IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: A version of article was originally published by ThoroldToday on January 28.
The city is one step closer to having a few new street names, as the city’s Heritage Committee has compiled a list of possible suggestions.
As ThoroldToday reported, City Hall has ran out of street names for its newer developments, which is why they’ve asked the Heritage Committee for help.
During a Heritage Committee meeting on Tuesday morning, chair Anna O’Hare gave a short presentation on the names the group have come up with — which they’ve divided up into categories.
The first category encompasses people’s names.
“What we would like to do is suggest some recent Thorold residents who have passed away who were important contributors to heritage and local history,” said O’Hare. “Then we have a few historic people that we would like to suggest — Thorold families, settler families and those ones that are not in the registry yet. “
O’Hare stressed that the committee had to really dig to find names, “as a lot of historic Thorold families already have streets named after them.”
“That’s why we branched out a little bit,” she added. “First of all, to add a larger diversity aspect to the street names. We then widened the search all across Niagara, because historic documentation of non-white persons was sparse, in order to have actual names you might not find very much in Thorold documents.”
And the search proved fruitful.
“We came up with some African-American names and also some Indigenous names that are of historic importance in the area,” said O’Hare.
The committee also looked towards natural heritage for inspiration.
“Trees are usually used quite widely but what is not used at all are native birds,” O’Hare said. “I researched birds of the Short Hills native species and there’s quite a long list.”
And what about historic professions such as mason, carpenter, blacksmith, and shipwright?
“None of them were used, except for turner and tailor,” O’Hare said. “Those two we already have because they’re probably also last names, but all the rest are still open.”
Last but not least, the group has one more suggestion.
“It might also be a nice idea in the current climate to throw in a few patriotic Canadian names such as butler, ranger, loyalist, which don’t exist yet,” O’Hare said.
The complete list — which is comprised of 40 to 50 names — will now be presented to City Hall who will take some of the names and add suggestions of their own.
Thorold residents who want to know which street names will be picked, will have to wait a little while longer.