We have a Milton resident who played a pivotal role in World War Two for Canada, as well as a former Milton Mayor.
Each week, we speak with Milton Historical Society (MHS) 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 Emmett Landing and Henry Crescent. This week, we’re looking at Cottrelle Place and Solomon Court.
Starting alphabetically with Cottrelle, Challinor says the namesake was in charge of Canada’s oil during the second World War.
Oil controller has been described as “the toughest of all jobs during the war.”
Cottrelle also happened to work for the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1930s and 1940s. His work for the franchise allowed him to get his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup for the team’s 1942 championship victory. He was the first Miltonian to receive the honour, as he’d be followed by New York Islander legend John Tonelli nearly 40 years later.
In 2014, Cottrelle was inducted in to the Milton Walk of Fame.
Our second street this week is Solomon Court. Challinor says the namesake once served as mayor of Milton.
Solomon Hannant moved to Canada from England as a teenager. Challinor says that when Hannant finally settled in Milton, he took over the Martin Mill, which was located on Mill Pond.
It’s uncommon for a Milton street to be named after the given name of the namesake. There are exceptions, including the family of Hugh Foster, but typically, Milton street’s are named after surnames. Challinor suspects the reason why this was the case for Solomon Hannant is because the surname was a common name in the area for the time. There was already a well-known Hannant family locally, and Solomon Hannant was not believed to be related to them. So, in honouring him directly as a former mayor, the street was named Solomon Court.
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.