Photo: Town of Milton
It’s Street Name Monday!
On a weekly basis, 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 focused on Holbrook Court and Huddlestone Crescent. This week, we’re covering Cookman Drive and Stirling Todd Terrace.
Starting alphabetically with Cookman, Challinor says this namesake had a revolutionary position with the local police department nearly a century ago.
Cookman was also in the military prior joining the police force. He retired in 1942 before passing away just ten years later.
Our second street this week is Stirling Todd Terrace. Challinor says residents may remember the man behind the name.
This isn’t the first time someone’s full name was used for a street name in Milton, as we’ve covered Donald Campbell Avenue in the past, and Winston Churchill Boulevard is a well-known road just outside of town. Challinor says the decision to use someone’s full name usually comes from the desire to remove confusion with similar street names. Either ‘Stirling’ or ‘Todd’ were used for another street in Milton or one of the neighbouring municipalities (Todd Road in Georgetown comes to mind), leading to the decision to go with ‘Stirling Todd’ instead.
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.
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 X account or 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 (Milton)
- News1015@LocalRadio.ca (Orangeville)
- News92@LocalRadio.ca (South Simcoe)
- Rick.Sargent@LocalRadio.ca (Bolton)
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.
