Buttonville, Markham

Buttonville
Neighbourhood
Location within York
Coordinates: 43°51′52″N 79°21′45″W
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Regional municipality	York
City	Markham
Founded	1808
Established municipality	1793-94 Markham Township
Changed municipality	1971 York Region from York County 1971 into Markham (as Town); 2012 (as City)
Government
• Founder	John Button
• MP's	Paul Chiang (Markham—Unionville)
• MPP's	Billy Pang (Markham—Unionville)
• Councillors	Ritch Lau (Ward 2)
Forward sortation area	L3R
NTS Map	030M14
GNBC Code	FANMF

Buttonville is a suburban neighbourhood and former hamlet in the city of Markham, Ontario, Canada, bordering the larger Unionville district. The hamlet was named after its founder, John Button.

About 30,000 residents live in the area, which is located along the Woodbine Avenue corridor from approximately Highway 7 in the south to Sixteenth Avenue in the north, with the historic hamlet itself located roughly midway between the two arterials. The Rouge River flows through the northeast and Highway 404 passes by in the west (forming Buttonville's and the City of Markham's boundary), with two interchanges. The residential area is located in the eastern, northeastern, and the northern sections, and the industrial area is to the west and the south down to Highway 7.

There is talk about renaming the community to the John Button Community after its founder since there has been confusion between Unionville and Buttonville, which is popularly considered to be part of Unionville.

History

Buttonville Women's Institute Community Hall

View of the former Buttonville Airport from an aircraft on approach to land in 2006

The area was first settled by William Berczy who got an original Crown grant of land. It was named after John Button (b. 1772) who bought property in Markham Township there in 1808. The area's name first appeared in 1851 when a post office was granted to John Button and William Morrison. The name was chosen instead of Millbrook, which had been unofficially used since 1834. John Button's descendants owned a number of lots in what is today Buttonville. By 1878 the village had a post office, a gristmill, a wagon maker, a school, a Lutheran church and a Methodist church. Buttonville Community Hall was relocated from L'Amoreaux in Scarborough from what was a Methodist chapel c. 1840s and closed in 1938.

Housing developments began to appear in the 1960s as exurban estate residential near Cachet Woods at Woodbine Avenue and Major Mackenzie Drive, and the industrial area began to develop further south. In the 1980s housing developments came to the western part of Markham along with the industries which later flowed with technological and financial companies including Allstate. Buttonville was first accessed when Highway 404 opened several interchanges in the 1970s. Between 1994 and 1996, more houses continued northeast of Buttonville and a few years later, north of the airport and more housing continued until 2004.

Former airport

Buttonville Municipal Airport was located at 16th Avenue and Highway 404 and was a medium-sized general aviation airport that operated from 1953 to 2023. Weather data was collected there by Environment and Climate Change Canada., but closed along with the airport. The former airfield is planned to be redeveloped for residential and commercial uses.

Geography

Laberta Court, a residential cul-de-sac

• Population:
  • 1990: about 10,000
  • 2002: about 30,000

Farmlands formerly surrounded Buttonville and between 1980 and 2000, the farmlands were developed. Forests were also found around Buttonville, especially to its south. The area is home to several technology companies in the northeast.

Transportation

One major highway and several arterial roads pass through or near the neighbourhood:

• Highway 404 runs north–south on the west side of and connected to east-south streets
• Highway 7 runs east–west on the south side.
• Sixteenth Avenue runs east–west on the north side.
• Woodbine Avenue runs north–south through its centre. The historic settlement itself is located along it south of Sixteenth Avenue.

Public transit in Buttonville is provided by:

• York Region Transit / Viva Rapid Transit routes Viva Purple, 1 Highway 7 (both serving Highway 7), 85 Rutherford-16th (Sixteenth), and 24 Woodbine (Woodbine) operate regular bus service.

Nearby places

• East Beaver Creek (City of Richmond Hill), west
• Unionville, east
• Milliken, south
• Cachet, north

Education

• Buttonville PS
• YRDSB Museum and Archives housed in 1850 Buttonville Schoolhouse