A lot of history can be found in the names of Milton streets.
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 Jones Terrace and Laurier Avenue. This week, we’re focusing on Joseph Street and Kennedy Circle.
Starting alphabetically with Joseph Street, Challinor says it’s named after Joseph Martin.
The old Town Hall building can be found on Main Street near Commercial Street, where it is currently used by both the Milton Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Milton Business Improvement Area. Milton’s current Town Hall was previously used as the old County Courthouse. You can learn more about that here.
READ: Looking for work? Milton Chamber of Commerce is hiring
Our second street this week is Kennedy Circle. It’s a pretty prominent street in a growing part of the town. Challinor says it’s named after a former Ontario Premier with an unexpected tie to the well-known Chudleigh family.
Ted Chudleigh’s brother Tom is behind the Chudleigh Farm, which has developed into a local entertainment farm with a bakery/cafe on Main Street.
Challinor notes that Chudleigh’s parents passed away in a collision and the children were then taken in by Kennedy.
There are other streets around Ontario that are in honour of Kennedy and his family, most notably Tomken Road in Mississauga, which is a portmanteau of Kennedy’s name.
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.
