It’s Street Name Monday!
On a weekly basis, we speak with local historian 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. Challinor also served seven years as the President of the Milton Historical Society.
Recently, we focused on McGinnis Crescent and McJannett Avenue. This week, we’re covering Sellers Path and Sim Place.
Starting alphabetically with Sellers, Challinor says the name comes from a Milton veteran, with an interesting story about his business.
He adds that it’s not uncommon for business owners to choose new communities over their previous one. Milton has even been the recipient of several businesses in similar scenarios, with the most notable being the Town bidding for P.L. Robertson to open his factory in Milton.
Our second street this week is Sim Place. Challinor says the namesake was a local soldier who was actually turned down from being able to serve in both World Wars.
At a time when teens were lying about their age to serve in the war, Sim was caught trying to appear younger than he was. He went back to working around Milton after the denial.
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.
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 X account or 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 (Milton)
- News1015@LocalRadio.ca (Orangeville)
- News92@LocalRadio.ca (South Simcoe)
- Rick.Sargent@LocalRadio.ca (Bolton)
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.
