Initially, the area we call Malvern was part of a 2000 acre tract owned from 1802 to the beginning of the War of 1812 by John McDougall, a tavern keeper in York. It is unclear what happened next, but it seems that the land was granted again, this time to Richard Hatt. He sold the 100 acres bounding Sheppard to William Purdie for 250 pounds in 1845. The 100 acres south of that had been sold to James Purvis in 1837 for 175 pounds.

Malvern was named after a resort town in England which had medicinal springs. Senator David Reesor, in an attempt to encourage settlement in his new village, chose the name since there were medicinal springs in this area as well. The village was located at the corners of Markham and (now) Sheppard and included the neighbouring farming community north of the 401 and from Bellamy to the Rouge River.

On February 21, 1857 there was an auction of lots in the area of Markham and Sheppard . 48 lots were sold, at a cost of 23 pounds each. By 1859, fifty-nine lots had been sold. Unfortunately, the values of the properties plummeted when the new railways passed through Agincourt, not Malvern. A post office was first established at Finch and Markham in 1856 and relocated in 1865 to Smith Thomson's store and hotel just north of Sheppard on the west side of Markham Road.

Malvern's first church, a Primitive Methodist Church, was built near Thomson's hotel in 1864. An abandoned cemetery remains at the site. Next came Armadale Methodist at Markham and Passmore.

The first log school was built in 1838 and used until a frame building was built in 1851. A new brick school, still standing at Finch and Neilson, was built in 1872 and served the community for more than a century.

Two stores served the village of Malvern by the 1860's: David Brown's at Finch and Markham ( SE corner) and William Purdie's at Markham and Sheppard (SW corner). There were also two hotels: the Temperance Hotel owned by Mr. Thompson, and the Speed The Plough Inn operated by Mr. Malcolm (also SW corner).Two blacksmith's shops and a wagon shop were on the west side of Markham near Sheppard and across the road stood the harness shop of Joseph Wyper (the building has been moved to the Markham District Museum). A large woollen factory operated by the Badgero family was located on Sheppard Avenue east of Markham Road.

Malvern was most famous for its huge Meeting Hall and curling rink. Known as Mammoth Hall, it was the largest covered rink in Ontario and was used for political meetings and community events well into the 20th century.

The earliest settlers to Malvern and neighbouring Hillside to the east included United States immigrant Peter Reesor (1812) and his Mennonite family, Irish immigrant David Brown (1842), English immigrants James Malcolm (1834),Thomas Jacques (1836), Alexander Stirling (1840), John and George Pearse (1843), William Pearson and Joseph Sewell (1836). Scottish immigrants included William Purdie (1844), James Lawrie, James Maxwell, James Weir (1840), Andrew Fleming (1837) and Joseph Wyper.

The Malvern area also included the hamlets of Armadale (Steeles and Markham), Brown's Corners (Finch and Neilson) and Malcolm's Corners.

The earliest map of the area shows the Burrows Hall land as being (from west to east): the farms of William Purdie (the farm was called Fairview), John Malcolm ( the farm was called Clydebank), Martin Badgerow, Mr. Thomson (from Milner south of Martin Badgerow ), T. and J. Galloway and John Law.

From the 1861 census (the earliest one still in existence) we learn that these farmers lived on the land now known as the Burrows Hall community:

• John (born 1830) and Lellita (born 1830) Malcolm and their 5 children in a story and a half frame house
• William (born 1810) and Janet (born 1824) Purdie and their 7 children in a story and a half stone building
• Archibald (born 1784) and Elizabeth (born 1797) with their family of 4 in a story and a half log cabin
• John Brown (born 1793) and his 6 children in a 2 story frame house. He rented a farm owned by J. McHenry
• Patrick (born 1821) and his wife Margaret (born 1830) lived in a 1 and a half story log cabin with 3 children
• Martin (born 1808) and Elizabeth (born 1811) Bagerow and their 5 children lived in a single story frame house
• Benjamin (born 1810) Hoshen was not a farmer, but a clothier. He lived with his wife Elizabeth (born 1828) and their 8 children in a story and a half frame house
• Richard Stoner (born 1831) lived in a frame house with his family of 5 on property owned by Alexander Secor. Probably on the same lot lived carpenter Alexander Stoner in his own frame house.
• James Purvis (born 1812), his wife Loretta (born 1818) and their 8 children lived in a story and a half frame house
• Richard Thomson (born 1817) and wife Helen (born 1831) lived in a frame house with 5 children
• John Law (born 1816), wife Caroline (born 1822) and 8 children had a farm where McClure Crescent sits
• Martin Willis (born 1831) and wife Catherine (born 1829) lived with 4 children on a farm owned by I. Galloway

The 1878 map shows that William Purdie had also bought the John Malcolm property and thus owned from Markham road almost to the creek, and William Wheler had purchased the Galloway farm.

By 1892, a typical 100 acre farm, assessed at $400 faced an annual tax bill of $2.

A map of Malvern from 1910 reveals the following:

• the Canadian Northern Railway to Trenton cuts through the Burrows Hall area running northeast approximately through Dailing Gate
• at the railway and Markham Road was the Purdie's fieldstone house, called Fairview
• where the railway hit Sheppard, (near the present walk through from Purvis) there was a water tower, railway station, coal bin and freight shed