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Residents surveyed to pick street name
Hamilton Spectator, The (Ontario, Canada) - Thursday, April 11, 2002
Author: The Hamilton Spectator
A local road may have two names because of an incident more than two decades ago.

The former city of Stoney Creek in the early 1980s decided to eliminate all the apostrophes from the end of its major north-south thoroughfares. Consequently, Green's Road became Green Road and DeWitt's Road became DeWitt Road.

Gray 's Road became Gray Road, except that the road also borders the old city of Hamilton. That municipality didn't follow suit and Gray 's Road became Grays Road at one end, and Gray Road at the other.

Councillor Larry Di Ianni, who represents lower Stoney Creek (Ward 10), is surveying residents to see if they want to straighten out the two different names on the road that has bedevilled residents for years.


Councillor prefers road's name be restored to Gray 's Road
Hamilton Spectator, The (Ontario, Canada) - Wednesday, July 3, 2002
Author: Stoney Creek
A councillor is urging the city to correct a spelling mistake and designate a road with two names as just Gray 's Road.

Ward 10 Councillor Larry Di Ianni doesn't want the city to spend a lot of money on the issue. He's been told it could cost up to $14,000 to fix the discrepancy.

The road is known as Gray Road in the former municipality of Stoney Creek and as Grays Road in the former Hamilton. The difference is believed to date to the early 1980s when Stoney Creek decided to eliminate all apostrophes from the end of its major north-south thoroughfares. The portion in Stoney Creek was originally known as Gray 's Side Road in honour of a family which had a farm on the road for decades. Hamilton appears to have dropped the apostrophe, but not the letter s.

The two names have bedeviled some residents for years and Di Ianni contacted 150 homeowners, businesses and a school for their thoughts. The road is located on the westside of Stoney Creek.

Di Ianni said most residents were indifferent about the discrepancy, but those who responded wanted the road to be named as Grays Road. Some spoke about restoring the apostrophe and he likes that idea because it refers to a piece of Stoney Creek's history.

"It's the Gray family," Di Ianni added. "It's the Gray 's family property. . . It's historically correct."

City staff will report on the issue.