Over the last couple of months, myFM News has been covering the history of local street names. For the first time, we have found someone who has the honour of being the namesake for two seperate local streets.
myFM News continues to dive into the history of local street names with President of the Milton Historical Society, John Challinor. In case you’re wondering, Challinor and the late great historian, Jim Dills, wrote the book on Milton street names, having written Milton Streets back in 2007. Now, we’re looking at why these roads are named what they are.
We’re looking at a trio of names this week: Waldie Avenue, Bell Street, and Brush Road. If you’re curious, we covered Bastedo Court, Waters Boulevard, and Bronte Street last week.
Our first road this week is Waldie Avenue. Challinor says the name has a relation to the Waldie Blacksmith Shop found at 16 James Street.
The Waldie Blacksmith Shop is now the home of the Milton Historical Society, who will be running blacksmithing demonstrations on Saturday mornings this August, COVID-19 shutdowns pending.
The importance of a blacksmith shop in the 1800’s is akin to an automotive garage nowadays. The shop would be responsible for the horseshoes on every horse in the area, which at the time were the only way to get around. Challinor says the shop was run by four generations of the Waldie family before closing up in the 1970’s. James Waldie was also a local councillor and was involved with the local fire department during the time.
Another road that we’re looking at this week is Bell Street. Now, Bell Street is named after Absolom Bell, an early settler in Milton. Mr. Bell has the privilege of having not just one local road named after him – but two!
Absolom Bell was also a well-known developer in the 1800’s, owning property at Bell Street and Main Street – which led to him being the namesake for Bell Street.
Our last street for this week was a submission by a listener. They wanted to learn more about the history behind Brush Road. Challinor says the Brush family has a long history in Milton sports and music.
He adds that the Brush family was involved in playing and coaching for local sports teams for several generations. That’s continued to the present day, where Challinor notes that several of the Brush boys and girls can be found around Milton sports.
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@mbcmedia.ca. Otherwise, we’ll just continue asking about local street names that we find interesting.
