Thornhill United Church Since 1803
Thornhill United Church has one of the oldest, continuous congregations in the Province. It celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2003.
It began in 1803 when Nathan Bangs, a saddlebag preacher and circuit rider reached the farmhouse of Benjamin Hoshal. It was at what is now the intersection of Bayview Avenue and Highway 7 and was at the time the edge of the primeval wilderness of Upper Canada.
Bangs established a little congregation of neighbours that was to meet at the Hoshal farmhouse from 1803 to 1813. It became a part of the Methodist circuit in this area. The circuit rider preacher would try to visit each point on the circuit at least once a month.
In 1813 the congregation on becoming larger moved to the Cober schoolhouse which stood on the site of the present Langstaff School.
The congregation in its early period had many circuit riders as they usually changed every year. For 1826 the circuit rider was Egerton Ryerson who became one of the great figures of the Canadian Methodists and in the history of the province. After leaving circuit work he went on to found the Christian Guardian the Official Methodist newspaper. He was the first principal of Victoria College and later the Chief Superintendent of Education for the province. His name continues in Ryerson University.
In 1838 the congregation moved again to a new church just off Yonge Street on the Markham side on what in now Normark Drive.
A few years later the congregation built a new church on centre Street. It was occupied by the congregation for over 100 years until the present church on Dudley Street was built. It opened and was dedicated on February 16, 1958.
John Honsberger