Located in the former Brown’s Corner/Buttonville Schoolhouse, the York Region District School Board’s Museum & Archives collects and preserves the history of public education in York Region. The collections, from the 1850s, reflect ongoing changes to public education. Come and experience life as a student in the late 1800s by writing with pen and ink and on a slate.

Public School S.S. No. 20, built in 1869, replaced an earlier log schoolhouse to serve the local Mennonite and Presbyterian communities. The current structure is a particularly handsome and well-preserved example of the single-room Victorian-era schoolhouse. Home to students for almost 100 years, it was closed in the 1960s. but continues to serve the local community as a meeting facility.

York University’s new state-of-the-art campus is in Markham Centre, the community’s new downtown. The design of this building defines a collegial academic community within a series of interconnected, multi-storey spaces. Academic programs and research revolve around technology and entrepreneurship. Come and take a tour of this fascinating site. Parking is available at the Pan Am Sports Centre next door.

Heintzman House is one of the oldest buildings in Markham. Originally built as an adobe brick cottage dating from the early 19th century, the house was enlarged by Colonel George Crookshank in 1817. Charles T. Heintzman, grandson of the founder of Toronto’s Heintzman Piano Company, purchased the property in the 1930s and transformed the house into its present, elegant form.