Do you know the history behind Milton’s street names?
Each week, 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 covered Hatton Crossing and Maxted Crescent. This week, we’re focusing on Hawthorne Crescent and the listener-suggested Rottenburg Court. Starting with Hawthorne, Challinor says the namesake was a business owner and Milton firefighter.
As we have previously noted in the past, downtown Milton, including Commercial Street and Main Street, was built using a lot of wood. That decision at the time led to a lot of fires. Challinor says that it is very likely as a firefighter, Hawthorne was fighting fires in the area that could have affected his own business.
Challinor says the business was located around the area of what is now the Milton Legion.
Our other street this week was suggested by a listener. Challinor says Rottenburg Court was named after a man who was tasked with looking after this area before Milton was even established as a community.
Rottenburg would’ve been the one assigning acreage to Milton’s earliest settlers looking to develop farms in the area.
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.
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.
