You’ve likely seen or heard the name William Halton before, but who exactly was he, and why is his name everywhere in the area?
Each week, we speak with Milton Historical Society President John Challinor II to gather information and details about the namesakes of our roads. If you weren’t aware, he and the late great historian, Jim Dills, wrote the book on Milton street names, writing Milton Streets back in 2007.
Recently, we covered Greenlees Circle and McCutcheon Crescent. This week, we’re focusing on Halton Avenue and McCready Drive. Starting with Halton, Challinor says the namesake for the street is the same as the Halton Region.
He adds that back in the day, the Province of Ontario was in charge with naming various districts in Upper Canada that would become settlements for residents. It was then decided by the Lieutenant-Governor at the time to name an area of the country after Halton. Challinor notes that if you look around the province at same of the names of regions and counties, you’ll see similar instances: Wentworth, Grey, Haldimand, Norfolk, etc. These areas are named for the individuals who helped in the early process of our young country.
Moving on to McCready Drive, Challinor says older residents might remember the namesake’s department store that was in downtown Milton.
The downtown department store was open for roughly a decade before McCready and his family closed it down and moved out of town. Challinor says it was an unfortunate situation to lose a community member like him because he had become so involved. He compared the loss to the death of Bob McCuaig, who Challinor felt had the potential to be mayor someday.
Challinor says that McCready passed away recently, adding that he clearly lived a long life. He confirmed that McCready was aware that a Milton street was named after him, which Challinor feels likely made Emerson very proud.
If you’re looking to understand how Milton’s streets are named, you should check out the book written by Challinor and Dills. Published by the Milton Historical Society back in 2007, it sold out in about six weeks and has since been long out of print. That said, according to Challinor, you can still find a copy at the Milton Public Library. With nearly 15-years having passed since the initial publication, and the extensive town growth in that time, an updated book is likely to come.
You can also take a walk with the late Jim Dills down Milton’s Main Street in 2002.
If you have a suggestion on what you’d like to learn about next week, let us know! We’re currently working on names that we find interesting. You can message our Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram page, or even email us at News1013@LocalRadio.ca. Otherwise, we’ll just continue asking about local street names that we find interesting.
If you have a news tip or story idea, you can now send us a heads up via email at News1013@LocalRadio.ca. If you’d like to get ahold of me personally, shoot me a message at Cameron.Wilkinson@LocalRadio.ca. We’re in the business of content creation, so no idea is a bad idea.