HomeMy WebLinkAbout2096Altona Mennonite Meetinghouse
Commentary by Marion MacRae and Anthony Adamson in Hallowed Walls: Church
Architecture of Upper Canada. (Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1976, p. 194.)
In 1807 the first Mennonite settlers had made their way into Markham Township, taking up
land near the Quaker settlement, and had begun, almost imperceptibly, to modify their
attitude toward the customs and amenities enjoyed by their neighbours. Mennonite
meetinghouses in the counties of York and Ontario tended to be in brick—a sensible
selection on clay lands—and these plain people began gradually to adopt the use of oil
lamps, window shades, and carriage sheds, in the manner of the Society of Friends living
near them. In time the carriage sheds disappeared from the meetinghouse yard at Altona in
Pickering Township, as the Mennonite brethren slowly accepted the mobility of the
automobile.