Street/Place Names

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Click on any letter, above, to visit specific section of Street/Place Names



Ernie L Plant photo courtesy | Gary Wilcox Collection . . . .
Monterey Avenue at Oak Bay Avenue (mid 1940s)
Note Oak Bay Grocery, and bell tower of old Municipal Hall at Hampshire

Move cursor over image and click for close-ups



M

McLaren Avenue
Named after an early settler in the area.
Information welcomed

McNeill Avenue
Named after Captain William Henry McNeill, master of the Hudson's Bay Company steamer SS Beaver, and one of the five original landowners of Oak Bay.
McNeill Avenue marks the northern boundary of McNeill's original property
Click on TUTORIAL for Street Map Tutorial with viewing options

Maquinna Street
Chief Maquinna
Origin probably after Chief Maquinna of Nootka Sound.

Margaret Avenue
Namesake unknown, possibly local.
Margaret Avenue was a one-block street between Cadboro Bay Road and Musgrave Street. It was renamed Dalhousie Street in 1921 when consolidated with Thistle Street (Willow Road to Cadboro Bay Road) and Seaview Avenue (Musgrave Street to Willows Beach).

Margate Avenue
Named after Margate, England.

Marne Street
Battle of the Marne
Named in commemoration of the two famous Battles of the Marne in World War One.
Click on NAMESAKE to learn namesake of MARNE

Marrion Street
Named after Robert Marrion, an early settler before 1906.
Marrion Street is one of the very few streets in Oak Bay to have disappeared due to re-development. It once ran alongside Bowker Creek and cut into the Fort and Foul Bay intersection at an angle. The development of the Marrion Gardens seniors' housing complex and the Oak Bay Recreation Centre saw the end of Marrion Street in the mid 1970s.
Click on TUTORIAL for Street Map Tutorial with viewing options
Information welcomed

Mayhew Street
Probably named after the Honorable R.W. Mayhew, reeve of Oak Bay (1933-1935), federal M.P. and Canadian Ambassador to Japan

Meadow Place
Origin unknown, probably descriptive.

Meadow Road
Uplands Meadow
Origin descriptive. Meadow Road faced what is now Uplands Park — a primeval Garry oak meadow.
Former name of Dorset Road east of Dunlevy Street

Middowne Road
Origin descriptive, it divides the Lansdowne slope subdivision in half.
Named by the Hudson's Bay Company

Midland Circle
Midland Circle Terminus
Click on image to view enlargement
Origin descriptive, it was the Uplands streetcar terminus on Midland Way.
Midland Circle became the streetcar terminus in the Uplands when the line was extended from The Willows in 1913.
With the exception of the streetcar tracks, Midland Circle today looks much as it did nearly one hundred years ago. The streetcar tracks remain buried beneath the pavement at Midland Circle

Midland Road
Origin descriptive, it divides the Uplands subdivision in half.
Midland Road originally ran north from Midland Circle until 1939, afterwhich it absorbed Midland Way to the south.
Midland Way, Midland Circle and South Circle were intended to form the symmetrical centrepiece of Uplands, but delinquent taxes led to the gift of Uplands Park to the municipality which precluded the realization of this original concept.

Midland Way
Origin descriptive, it led to the centre of Uplands
Midland Way was conceived as the grand entrance to The Uplands — a three-block, grand-boulevard that connected South Circle with Midland Circle, the streetcar terminus.
Lots went on the market in 1912, but the onset of World War I followed by the Great Depression through the 1930s severely curtailed sales. Delinquent back taxes necessitated the forfeiture of land to the Municipality (thereby creating Uplands Park in 1946) which precipitated the demise of Midland Way, today reduced to sections that include two dead-end streets and a country lane.
Of the original grand-boulevard design concept, only Midland Circle has survived. The tracks around the circle remain buried beneath the pavement
Click on TUTORIAL for Street Map Tutorial with viewing options

Milton Street
Named after John Milton, English Poet.
Milton Street is one of many streets in the area named after English poets including Goldsmith, Chaucer and Byron
Nearby Elgin Road was originally called Burns Street, after Scottish poet Robert Burns

