Barbara A. Martindale- For What It's Worth
At one time, Caledonia was no different than other Grand River Navigation Company communities, especially the five: Indiana, York, Sims Locks, Seneca Village and Caledonia.
Most had a Front Street, a Merritt Street, a Mill Street and a Tow Path. Some have been renamed or eliminated.
Caledonia’s Front Street was in the Oneida Village area, now known as Caithness St. W.
Merritt Street actually ran from Front St. to Park Street, but was taken over by the railroad in 1873.
“By using Merritt Street, the village saved money as it did not have to buy up much property along the route and thus lose taxes,” said Les Richardson in his 1982 column Caledonia Memories and Other Stories.
Neither Oneida Village nor Seneca Village had a Mill Street but a piece of the Tow Path in Caledonia is used today by walkers from the bridge through Kinsmen Park. Now built up as the result of dyking, it is known as the Tow Path, but not everyone knows this. Tow paths were just wide enough for a team of oxen, mules or horses to drag the boats up and down the river.
The tow path became a road as mills appeared and the road became rutted. An old map of Oneida Village shows where the Tow Path was from the flour mill east, necessary in those early days to assist the scows and barges carrying their loads of lumber, wheat and other products.
Seneca Village appears not to have had a Front Street. Where Front Street usually existed along the banks of the river in these villages, Hamilton Street was the name in Seneca Village.
York had a Front Street, a Merritt Street and a Mill Street. Front Street is now Hwy #54.
Merritt and Mill Streets still exist.
Indiana still has a Merritt Street and a Mill Lane but no Front Street. Sims Locks doesn’t appear to have had any street names in its early days.
All of this doesn’t make too much difference in this day. However, signage on the Tow Path, where appropriate, might be useful in keeping with our heritage.
Winniett Street is another familiar street in villages along the Grand. In Caledonia, Winniett Street still exists where Seneca Village was once located. Strangely enough though, there was a Winniett Street in Oneida Village, too. It ran parallel with Merritt from Front Street to Park Lane. York didn’t have a Winniett Street, but Indiana did and Cayuga’s Winniett St. still exists.
Front Street, Mill Street and the Tow Paths all make sense as to why they were named. But what about Merritt and Winniett Streets?
Merritt was named for William Hamilton Merritt, who, because of his political influence, made possible the government’s backing of the Grand River Navigation Company.
Major James Winniett was appointed Indian Agent in 1832 to replace Capt. John Brant, son of Capt. Joseph Brant who had died suddenly in 1832 from cholera.
While the Grand River Navigation Co. was busy laying out the lots for their villages by their dams, it was only natural that Major Winniett’s name be attached. After all, he represented the King, William IV, who also had a street named after him in Seneca Village, which still exists. His Queen received prominence too when Queen St. was named, still a street name today in Caledonia’s west end.
When Caledonia’s founder, Ranald McKinnon, came along, he laid out Caledonia and named its streets using Scottish names, a proud fact about Caledonia today.
