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 Kitchen Court and Sprague Place. This week, we’re covering Labine Point and Speyer Circle.
Starting alphabetically with Labine, Challinor says the name comes from a local military pilot who developed a lifelong love for planes following his service in The Second World War.
Labine was not a pilot prior to the war, but was trained as a teenager. Challinor notes that Labine’s love for flying is pretty remarkable considering he might not have ever flown a plane had it not been for serving in the military.
Our second street this week is Speyer Circle. The name comes from a former judge here in Milton, who also spent time in parliament.
Despite being from Cambridge, Speyer did have family ties to Halton. Challinor says they had a hand in naming the community of Speyside, just north of Milton in Halton Hills.
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.
