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Poulett St. (Owen Sound) |
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Poulett St. (sometimes Poulette Street), was the original name of what is now known as Second Avenue East, Owen Sound. Charles Poulett Thomson, Lord Sydenham (1st Baronet), was the namesake for Owen Sound's early name as the Village of Sydenham. He served as the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada between 1839-1841. His lifedates were b. 1799-d. 1841. In 1909, the town of Owen Sound changed its old street names to a New York-style numerical numbered streets system. The numbers changed for each store / house, etc. For example, the D.R. Duncan grocery business at 151 Poulett Street became 842 2nd Ave. East. The Grey County Archives has a fire insurance map book that shows the crossed-out old numbers along with the updated ones. Some vintage postcards and souvenir chinaware items were produced when main street was known as Poulett St., and the name was used in their captions. George Holmes, a prolific commercial photographer, has an image of the exterior of his photography studio in a Poulett Street image of long ago. It is at the Grey County Archives. There is also a 19th-century image of the Wilkinson butchershop along Poulett St., with live cattle and bystanders standing in view. There used to be water tanks at the main intersections, to collect water for firefighting purposes. There were some fires in downtown Owen Sound that affected Poulett Street, see John Christie's book, SIRENS ACROSS THE SOUND. |
