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street information, recollections or an old street photo to share!

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MONTEREY AVENUE AT OAK BAY AVENUE — mid 1940s
Note Oak Bay Grocery, and bell tower of old Municipal Hall at Hampshire
Ernie L Plant photo / John Bromley Collection


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 S.S. Beaver, and one of the five original landowners of Oak Bay.
Click on TUTORIAL button for Street Map Tutorial
McNeill Avenue marks the northern boundary of McNeill's original property

Maquinna Street
Origin uncertain, probably after Chief Maquinna of Nootka Sound.
NAMESAKE under development

Margate Avenue
Named after Margate, England.
NAMESAKE under development

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

Marrion Street
Named after Robert Marrion, an early settler before 1906.
Information welcomed
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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.

Meadow Place
Origin unknown, probably descriptive.

Meadow Road
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

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Origin descriptive, it was the Uplands streetcar terminus on Midland Way.
With the exception of the streetcar tracks, Midland Circle today looks much as it did nearly one hundred years ago.

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
Click on TUTORIAL button for Street Tutorial
Midland Way was conceived as the grand entrance to Uplands — a three-block, grand-boulevard that connected South Circle with Midland Circle, the streetcar terminus.
But lack of lot sales through the first World War and Great Depression resulted in the discontinuation of street car service to Uplands in 1941. The tracks along Dunlevey Street that serviced Uplands were removed in 1943.
Compounding on this, 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.

Milton Street
Named after John Milton, English Poet.
NAMESAKE under development

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

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
— information courtesy of Steve Duben

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


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 and Oak Bay's first homeowner.
Sometimes referred to as Jimmy Chicken Island
SONGHEES NAME
Kohweechella
"where there are many fish"
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.

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 people.

Mount Tolmie
Named after Hudson's Bay Company doctor and chief trader
NAMESAKE under development




The History of Oak Bay Website
A CENTENNIAL LEGACY PROJECT