Toronto, June 4: The Markham Museum is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. While everyone is keeping a safe distance to stop the spread of COVID-19, the Museum invites the public to celebrate Markham’s history by exploring its online activities and exhibitions, includes Markham Moves Exhibition, Landscapes and Streetscapes Catalogue, Tradition and Innovation, and Markham Museum’s Historic Buildings cover a great excitement of exploration of vivid changes.

“This year marks an important milestone for the City of Markham and the Markham Museum, as we celebrate 50 years of delivering exceptional services to residents while continuing to do what we do best: innovating. The Markham Museum is a celebrated institution in our city and has been instrumental in preserving and celebrating our city’s history while providing innovative and educational experiences for residents,” said Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti.

The Markham Museum opened in 1971 in the retired Mount Joy School building at 9350 Markham Road, and later expanded to include the Williamson/Strickler Farm. Today, it brings the past and present on 25 acres of land with more than 40 local historic buildings, as well as a LEED® Gold certified collections building.

The collection building was recently renamed in honor of the late John Lunau – the Museum’s first curator and the founding President of the Markham Historical Society. The Centre enabled the Markham Museum to care for artifacts and to host large-scale seasonal exhibitions and a smaller permanent installation called “What is Markham and Discover our Evolving Community” in the south gallery. The Markham Museum continues to receive national attention for its unique way of connecting with its community.

“Markham Museum is delighted to celebrate our 50th anniversary with our community, with whom we explore our past and present through some of humanity’s oldest shared technologies – ceramics, textiles, metalworking and food production. We are grateful for the unwavering support of our two founding organizations, the Markham Lions and the Markham Historical Society as well as our countless volunteers reaching back to our earliest days, and successive Markham councils who have developed and maintained the Museum over the past five decades, and who continue to support us”, said Cathy Molloy, Manager of Markham Museum.

The Markham Museum focuses on key environmental histories and human relationships with the land through activities such as pottery, agriculture, metalworking and textile production. It connects with the cultural histories of all people that make, and have made, Markham their home through exhibitions, school programs, public programs, camps, research facilities and more.

The site of the Markham Museum is also home to several annual community events, including the iconic Applefest, which normally draw visitors from across York Region, the Greater Toronto Area and Southern Ontario.

In the pic, some of the Markham Museum’s earliest volunteers in front of Maxwell Cabin