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History of the Site

• S.S. #23 Kinghorn School: Educating for 160 Years

  Children were being educated as early as 1847 on this site, with lessons held in a log cabin, known as a “squatters’ school”. In 1860, James Burns gave the squatters’ school a real home by selling a portion of his farm to the trustees of S.S.#23, allowing for the construction of a proper one-room schoolhouse. For its first one hundred years the school steeple bell called children as young as 4 and up to 18 years of age to come together in one classroom with one teacher. Expansions to the building in the 1960s were not enough to compete with new schools and bussing services and the last classes were taught at Kinghorn School in 1978.

  Notable among teaching staff is Walter Rolling who taught four generations of students at Kinghorn from 1895 to 1936. Rolling is remembered fondly as “teacher and friend to little children” and has been recognized for his commitment to this school through the naming of the Walter Rolling Schoolhouse Gallery.

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• King Christian Church

  It was May 1982 amid protest placards and angry shouts that the little white clapboard church was loaded onto a flatbed truck from its 1851 footings and trucked to the King Township Museum site. Built by a group with ties to the Sharon Temple Children of Peace, the church had served the community of Kettleby for over 100 years. First as the King Christian Church until 1931, and then as the King Emmanuel Baptist Church.

  By 1978, the congregation had diminished to so few that the Baptist Convention were considering demolition. Efforts were made to save the building, and despite enthusiastic and well-meant wishes of locals who wanted the church to remain in situ, it was relocated and became a permanent part of the Township Museum.

  Today the church sits on the grounds of the King Heritage & Cultural Centre and is open to visitors. Its simple interior reflects its early beginnings, but pews and organ are additions from its Baptist era.

  For a virtual tour of the King Christian Church click here.

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• Laskay Hall: Love, Purity, Fidelity

  In Victorian era Laskay, the Sons of Temperance ensured that the hard earned wages from lumber and grist mills, tanneries and blacksmithing were spent on families and social teas. The Temperance Hall, built in 1859, protected the hamlet from the “demon drink” until 1908 by providing alcohol-free social events and serving as a meeting place for young and old alike.

  In 1910, the Laskay Women’s Institute made the hall their permanent home. While serving the community with their good works for over 75 years, they took over the maintenance and upkeep of the Hall.

  When upkeep of the Hall was taken over by the Township in 1987, events and fundraising were carried out by local volunteers for two further decades. In August 2017, Laskay Hall was moved on a flatbed truck to the site of the King Heritage & Cultural Centre. Once again the restored hall is alive with social events and gatherings for young and old alike.

  View a virtual tour of Laskay Hall

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• King Railway Station

  Located just 23 miles north of Toronto on the Canadian National Northern Railway, the King Station operated from 1853 to 1967 and was the first stop on the way to Lake Simcoe. Now considered the oldest surviving railway station in Canada, the station has had an interesting journey of its own.

  Moved by truck from King City after 114 years of service, with the intent that it would continue to tell its story at another site, the building was left in limbo. Fortunately, the King Township Historical Society had it moved to the King Township Museum site in 1989 and it was restored by fundraising and local volunteer craftsmen. The station is open to visitors who can visit the waiting room, walk through the Station Master’s office and have a peek at the travellers’ trunks. Of interest is a 1940s bicycle that students rode to the station to catch the train to high school in Aurora.

  For a virtual tour of the King Railway Station click here.

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