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 Arpa Place and Bundoran Crescent. This week, we’re covering Almira Heights and Armagh Crescent.
Starting alphabetically with Almira, Challinor says the name comes from the original matriarch of a longtime farming family in the Milton area.
He adds that the McCann family has owned the multi-use farm for nearly 200 years, with it still running to this day.
Our second street name this week is Armagh Crescent. Challinor says the name comes from to us from Ireland.
Much like last week with Bundoran, Challinor says Milton benefitted immensely from Irish settlers coming to the area to start fresh. When they arrived, they named pockets of the land after their own homeland, which is how we ended up with Derry Road, and the hamlets Drumquin and Omagh.
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.
