In the 1870s, new railways were a vital economic engine for small Ontario towns, as evidenced by nearby Flesherton, which had failed to prosper after the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway decided to bypass it. In 1873, the same railway wanted to make Cornabus a stop on its route from Toronto to Owen Sound if it could find land on which to build a station. A local landowner, Mark Armstrong, sold a parcel of land to the railway on the condition if the new station bore his name. Accordingly, the hamlet of Cornabus became Markdale and saw an immediate increase in business when the railway station opened. Fifteen years later, Markdale was incorporated as a village in 1888.