The history behind Willet Terrace, Coulter Way, and Stevenson Street

It’s Monday, you know what that means!

Each week, FM 101 Milton dives deep into the history behind Milton’s street names. Last week, we covered Woodward Avenue, Strathcona Court, and Costigan Road. This week, we’re focusing on Coulter Way, Stevenson Street, and the listener-suggested Willet Terrace.

We’re able to do this week-in and week-out due entirely to the excellent work done by the Milton Historical Society and its President, John Challinor II. If you weren’t aware, Challinor and the late great historian, Jim Dills, wrote the book on Milton street names, having written Milton Streets back in 2007.

Let’s start with Willet Terrace. Challinor says H.K. Willet was a Milton resident who served in the second World War.

Willet Terrace can be found in the Harrison neighbourhood in Milton, and it features a distinctive poppy symbol on the street signs. This symbol signifies that the namesake was a soldier. Challinor says this began in 2000 because the Town of Milton decided it was a great way to honour veterans from Milton.

While Challinor notes that Mr. Willet returned from World War 2, not much is known about his life after serving.

Our second street this week is Coulter Way. Now, unlike a lot of our streets in this series, the namesake for Coulter Way (Donna Coulter) is still an active member of the Milton community. In fact, it was her effort on that front that got a street named after her in the first place.

North End Nissan is now Milton Nissan – Challinor says the couple ended up selling it years ago.

Our final street name this week is Stevenson Street. Challinor believes many older residents would remember Dr. Carroll Keith Stevenson.

The private hospital that Dr. Stevenson ran was located near the intersection of Martin Street and Main Street. Challinor says the building was a home that was remodelled into a hospital that would use bedrooms as patient rooms. The hospital was eventually torn down and is now the plaza with Coffee Culture and Shoppers Drug Mart.

If you’re looking to understand how Milton’s streets were 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, as well as suggested names. 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 interest us.

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.