We have one of Canada’s earliest official leaders and a man known for his tragic death instead of his achievements.
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 Clarriage Court and Downes Jackson Heights. This week, we’re looking at Peregrine Way and Whitney Terrace.
Starting alphabetically with Peregrine, Challinor says the namesake was a colonial administrator for Canada well before confederation!
He notes that Maitland was a first-class cricketer in his early years.
The former lieutenant governor of Upper Canada was also an early advocate for what would become the residential school system. However, Challinor cautions that the schools ended up being very different than what was originally proposed during Maitland’s time.
Our second street this week is Whitney Terrace. The namesake is known as being the first and only Premier of Ontario to die while serving in office.
Whitney served nine years as Ontario’s leader. In that time, helped create the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, which is now known as Ontario Hydro.
He died of a heart attack shortly after winning the 1914 Ontario election. Queen’s Park honoured Whitney with a statue. He’s also the namesake of a building across from Queen’s Park, as well as a residential building at the University of Toronto (specifically University College). He was succeeded by William Howard Hearst.
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.