Armadale

The least known of the northern boundary communities, was a little hamlet located at Markham Road and Steeles Avenue. Closely associated with the village of Malvern, Armadale consisted of a Free Methodist Church (1880), a blacksmith shop, a brick making yard, several farms, a general store operated by the Beare Family and a Temperance Hotel and Tavern.

The Armadale Free Methodist Church is a designated historic site. Francis Underwood transferred the land to the church for $1.00 and a board and batten building was erected in 1880, using largely volunteer labour. The Church has the distinction of being the oldest continuing Free Methodist place of worship in Canada.

The community’s name started off as Magdala, when Robert Harrington applied for the post office in 1869, but the name was not accepted and the post office became known as Armadale. John Stonehouse, Simon Dumond, and finally John Beare served as postmasters until rural mail delivery was introduced in 1917 and the office closed. In Scarborough the name Armadale, whose origin goes back to the village of Armadale in Scotland, has been all but forgotten.