Area Description

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 S of Sutton, W SW of Beaverton and N of Markham. Mount Albert is accessible by Highway 404.

The current population of Mount Albert is about 4,200 residents. It is expected that the build out of the community will result in an overall residential population of roughly 6,000 people. Under the Village Core provisions of the Town’s Official Plan, Centre Street remains an area for potential redevelopment opportunities.

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. The Prince Albert Pub stands in Mount Albert today.

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 1964 and currently has over 1000 students, junior kindergarten to grade 8.

In September 2014, Robert Munsch Public School opened its doors. Students from junior kindergarten to grade 3 are taught at this school, leaving Mount Albert Public School to teach grades 4 to 8.