It’s time for your weekly Milton history lesson!
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 Hampshire Way and McColl Court. This week, we’re focusing on Harrop Drive and McDowell Crescent. Starting with Harrop, he says the street name has ties to the local farming community.
He adds that it is interesting to consider how prominent that part of Milton was for the farming sector as it is very notably an industrial area of town now.
There is also a Harrop Avenue in Georgetown. Challinor couldn’t confirm if the street was also named for the Harrop family, but says it isn’t unlikely with the neighbouring communities being so close.
Our second street this week is McDowell Crescent. Challinor notes that the street is yet another road named after a former local shoemaker from the 1800s.
The shoe industry in the 1800s was not quite how it is today. Back then, communities received the leather from the cattle of local farms, tanned the leather at tanneries and formed the material into shoes. The industry then moved overseas when international sellers were able to make and sell the shoes at a cheaper rate. However, in a pre-automobile world with plenty of laborious jobs, proper leather shoes were vital to the every day experience. That meant local shoemakers, or cobblers, were vital to a healthy community.
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.
