Victoria Park

Victoria Park. A Glimpse into the Town's History through a Landmark Site. , Timeline , 1853 Hugh Foster, a pioneer developer of this community, offered the Provisional Council of Halton a parcel of four acres of land to construct Halton’s new County Court House. This land is now home to Milton's Town Hall., 1854 Town of Milton was officially designated the "County Town" for the County of Halton's Seat of Government., 1856 Levi Willson is appointed the first sheriff of Halton County in Milton., 1857 Milton is incorporated as a town. The first Mayor of Milton was George Brown. Brown Street, which includes the walkway you are standing on, was named after George Brown. The Milton Cricket Club and they begin practicing twice a week on “the grounds” opposite the Court House (Victoria Park)., 1877 The County Buildings are enlarged by the addition of a jail and exercise yard., 1889 The Royal Templars of Temperance donated a water fountain to the Town of Milton in hopes that water would quench people’s thirst and help reduce the consumption of alcoholic beverages. It also had a trough for horses to drink from., The fountain stood for many years in front of the original Town Hall building at 251 Main Street. This fountain now sits across from the Town Hall west doors along the Brown Street Walkway., 1909 Like many towns and cities across Canada, the “grazing grounds" across from the County buildings were named Victoria Park for Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 to 1901. The naming of the park coincided with the construction of he first bandstand in the park by Milton businesses., 1915 A new Land Registry Office is built, replacing the old Registrar building. This building is now called Hugh Foster Hall., 1925 Milton's Cenotaph honouring the Town's citizens who served during the First World War is constructed in 1925 with its official unveiling the following year., 1977 The last year that the Province of Ontario operated the Court House and Jail at this location., 1982 The Town of Milton purchased the Halton County Court House and Jail from the Region of Halton at the cost of $1.00., 1985 Official Opening of Town Hall at 43 Brown Street in the old County Buildings and Jail., 2009 The official address of Town Hall changes from 43 Brown Street to 150 Mary Street coinciding with a major expansion of Town Hall., Darker Days , Like most small communities in the 19th century, Milton carried out capital punishment in the form of public hangings. Milton’s first two public hangings occurred for murder in 1858 and 1862. Almost unimaginable today, both hangings took place on the grounds in front of the County Buildings , now Victoria Park! A third hanging took place in 1883 behind the jail wall on the north side of Town Hall., These hangings drew hundreds of spectators, including women and children. While designed to act as a deterrent, the mood was often upbeat, with many residents using the event as an opportunity for socializing. Fortunately, times have changed since these formative years of Canada's growth into a civilized nation., The Former County Town , 1853 - With Canada still in pre-Confederation era, the County of Halton emerged as a separate unit of government. Within the new County, there was much disagreement amongst the residents and local government officials over the decision of Parliament to locate the County buildings in the “Village of Milton”. At the time, a Trafalgar resident wrote to The Globe newspaper: ,

"What an absurdity to expect the inhabitants of the seven or eight villages near the front [lakeshore] and all the front of the county - a large majority of the whole county - to go altogether out of the way of other business to transact a little county business at Milton, a village without any of the natural advantages for a flourishing town and which can never be anything but an obscure inland village."

, This is a reminder for us about now this decision shaped the future a what once was a very small village. It is also al reminder of how, in 1853, a journey from Oakville to Milton on dirt roads by horse and buggy was a much bigger effort!