Courtice
The Burk and Trulls families were the first Europeans to settle in the area, which was in 1794. The town of Courtice, located near Bowmanville, ON, on the other hand, was named after another of the early families who established in the area. Originally from Virginia, Thomas Courtice came to Darlington Township in 1831, followed by his brothers Christopher and James the following year.
The family emigrated from Putford Bridge, Devonshire, England, where they had lived for generations. The Ebenezer Church/Schoolhouse, which was built in the 1850s, served as the focal point of the community. For a time, the expanding village was referred to as Ebenezer, and as it grew, it came to include another hamlet known as Short’s Corners.
Short’s Corners was a restaurant located at the intersection of King St. E. and Courtice Rd. George Short was the owner of the blacksmith shop located on the site where today’s Roy Nichols Motors is located. This area became known as downtown Courtice. The A.F. Rundles’ Market, which was erected in 1860 on the north side of Highway 2, was directly across the street. James Courtice’s carpenter shop, erected in 1874, was directly across the street on the east side, and the Post Office, administered by John Walter in 1908, was directly across the street on the west side.
The historic Methodist Church, which stood just west of the Post Office, was still standing. All of these structures were demolished in 1988 as part of the widening of Highway 2. The Courtice Cheese factory and shop were once located near the current NW corner of Courtice Rd. and Highway 2, where a townhouse development now stands. A wagon maker’s shop used to be located across the street from where the current auto body shop is located.
The hamlet of Courtice was located just to the west of the town of Courtice. It was formerly known as Black’s Hill, and it was the site of the first post office in Darlington Township, which was located just east of the current location of Stuttering Johns’s Smokehouse, in 1825.
Colonel James Black, the name’s creator, served as the postmaster for the town of Blacksburg. Tooley’s Hill was also known as Tooley’s Mill Hill in honor of Augustus Tooley, who owned and operated the grist mill on Kingston Road, where Farewell Creek passes under Highway 2. This is the current location, which is directly across the street from the Tim Horton’s.
