Neighbour Media

Every street sign tells a story. Some honour community builders, others remember trailblazers, and many quietly preserve local history we pass by every day. 🛣️💛

The Our Streets, Their Stories page is dedicated to uncovering the people behind those names — and the legacies they left in our neighbourhoods.

Let’s meet the neighbours behind the names…

Catherine Avenue, Aurora

Catherine Avenue is a street that points to some prominent early residents of Aurora. In the 1830s and 40s, the land surrounding Yonge and Wellington was known as Machell’s Corners, named after Richard Machell who owned 3 of the 4 properties. His rival, of sorts, was Charles Doan, whose early life took him from his childhood in the Quaker-adjacent community in Sharon, to the gaol (jail) in Toronto for participation in the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion. Within 8 years of his release, he had risen in esteem and was appointed postmaster of Whitchurch. 

From that role, he was instrumental in the naming of Aurora. Charles lived and did his work out of Castle Doan, an ironically- named simple saltbox-style home (said to have been the earliest home in all of York County) on Yonge Street, just behind Lions Parkette. Following the death of his first wife Mary Willson, Charles married her cousin Catherine Willson, and the small track that led past their house was named for her. Their simple home, known almost ironically as Castle Doan, was demolished in 1981.

Story credit: The Aurora Museum & Archives

Thank you to the Our Streets, Their Stories Sponsor The Chris Cartwright Team

The June Edition is HERE!🗞💛

Thank you to Christian Wehrli for allowing us to share his story as our cover feature!

If you missed last month’s edition, you can check it out here: neighbourmedia.ca/neighbourpaper

Every street sign tells a story. Some honour community builders, others remember trailblazers, and many quietly preserve local history we pass by every day. 🛣️💛

The Our Streets, Their Stories page is dedicated to uncovering the people behind those names — and the legacies they left in our neighbourhoods.

Let’s meet the neighbours behind the names…

Irwin Crescent, Newmarket

The air in Newmarket carries a certain weight of permanence, a legacy etched into the very layout of its streets. To walk down Irwin Crescent is to step across the phantom boundaries of a farm that once defined the horizon.
Long before the paved curves and quiet doorsteps, this land belonged to the rhythm of the harvest. In 1800, Jared Irwin arrived from Pennsylvania, carving a homestead out of the wild timber of Whitchurch Township’s 2nd Concession. It was a place of labor and mud, eventually transforming from a rugged farmstead into the scholarly halls of Pickering College.
However, the street’s true namesake, Edwin Penrose Irwin, traded the plow for the pen. As the eldest son, he witnessed the village’s birth firsthand, serving as the first Clerk and Treasurer from its incorporation in 1858 until 1875. While his father broke the soil, Edwin balanced the ledgers of a growing community, ensuring the infant Village of Newmarket found its footing.
Today, the crescent remains—a peaceful loop of history. It serves as a bridge between Jared’s pioneering spirit and Edwin’s civic devotion, a quiet reminder that every modern address was once someone’s hard-won frontier.

Story credit: The Newmarket Historical Society

Thank you to the Our Streets, Their Stories Sponsor