Mitchell Street
Named after an early resident (c 1908).
Information welcomed

Monteith Street
Origin uncertain, possibly after W.B. Monteith, an early resident.
Information welcomed

Monterey Avenue
Origin unknown.
Originally called St. George Street but renamed in 1921

Mount Baker Avenue
Origin descriptive, after the American mountain because of the view from this vantage point.
Original name, until 1921, of the section of Beach Drive between Victoria Golf Course and Bowker Creek

Mountjoy Avenue
Named after "Mount Joy," the former residence of Frederick Bernard Pemberton.

Mowat Street
Probably named after an early resident who lived at 2431 Mowat Street, adjoining the Willows fairgrounds.
"Mr Mowat (owner of the Victoria Building Company that built the house) sold his home in 1911 for $425 to Mr Richard Skelton."
— Steve Duben
Information welcomed

Murdoch Crescent
Named after George Murdoch, former reeve of Oak Bay.

Musgrave Street
Named after John Musgrave of the early firm of Swinerton and Musgrave, Victoria realtors, and commodore of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.
Originally called Fifth Street but renamed in 1921

Myrtle Street
Origin unknown.
Former name of section of Victoria Avenue between McNeill Avenue and Granite Street until 1921
Information welcomed


PLACE NAMES

Mary Tod Island
Named circa 1856 by John Tod after his daughter Mary. John Tod was of one of Oak Bay's five original landowners.
1861 Admiralty chart shows Todd I and 1864 Admiralty chart shows Mary Todd I. (In both cases, "Tod" is spelled incorrectly.)
SONGHEES NAME
Kohweechella
"where there are many fish"
It's sometimes referred to as Jimmy Chicken(s) Island by the locals.
"Kayaking around Oak Bay I frequently noticed an odd structure on the SE corner of Mary Tod Island, looks like a wall. It’s in a part of the island with steep rock so not a place I’ve landed.
Over the weekend in searching the Daily Colonist, I found the following:
Daily Colonist, February 23rd 1907
. . . Mr. Rattenbury is also engaged upon the construction of a large concrete coffer dam on Mary Island, the small rocky islet owned by him opposite his estate. He intends to dam back the sea water in a rocky ravine, with an area of 66 by 25 feet, thus forming a large natural swimming bath. . . .
Yesterday I explored, and there it is, hiding in plain sight, Rattenbury’s swimming pool!"
— Robert Taylor
At some point, Mary Tod Island was purchased by FM Rattenbury, apparently when he learned of a proposal to build a fish cannery on the property. The fish cannery never materialized, and the island was subsequently leased/sold to John Virtue, who bequeathed it to the Municipality upon his death in 1929. Unsure if Virtue actually owned the property, the Municipality contacted Rattenbury who was willing to convey the title of the property to the municipality in recognition of the wishes of John Virtue. The one stipulation of Virtue's bequest was that no building or structure of any nature be erected on Mary Tod Island.
see Jimmy Chicken(s)

McMicking Point
Named after Robert Burns McMicking, the entrepreneur/ businessman who introduced telephones (1878) and streetlights (1883) to Victoria.
Called Bold Point on a pre-1890 War Department map

McNeill Bay (Shoal Bay)
Named after Captain William Henry McNeill, master of the Hudson's Bay Company steamer SS Beaver, and one of Oak Bay's five original landowners.
Originally called Shoal Bay because of its hazards to navigation, but renamed in 1860
SONGHEES NAME
Chikawich ("big hips")
Refers to the way the Indian houses were arranged
(Another story says the bay was referred to as "big hips" because it is shaped like a large posterior) This was the village site of the Chekwungeen people. In 1891, McNeill Bay was occupied by four groups of Indian peoples.

Mount Tolmie
Named c1845 after Hudson's Bay Company medical officer and chief trader, Dr. William Fraser Tolmie.






The History of Oak Bay Website
A CENTENNIAL LEGACY PROJECT