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The old brick hotel at Cashel, built in 1858, has been confused with an earlier hotel on another site at the crossroads dated c.1835. The following is a revised history. The former hotel at 4510 Elgin Mills Road East was constructed on a portion of Lot 26, Concession 6, a property that was once known as Rose Hill Farm, named by an earlier owner named James Hugh Rose. Local general merchant Arthur Alexander may have been responsible for its construction. Samuel Mighton was the innkeeper from 1858 to 1861, but not the property owner. A Masonic Lodge known as the Richardson Lodge was established on the upper floor of the hotel’s adjoining stable in 1860, with James Bowman of Almira serving as the first Worshipful Master. The Richardson Lodge relocated to Knill’s Hall in the village of Stouffville in 1866. The Cashel Hotel was strategically located on the Markham and Elgin Mills Plank Road, established in 1850. In 1861, Samuel Mighton moved to Scarborough Township and became an innkeeper there. In 1866, Asa Henry Summerfeldt was the proprietor of the British American Hotel as the business was then known, followed by George Lloyd in 1868. In 1885, the Cashel Hotel was purchased by William Jenkins, grandson of the well-known Presbyterian clergyman Reverend William Jenkins. The building was converted to a general store and post office. After William Jenkins, the general store was operated by a number of others into the twentieth century. A history of the community written by Fern Keith in 1985 lists many later proprietors. Wesley Powell was the last storekeeper, operating the business until the end of the Second World War. In the late twentieth century, the old hotel served as an antiques store known as Roadhouse Antiques. |