Photo: Town of Milton
It’s Street Name Monday!
On a weekly basis, we speak with local historian 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. Challinor also served seven years as the President of the Milton Historical Society.
Recently, we focused on Grenke Place and Thornborrow Court. This week, we’re covering Hearns Place and Shade Lane.
Starting alphabetically with Hearns, Challinor says the namesake was a local veteran who also worked on a piece of Canadian history.
The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was first put into production in 1957 before being cancelled in 1959.
The Hearns family was involved in the community, both with local hockey and volunteering with St. Paul’s United Church. They raised two sons who excelled in hockey, including one (Doug) playing semi-professional hockey in the EHL and IHL.
Our second street this week is Shade Lane. Challinor says it’s actually named after a person from Milton’s history, not from the shade provided by a tree.
Let’s also acknowledge that Absalom Shade is an all-time great name.
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.
