345 Queen Street.
c. 1879Vernacular Gothic cottage
The Story
This small nineteenth-century cottage has already lived in two places. Built around 1879, it first stood a short distance south of its present site, before a new street and a growing neighbourhood changed the ground around it.
In 1910, Amos Hill sold a strip of land between Millard’s Lane and Queen Street to C. S. McCauley. McCauley opened Arden Avenue through the property, creating room for new building lots and houses. Hill, however, did not part with his cottage. Rather than leave it behind with the land, he had the house moved directly north to Queen Street, where it still stands.
Queen Street had already undergone a change of its own. Originally called Mill Street, it was renamed by a town bylaw in 1886, well before the cottage arrived. In 1928, the street was included in Newmarket’s paving and road-improvement works, including curbs, gutters and storm sewers. The house had changed position, and the streets around it were changing too.
Despite its journey, the building has kept much of its original shape. A historic photograph shows the same cross-gabled roof and familiar window arrangement, but with an elaborate two-storey front porch and balcony. The porch has disappeared, and its upper doorway is now a window. The cottage itself remains unmistakable.
02A house in three moments
Then & Now
The People
Residents for more than half a century
Amos & Alice Hill
Amos Hollingshead Hill and Alice Electa Sharp married in 1887 and made their life in Newmarket. Amos worked as a drover, butcher and buyer of farm produce. His 1946 obituary recalled his long horse-drawn trips to the Toronto markets and reported that the couple had lived in their home for 57 years. Their family also had connections with Newmarket’s Quaker community. Alice lived into her late nineties and remained associated with the Queen Street address into the 1960s. Together, their long residence links this little cottage to the working and family life of the town.
04Dates of Note
A Historical Timeline
The dwelling is associated in municipal heritage research with carpenter William Mintern.
The property passes through Phoebe J. Mintern and, by 1885, to Amos H. Hill.
A town bylaw renames Mill Street as Queen Street.
Amos and Alice Hill appear to begin their long residence in the house.
Amos Hill sells land to C. S. McCauley, who opens Arden Avenue. The cottage is moved directly north to Queen Street rather than being left on the land being developed.
Queen Street and nearby streets are included in a major paving, curb, gutter and storm-sewer improvement.
Amos Hill’s obituary identifies the house as 40 Queen Street West and recalls its relocation decades earlier.
Alice Hill’s obituary gives the modern address, 345 Queen Street West.
On the house
William Mintern · Carpenter · 1879
The plaque points to the house’s beginnings in 1879. Its present location dates from 1910, when the cottage was moved north to make room for Arden Avenue and a new block of houses.
Research
Sources & notes
Town of Newmarket, heritage property inventory
Q–S volume, p. 2, entry for 345 Queen Street. Records the 1879 construction by carpenter William Mintern, subsequent ownership by Phoebe Mintern and Amos Hill, his occupation, and the relocation in 1910.The History Hound, “Most of Newmarket’s Growth Came at the Expense of Farmland”
Published June 2019. Identifies Amos Hill as the seller of the land purchased by C. S. McCauley, who opened Arden Avenue in 1910. Also records the relocation of the Hill house to Queen Street.Richard MacLeod, “Two Sides of Newmarket, Split by Prospect, Once Competed for Prominence”
Documents the 1886 street-naming bylaw under which Mill Street became Queen Street.Newmarket Era, contemporary reporting on the 1910 relocation
A newspaper account of the planned move of Amos Hill’s residence directly north to Queen Street, preserved in the house research materials.Amos Hollingshead Hill, obituary (1946)
Archival copy held with the house research. Records the family’s long residence, identifies the address as 40 Queen Street West and recalls Hill’s work and journeys to Toronto markets.Alice Electa Sharp Hill, obituary (1964)
Family research record identifying her later residence with the modern address, 345 Queen Street West.Canadian Friends Historical Association, Newmarket Monthly Meeting membership roll
Transcription of Quaker meeting records listing Amos H. Hill and Alice E. Hill; background for the family’s connection with the local Friends community.
Images. The historical photograph of the cottage and the portrait of Amos and Alice Hill were located through family material on Ancestry; their dates and photographers are unknown. Recent views of the house were supplied for The Old Houses of Newmarket by the current owners.
Historical record · House 001