After a nice long weekend, let’s learn some local history!
Each week, we speak with Milton Historical Society President John Challinor to gather information and details about the namesakes of our roads. If you weren’t aware, Challinor and the late great historian, Jim Dills, wrote the book on Milton street names, writing Milton Streets back in 2007.
Recently, we covered Gazley Circle and Menzies Court. This week, we’re focusing on Gorham Way and McNeil Drive. Starting with Gorham Way, Challinor says the local road is named after a former county clerk judge.
The most shocking in that clip is finding out that Milton had a curling club before an official library. Challinor laughs and says that’s likely due to Milton’s high Scottish demographic at the time.
Moving on to McNeil Drive, Challinor says the Len McNeil was one of the founding members of the historical society.
He adds that Len and his wife Helen were very well known in the community, with Helen being a local piano teacher, who taught Challinor himself!
With their connection with the Historical Society, Challinor and McNeil knew each other fairly well. He says he even remembers being a student at JM Denyes back in the day and having McNeil sit in on his classes.
McNeil was also the neighbour of Jim Dills.
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.
If you 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 Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram page, or even email us at News1013@LocalRadio.ca. Otherwise, we’ll just continue asking about local street names that we find interesting.
Hey, things are changing for us here at MiltonNow.ca! If you have a news tip or story idea, you can now send us a heads up via email at News1013@LocalRadio.ca. 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.
