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p4 weekender june 14 1986 weekender omment hamlet in jeopardy the fate of buttonville is at handthe zoning of the tiny ham let just north of highway 7 on woodbine ave- will be the subject of an ontario municipal board hearing which begins monday at 10 am at the council chambers markham council proposes an amendment to the official plan which would permit a residential zoning to replace the present in dustrial designation on lands to the east of the historic hamlet council and ratepayers seem united theyd like to see homes on the land bounded by 16th ave the ontario hydro corridor woodbine ave and just north of apple creek blvd rather than in dustry however light certain businessmen have pro tested the residential zoning hence the hearing the town if it receives omb approval seems set to spring loose about five developers to build 1000 new homes in the area the ratepayers say this is less than ideal but is the lesser of the two evils from the businessmens point of view markham needs indust rial land and the access to major arteries is good from the button ville location whatever the decision made during the week of hearings com ing up were concerned that the character of buttonville hamlet will be destroyed jhi igrit what x had inmlnd af tiers a historic reesor a real estate entrepreneur now heres one for all you local history buffs out there an historic land deal that should rank right up there with the hosing those crazy indians took when they parted with manhatten island for twenty two bucks worth of cheap trinkets the year was 1802 and a bunch of united empire loyalists in pennsylvania were hankering to find themselves under british rule again it was decided that there were greener pastures to the north in upper canada now the pastures may have been greener politically but it is a mystery to me how anybody with the slightest appreciation of aes thetics would abandon the beauti ful contoured landscape of penn sylvania for the flatlands they eventually settled here in york region anyway twenty two year old peter reesor being either ex pendable or out of work at the from where i live sjxucz jbtahlvj time was sent north by horseback to spy out the land for the gang back home young peter made his way to the land office in old muddy york toronto the good he said he was looking for good land well timbered with water and perhaps an oil field or two for future use he was pointed towards mar kham and off he galloped eager with anticipation when he saw what is now cedar grove he laid his claim and prepared to trot on home but here is where he encounters this old exofficer of the british army the brit it seems had his fill of rugged colonial life and was quite anxious to return to his country cottage in england young man he addressed the young mr reesor i understand that you are looking for land now i happen to have 400 acres about the centre of the township of whitchurch which i want to get rid of pete played it close to the vest responding that he was merely doing a little reconaissance that he wasnt ready to buy the ploy worked the old soldier must have taken a fancy to peter i will give you these 400 acres for your horse saddle and bridle pete must have fallen off his horse upon hearing the offer but he managed to regain his compo sure in time to accept so the englishman galloped off with the steed leaving young pe ter grinning like a cheshire cat just dying to get back home and show mom and dad the deed he had stuffed in his pocket only one small problem what to use for transportation now the trains werent running too regularly in those days so the hearty young lad took one look at his dusty boots said what the heck and headed them in the direction of chambcrsburg penn sylvania a 500 mile trek the folks back home got whip ped into a frenzy upon seeing pe ter hobble into town blisters and all four rugged covered wagons were assembled and a trail was blazed through trackless forests and over countless rivers and streams while part of the entour age stopped off and established the town of markham peter headed straight to the land he had beat the brit out of proceeding to raise both a house and a family meanwhile his brotherinlaw honest abe stouffer headed several miles north and set up camp in what has become radio personality tom rivers personal newfie joke stouffville now had old abe known the ridicule that this name would bring from ignor amuses from places like toronto im sure he would have changed his name to brown oreven knox so to all you reesors and stouf- fers out there heres to your great great great grampas pe ter and abraham men of great sinew and courage and perhaps the shrewdest real estate men this area has ever known economistsun the tribune weekender bruce annan publisher 9 heritage rd markham l3p1m3 2942200 4959440 6402100 6492292 jim thomas don bernard editors editorial department news editorjo ann stevenson reporters greg coates paula crowell stove houston chris shanahan kelly connelly sports editorfrancis king photographysjoerd wittevoon published every saturday by metroland printing publishing and distributing at 9 heritage rd markham ontario l3p 1m3 tel 2342200 second class mail registration number 1247 the weekender is one of the metroland group of suburban newspapers which includes the acton free press ajaxpickcring news advertiser the aurora banner brampton guardian the burlington post the burlington weekend post the etobicoko advertiserguardian tho georgetown independent the markham economist and sun the milton champion the mississauga news the newmarket era the willowdale mirror oakville beaver oakvilfo friday beaver oshawawhttby this week oshawa whitby this weekend the richmond hill liberal thornhill liberal the scarborough mirror the stouffville tribune and vaughan liberal metroland printing publishing and distributing is a division of harlequin enterprises ltd national sales representative metroland corporate sales 4931300 pat pappas advertising manager 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