| Mount Albert | |
|---|---|
| — Unincorporated community — | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| Regional municipality | York |
| Town | East Gwillimbury |
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| Forward sortation area | L0G |
| Area code(s) | 905 and 289 |
| NTS Map | 031D03 |
| GNBC Code | FCEZX |
Mount Albert is an exurban community located within the Town of East Gwillimbury and is part of northern York Region. It is located about 65 km N of Toronto, about 15 km NE of Newmarket, about 15 km S of Sutton, W SW of Beaverton and N of Markham. Mount Albert is accessible by the nearest superhighway (Highway 404) which currently terminates 11 km away at Green Lane just north of Newmarket. There are plans, however, to extend the 404 to Ravenshoe Road, roughly 10 km from Mount Albert, within the next 10 years.
The population is currently about 2,700. Housing developments are slowly continuing in the north east and south west quadrants. The downtown area is centred at Centre Street and Main Street. The town itself is bordered on the west by Highway 48, which connects Markham and Beaverton and on the east by Durham Regional road 31, which serves as a regional border between York Region and Durham Region. The Mount Albert Creek passes through Mount Albert. The outlying area is forested mainly by private woodlots and some regionally owned and maintained pine forests while farmlands are found throughout the area. Major industries include aggregate production (near Holt) and farming (livestock, feed, and potatoes).
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The establishment of what is now Mount Albert began in the early 19th century, when land in the area was granted by the Crown to friends of the Family Compact, the governing council of Upper Canada. In 1821, Samuel and Rufus Birchard, Quakers from Vermont, bought parcels of land, and by 1850, a village had developed. Originally the settlement was called Birchardville. The name was later changed to Mount Albert, named after then Prince Albert, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in honour of his visit to Upper Canada in 1860. Industries were primarily agricultural, with grist, flour, woollen and lumber mills located along the Mount Albert Creek. The first known store was built in 1850 to supply dry goods to the villagers and surrounding farmers. The main north-south road in the village, Centre Street, was built along the path of an Algonquin Indian trail.
Housing developments slowly expanded the original village in the mid-to-late 20th century. First during the 1970s in the south and east quadrants. Housing development returned in the late 1990s expanding to lands north west of the heart of Mount Albert. This subdivision was first created in 1995, with the third phase still under construction in the north east. A new development began in the south west in 2009.
Children were originally schooled in two local Grammar Schools, one to the north, and one south of the village. A Public School opened in 1890, and served the surrounding community until 1968. A continuation school was constructed in 1926 and taught public school graduates until 1948 when students were bussed to Newmarket High School. Mount Albert is now serviced by just one school, Mount Albert Public School, which opened in 1967 and currently has over 700 students, junior kindergarten to grade 8.