Thornhill United Church The first congregation was founded in 1803, by a saddlebag preacher, Nathan Bangs, from the New York Conference of the Methodist Episocpal Church of the United States. They worshipped at Ben Hoshel's farmhouse in the area of Bayview Ave., and Hwy. 7 until 1813, and then moved to the Langstaff Schoolhouse on Yonge St. In 1828 they joined the Canadian Methodist Episcopal Church, which became the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1838, the Methodist Church of Canada in 1874, and, with church union, the United Church of Canada, in 1925. In 1838 the built their first church on present day Normark Dr., and this building was moved in 1852 to Centre St., where it served  the congregation until 1958, when the current church was built as a cost of $246,000. The Centre St. church burned in a fire on the night of June 19, 1983. Earlier, the bell from the bell tower had been salvaged and placed in a commemorative cairn outside the church, symbolic of a church with an enduring past and a promising future. Erected by the Society for the Preservation of Historic Thornhill, on the occasion of the Bicentennial of Thornhill United Church, 2003 A.D.