring farms and rural villages together under one roof, with several members of the Rogers, Risk, Knott, Lee, and Ellis families pictured here.

Even the students’ clothing provides a glimpse into rural childhood at the turn of the century. Pinafores helped protect girls’ dresses, while younger boys might wear decorative collars before graduating to the suits and ties worn by older students. Although everyone was likely dressed in their best for the photographer, their clothing is wonderfully characteristic of the styles and practical realities of rural life in the early 1900s.

Just four years after this photograph was taken, a new brick school was constructed in 1912 at a cost of $1,835. The old clapboard school was actually moved across the road and used until its replacement was ready. The brick S.S. No. 7 continued serving the Epping community until 1968, when Euphrasia’s rural schools were consolidated.

For over a century, S.S. No. 7 was an integral part of Epping. It connected generations of neighbouring families and played a key role in transforming a collection of farms and crossroads into a beloved community.

08/20/2026

Who doesn’t love movie night!

🍿 Who's ready for Outdoor Family Movie Night?

Grab your lawn chairs and blankets, invite your family and friends, and join us for a summer evening of outdoor movie magic under the stars.

We’ll see you at King Edward Park for a screening Disney-Pixar’s Hoppers! The show will begin at 8pm, so please arrive early to get set up and purchase your movie snacks.

Free admission, donations are welcome.

More info here: https://ghpl.ca/event/outdoor-family-movie/

08/17/2026

MUSEUM MONDAY

Long before the name Chapman’s became synonymous with Markdale, there was the Markdale Creamery.

Located at 160 Main Street West, the creamery was an important part of Markdale’s agricultural economy. By 1948, it was much more than simply a place where local dairy products were processed. The operation included a cold-storage plant, meat-storage lockers, a poultry processing operation, and departments for chicken picking and egg candling. Remarkably, the business even dealt in raw furs.

Like many rural creameries of its era, the Markdale Creamery provided an important connection between the farms surrounding the village and the wider marketplace. It was a place where agriculture, business, and community came together.

Then, in 1973, a young couple named David and Penny Chapman purchased the aging creamery and moved into the rooms above it. With just four employees and two old delivery trucks, they began producing ice cream. That modest operation became Chapman’s Ice Cream.

Over the decades that followed, Chapman’s grew from its small-town beginnings into Canada’s largest independent ice cream company, while remaining firmly rooted in Markdale. And the old name has not disappeared.

In 2023, to celebrate Chapman’s 50th anniversary, the company renamed its original boxed ice cream line “Markdale Creamery.” The packaging even features an image of the old creamery where the Chapman family’s remarkable story began.

From cream, eggs, and poultry to ice cream enjoyed across Canada, the story of the Markdale Creamery is a wonderful example of how a small rural business can become part of something much bigger, while never forgetting where it started.



BONUS

To celebrate this week’s Museum Monday post, our friends at Chapman have offered up a coupon for free ice cream to one lucky Grey Highlands Museum follower. All you have to do is like and share this post for your chance to win a cool treat during the dog days of summer.

08/12/2026

Every second Wednesday for the rest of the year, we’ll be sharing a moment in Grey Highlands history, paired with a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork. Just as our shared history never truly breaks, our anniversary art will be created by a single, continuous line… pen never lifting from paper.

Twenty-five stories. Twenty-five uninterrupted lines. One community, traced thoughtfully across time.

INSTALLATION FOURTEEN: THE VILLAGE OF CEYLON

In the early 1870s, the Toronto, Grey & Bruce Railway was pushing its line north from Toronto toward Owen Sound. While nearby Flesherton was already a growing commercial centre, its location in the Boyne River valley proved challenging for the placement of tracks. Instead of entering the village, the line was laid approximately two kilometres west, where a station serving Flesherton was established.

The little settlement surrounding the railway had previously been known as Virginia and Walterville, but the arrival of the railway gave it a new identity: Flesherton Station. A post office bearing that name opened in 1876, and the community quickly became an important transportation and commercial hub. Farmers shipped livestock and produce by rail, goods arrived for local merchants, and sawmills, a creamery, grain warehouses, and other businesses developed around the tracks.

For a time, Flesherton Station was described as one of the busiest places in Artemesia Township. The station included a main line, passing track, and house track, connecting this small rural community with Toronto, Owen Sound, and destinations far beyond Grey County. But sharing a name with nearby Flesherton created some confusion, so on January 1, 1899, the Flesherton Station post office was renamed Ceylon, giving the community the name it carries today.

Although the trains are gone, Ceylon’s beginnings remain written into its landscape. What began as a railway settlement grew into a distinct Grey Highlands community, a reminder of an era when the arrival of a railway could quite literally put a place on the map.