Markham City Map Poster

About Markham

Markham is home to the world's largest Hindu temple, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Toronto. The area where Markham now exists was originally occupied by the Huron-Wendat and then the Iroquois (Six Nations) before being settled by Europeans. One of the first European settlements in Markham occurred when William Berczy, a German artist and developer, led a group of approximately sixty-four German families to North America after receiving land grants from Simcoe for all four of his children in 1794 at what would later become Thornhill. A small wooden signpost designated "Thornhill" still stands at Yonge Street near Davis Drive; it is surrounded by much larger signs advertising businesses in neighbouring communities that have since grown far beyond this original settlement site.