It’s time to learn about Milton’s history!
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 Holdsworth Crescent and Mansewood Trail. This week, we’re focusing on two streets named after 19th century Milton Councillors: Hobbs Crescent and Mara Circle.
Starting with Hobbs, Challinor says not much is know about William Hobbs aside from his service on Council.
He estimates that Milton’s East Ward in 1884 would have roughly covered the area between Martin Street and Thompson Road. The West Ward would have covered a similar stretch out towards Bronte Street or even Tremaine.
At the time that Hobbs was a Milton Councillor, he would have been dealing with issues regarding housing and agriculture. Challinor notes that, at the time, subdivisions did not exist. Every home would have been sold individually by the lot, and designed from the ground up.
We know a bit more about our other subject for this week: Thomas Mara. Challinor says he also served on Milton Council in the 1800’s, but he ran a local business as well.
Challinor suspects that Mara moving west could have been due to two things:
- He had family that needed taken care of in Galt (Cambridge-area), and eventually London, and therefore moved out that way; or,
- He had industry competition that drove him to move, and move again.
Either way, he didn’t live too long. Mara was just 50-years-old when he died in London, Ontario in 1893.
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.