At the eastern edge of Cornwall at Boundary Road, opposite the Hwy 401 ramp is what’s now called the Glen Road. Did you know that its earlier name was the Glen Donald Road?
In days past it was common to refer to roads by the name of the nearest town or major centre. For example, that is why Cornwall’s former Hwy. 2 East was and still is known as Montreal Road, while Hwy. 2 West was known as Toronto Road. Prior to annexation, the section of today’s Pitt Street north of Ninth Street was called St. Andrew’s Road as was present day Hwy. 138 between Cornwall and St. Andrews West. Following that convention, we can understand the reason for the Glen Donald road’s name being what it was.
The late Alex Fraser’s Glengarry history website identifies Glen Donald’s location as having been on the former Indian Lands (I.L.), Second Concession at about Lot 13. From 1874 until 1913, the Glengarry hamlet of Glen Donald had its own post office; the first postmaster was a McDonald and the post office was on his property. The two succeeding postmasters were likewise McDonalds. The community’s cheese factory, which burned down in 1939, was reported as having been a distance of seven miles from Cornwall; bear in mind that much of Cornwall’s eastern boundary was then at Marlborough Street. The Glen Donald/Cooper School, S.S. No 5 (1950-1962) sat north of the road on the mid part of lot 5 Conc. 3 I.L. The hamlet did have an early Gaelic name “Gleneirre.”
Legendary “Big Rory” McLennan (1842-1907) was born and raised in the hamlet. A member of the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame, this world record holder hammer thrower is also remembered as a railway contractor, newspaper publisher, banker, entrepreneur, military officer and Glengarry MP for ten years. Several Cornwall commercial blocks were built by or acquired by the man. He more than compensated for a lack of any formal advanced education. After his funeral in Cornwall, nearly 100 carriages joined the funeral cortege to St. Andrew’s Cemetery in Williamstown.
In January of 1978, a local delegation complained bitterly to the Charlottenburgh Township Council about a section of the Glen Donald Road. Four miles of the road at Cornwall’s edge were paved and residents demanded to have the remaining seven miles of road brought up to modern standards.
In addition to the hamlet’s dwindling population and commercial base, in 1990 several Glengarry roads, including the Glen Donald Road, underwent a name change to align with an emergency dispatch system which came into effect in October of 1991.
Today, the re-aligned Glen Road is a well-paved busy artery with speed sensors to encourage drivers to slow down within the contemporary Glen Subdivision.
L’article Some notes on Glen Donald Road est apparu en premier sur Cornwall Seaway News.
