What's In A Name? ...

By Adrienne Horne, M.A.
Regional Project Manager
Western Corridor 1812 Bicentennial Alliance

What's In A Name? ... Part 3 ...

The name Brock can be found everywhere in Ontario and beyond, as street names, towns, municipalities, even an island in the Arctic is named after Brock. Beyond Brock University, there are department stores, restaurants, garages, construction companies and even a Pokémon is named Brock; who has rock-hard willpower! One can now be said “to Brock”; a slang term named after the WWE wrestler, Brock Lesnar!

200 years ago Brock forged a mutual alliance with the First Nations political leader, Tecumseh. Tecumseh was able to form a confederacy of nations who worked together to hold back American advancement into their territories. If he had lived, the landscape of First Nation lands would be very different. As it is now, there is a municipality, a town, an academy, a mall, even a corn fest all named after Tecumseh. Of course there is also the monument for him along the Thames River where he died on October 5, 1813 at the Battle of Moraviantown.

The War of 1812 turned ancient First Nation trails into roads and supply lines. This is why as you travel from Ancaster to Dundas you are on the Old Dundas Rd, leading into Dundas and when in Dundas, it becomes the Old Ancaster Road, because taking that road out of town will lead back to Ancaster. The Oakland Road, takes you to Oakland! At first I was frustrated with the streets just suddenly changing their name, but now I understand. It was a form of providing direction for travellers. One can start to see how street names came to be. The Brantford road leads from Delhi up to Brantford.
(To Be Continued)