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 Gemmell Place and Seager Avenue. This week, we’re covering Brickyard Boulevard and Hollinger Crescent.
Starting alphabetically with Brickyard, Challinor says the name comes from a once prominent business in the Milton Heights area.
Milton is known for its natural red brick. This led to some referring to the community as Terracotta, which roughly translates to “Brownish-Red Brick.” Challinor notes that a nearby community was already known for this name, so it never stuck.
The area also had a limestone business, which added to the industrial smoke in the air. Challinor says the lime kilns were located where Kelso is found present day. These kilns, along with the brick business, caused the Milton Heights area to also be known as Smokey Hollow, which is the namesake for Smokey Hollow Boulevard. Learn more here.
Our second street this week is Hollinger Crescent. Challinor says the namesake is a well-known real estate agent involved with the Rotary Club of Milton.
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.
