Recently having navigated my way down Hurontario Street in Mississauga, amidst the ongoing construction of the Hazel McCallion LRT line, I found myself thinking about the history of the road itself and reflecting on a video project from several years ago by our friends at the Region of Peel Archives. Being stuck in construction and slow-moving traffic does give you a chance to ponder. While we know the early history of the road having first been surveyed by Samuel Wilmot (south of modern Eglinton Avenue in 1806) and Richard Bristol (north of modern Eglinton Avenue in 1819). Working northwards into Caledon, surveyor James Chewett was involved in 1819 and 1820, with the road reaching Primrose (north of Orangeville by 1821, and finally to Collingwood – thus connecting Lake Huron to Lake Ontario – which is where the official road name “Hurontario” comes from.

Locally, however, for many it was known simply as “Centre Road”, and was also said to have been named at one point in its early history as “Street Road” – reportedly after Timothy Street (of  Streetsville fame), who financed and outfitted Richard Bristol’s survey team in 1819.

But surveyed rights-of-way are one thing. Making a passable road for transportation purposes is something entirely different. As I snaked my way down Hurontario Street, I found myself looking into the construction cuts and wondering if workers had found any traces of the earlier phases of the road. When did paved asphalt replace gravel and/or compacted dirt? Was the road macadamized? Was it ever a plank road or a corduroy road? I know, too many questions, and there may be those out there that could share more of its history – and please do!

Getting back to my office, I thought it would be interesting to investigate what I had been pondering. While the road had been largely surveyed between 1806 and 1823, the opening of the road as a route of travel would have followed settlement patterns as initially clearing road alignments fell to early settlers. Early on, road improvements were made through statute labour, where men between the ages of 21 and 50 would work 3 days per year on road maintenance. But the statute labour requirement was not universally applied, and this caused much consternation with absentee landowners who did not clear or maintain sections of road adjacent to their properties. This issue became a part of the grievances that led to the Rebellion of 1837.

By 1841, there were efforts to address the issue of non-maintained roads and absentee landowners, which led the Province to authorize the establishment of private companies to improve roads in exchange for collecting tolls. One of the first of these private road companies was right here in historic Mississauga.

Named the “Port Credit and Hurontario Plank Road Company”, it was formed on July 28, 1847 under the direction of George Wright, William Crew, James Browne, William Lawson, Robert Cotton and Jacob Cook – all of whom lived along or near the route of Hurontario Street. The focus of the company was “for the purpose of constructing a Plank, or in part macadamized or gravelled road, between points or places hereinafter mentioned … on and over that part of the country in the Townships of Toronto, Chinguacousy and Caledon in the Home District … in the discretion of said Company.” Between 1847 and 1851, Hurontario Street was “improved” between Port Credit and Snelgrove.

Now I might be alone in my idle thoughts, but I find it fascinating to reflect that more than 200 years ago Hurontario was surveyed, and in the late 1840s major improvements were undertaken under the direction of the Port Credit and Hurontario Plank Road Company. I think of those names, so well known in local history – namely Jacob Cook, Robert Cotton and George Wright – helped to finance and guide these road improvements. Over the many years between then and now, Hurontario Street has seen countless changes - not the least has been multiple rounds of widening and asphalt paving - all with the same goal in mind - improving travel. Now here we are, more than 170 years later, seeing another round of improvements to our transportation network along this historic route of travel. Indeed, we continue walk and drive today upon the footsteps and storied routes of travel from our past.