King Township is primarily
a rural Township situated
north of Metropolitan
Toronto. Early settlers who
came to the area farmed the
land and built grist and
lumber mills, tanneries and
blacksmith shops. Near these
new businesses many small
hamlets and villages sprung
| up, and with them, the need
for amenities. From the early
1820s through to the 1950s,
21 one room school houses
serviced these communities.
These schools were the heart
of the community and are a
great source of local
history.
Sites for the earliest
| schools where often donated
by a local farmer, but
eventually the locations were
chosen to ensure that
children had no more than 2
or 3 km to walk to school.
Even so, it wasn’t so long
ago that children often could
not get to school when winter
snow or the spring thaws made
| the roads impassable. At the
fall harvest they might be
required to stay home and
help on the farm and
education, temporarily, was
second to family.
Ways of life change, and
although King has remained a
mostly rural township despite
development creeping ever
|