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Originally Posted by wardlow
Thanks for all of this information.
I don't know if this would have been anti-Irish sentiment as much as it would have been part of an attempt at British Canadian-izing the city's street names, and make Winnipeg less particular and more world- (or Empire-) class. Similar to how Fonseca Street lost its name and became a part of Higgins Avenue. William Fonseca was quite well known as an important city father at the time, and the oldest resident of Point Douglas, but his name was odd-sounding and lost out to Higgins... I don't think that was anti-Portuguese as much as it was pro-homogeneity.
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Armstrong's Point had seen a few homes built in the 1880s and early 90s but it wasn't until Portage streetcars were extended to Sherbrook and Cornish that construction in the toney neighbourhood really took off (and streets like Furby and Langside south of Portage were fully developed). Somehow, Mulligan Street just didn't sound right, just too Irish in the years when there was a lot of troubles and religious strife in Ireland over Home Rule. Sherbrooke, named after Montreal's famous commercial street, was much more suitable. Montreal was still by far the dominant city in Canada at the time. Sherbrooke kept the final "e" until the late 1930s at least on streetcar route placards and signs and on the earliest motor buses.
Some streets changed their names due to negative associations, like John Street, which was renamed Daly Street as the word "John" started to assume another definition as well, in an era when moralizers were in the ascendancy. Apparently, the word originates as customers would almost always give their name as John, esp. on the early phones, as I suppose one never knew who was listening.
Another funny one was Athole Avenue, today's Luxton. While the correct pronunciation is "Ath-ull" it increasingly came to be mispronounced as it is spelled, "Ath-ole". No one wanted to live on "Ath-ole" Avenue.
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