Stratford’s leading aristocrat and wealthiest landowner, Col. William Frederick McCulloch, owned all the land between Mornington Street and the north bank of the Avon River, extending from Huron Street to beyond James Street. He also owned land on the south side between the river and Ontario Street from what is now Front Street to Romeo Street that includes the property we now know as Queen’s Park.
He built his luxurious home, the “Grange House,” in the 1840s on the property that is now 210 Water Street. McCulloch was a man of power and influence, but he was also civic minded. He became reeve for the Village of Stratford in 1854-1855, just nine years after arriving from Ireland, and was mayor of the Town of Stratford from 1860-1862.
In 1851, he laid out a street plan for his property on the north side of the river, naming the streets for members of his immediate family. He named William Street for his third son, William Frederick McCulloch Jr., who was then 14.
Elizabeth Street was named for his eldest daughter, who was 11 years old, and James Street for his eldest son, James Alexander McCulloch, who was 16 years old. His second son, John, was left out of the name game because Stratford already had a John Street, in honour of John Galt. Other family members were included in the street naming as well.
Hamilton Street was named for Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton McCulloch, his wife, and the section of Waterloo Street between the river and Mornington was originally called Mary Street, for his second daughter, Mary, who was eight years old in 1851. However, Mary Street disappeared as a name after the wooden Waterloo Street bridge was built in the 1870s.
It was then that Mary Street became part of Waterloo Street. The part of William Street between Huron Street and Hamilton Street was St. Michael Street on the 1848 map.
Stratford’s Little Potentate, John Corry Wilson Daly, always the individualist, marked his copy of the 1839 Canada Company map with the name “St. Paul’s Place.” Neither of those names stuck, and this first block soon became part of William Street.
The triangle of land now occupied by St. James Anglican Church was marked by Daly, “Reserve for a burying ground and church,” and the 1848 map was marked “English church ground.” The part of Mornington Street between Huron Street and Britannia Street was marked Church Street by Daly because of the Church reserve designation.
The official name chosen by the Canada Company was St. George’s Street in honour of the patron saint of England and because of the English church ground. In 1851, McCulloch made a second, even more important contribution to the community.
In that year, for consideration of the sum of ” 20 pounds, ” he sold a large block of choice land, sloping from Elizabeth Street down to William Street and bordered on the west by Hamilton Street, to the Provisional County of Perth as the site of the first courthouse. On July 1, 1852, the foundation stone for the first courthouse was set in place. More than 1,000 town and country residents watched officials march through the village, led by the Stratford band.
They marched across the wooden bridge on Waterloo Street and up McCulloch’s hill. The first jail and land registry office were also built on that property. The walkway over the Avon River dam was named Court Street on the 1857 map.
It was the route favoured by the town barristers as they made their way to the new courthouse. The new courthouse facing William Street was a handsome building in the classical tradition, but architect Peter Ferguson was not given sufficient funds, and the fine façade contained a less-than-adequate interior. In 1887, after only 35 years, it was replaced by the present courthouse.
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