THE INSURANCE PLANS AND NEW DEVELOPMENT

There are two surviving Insurance Plans for Louisbourg. The earliest drawn in 1926 and updated to 1944 shows a town that had changed little from the initial establishment of streets.²⁶

It is the Insurance plan for Louisbourg dated August 1952 which shows an interesting proposal.²⁷ On this plan there is a suggestion for a new subdivision. It is located north of Main Street and bounded by Lorway on the east and Upper Warren on the west. Both Elwood and Alexandra Streets are extended north to fill the centre. At right angles, Alma and Milton are extended from Warren to Lorway. To the north of these are 3rd Street, Whitney Street and 5th Street. Whitney Street is shown linking up with Kent Street and Tanner's Lane while 5th Street connects higher up on Kent.

This proposal first appears in a 1950 consultant's report for a new water and sewerage system for the town. It is directly tied to the Louisbourg Development Company and the new fish plant which was opened in 1952.²⁸ The early 1950s, like the turn of the century, was a period of great optimism in the municipal life of Louisbourg. Developing the easily accessible land north of Main seemed to be a logical move by the Council which was anticipating a period of municipal growth.

Nothing was done to implement this idea though there was a survey as late as 1969 to extend Milton Street.²⁹ The Town owns blocks of land on the west side of Upper Warren designated 3rd and 4th Streets which have the potential to form the basis for future development.

THE STREETS OF MODERN LOUISBOURG

In Louisbourg today, a street is a piece of real estate that has been designated a street by a motion of Council. Unfortunately, the fire which destroyed the Town Hall on July 21,1982 also destroyed the Council Minute Books prior to 1978. As a result, there is no comprehensive record of the decisions made by Council to proclaim many of the streets in town. We are fortunate to have the December 1902 Sydney Record report of the Council decision to name certain streets. The only other Council Minutes specifically designating streets is a copy of a 1973 meeting naming Harbourview Drive and one for 1984 expropriating the land for Whitney Street.³⁰ The 1973 minute has survived as a copy in the personal papers of John George MacKiegan, who was a Councillor at the time.

In searching for a base document from which to compile a comprehensive list of streets we turned to the Land Registration Information Services (LRIS) computer printout of January 1990. The printout lists all property and property owners in Louisbourg and the streets on which the property is located. There is also a set of maps associated with the LRIS. It is unfortunate that these maps are not dated, though it is probably safe to assume that they were produced in the 1980's.

There are some discrepancies in the LRIS. This includes such things as Verrier Crescent being referred to as Vanier Street in several instances, and Marconi Street not being mentioned at all. The properties on Marconi are said to be on Albert Street.

In the list of streets that follows we have added several streets not mentioned in the LRIS printout. The dates attached to the streets are the earliest found in a variety of sources since the incorporation of the Town on 15 February 1901. Please note that just because a street had a name does not mean that it was recognized officially by the Town at that time.

A NOTE ON SPELLING

Over the years there have been a variety of spellings for a number of streets in town. Pepperrell has suffered the most. There are also occasions on which Wolfe appears without the "e". We spell these names the way they are spelled in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Gerratt Brook also has a variety of spellings. Since we have no idea how Elias Gerratt spelled his name -- Gerrot, Jerrit, Jerret, or Gerrard -- we use as the authority the 1981 Chart for Louisbourg Harbour.³¹

Still, you will notice variations in spelling in the text. These variations are normally found in a quotation or a reference to a specific document.