Friday, January 5, 2018 3 Brooklin Town Crier Brian Winter's family moved to Whitby when he was eight. He graduated in journalism from Centennial College in Scarborough before working as a Whitby reporter for the Oshawa Times, community editor of the Whitby Free Press, and secretary-manager of the Whitby Chamber of Commerce. He served as full-time Archivist for the Town of Whitby from 1989 to 2012 when he retired. Winter has spent more than 50 years studying the subject and compiling town records. In 1968, he established the Town of Whitby Archives for the Whitby Historical Society and was named official Archivist for the Town of Whitby in 1974. He's written books and pamphlets about Whitby's history, including "The Centennial History of the Ontario Ladies' College" (now Trafalgar Castle School) in 1974, as well as tributes to retiring municipal officials. In 1999, he published "Chronicles of a County Town - Whitby Past and Present", a 400-page history of Whitby. At 26, Winter was the youngest recipient of The Peter Perry Award as Whitby's outstanding citizen of 1973. Honours he's received in- clude Ontario Lieuten-ant-Governor's Award for lifetime achievement, the Ontario His- torical Society for heritage work, the Queen Elizabeth the Second Diamond Jubilee Medal, Ontario's Volunteer Service Award and the Ontario Heritage Foundation's achievement award. He was named an Alumnus of Distinction by Centennial College in 2001 and a member of the Definitely Durham Hall of Fame by the Durham District School Board in 2011. A founding member of the Whitby Historical Society and the Durham Region Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, Winter is a member of the Ontario Historical Society and has served on the Whitby Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC) since its founding in 1978 and was given an honorary life membership of the Whitby LACAC in 2014. He has compiled records on more than 3,000 Whitby families and 500 buildings, and copied more than 8,000 photographs of the community dating from the 1850s to the present day. Meet Brian Winter, Our Newest Contributor Brooklin's Church Street was so named because there were once three churches on this short street. Now only one remains and it is no longer a church. In 1847, a Methodist Episcopal church was built at the corner of Church and Albert Streets. It closed in 1884 and the building was moved to downtown Brooklin. From 1862 to 1926, a Presbyterian church stood on the east side of Church Street, near the site of the former Mitchell Brothers store. It was demolished when the congregation joined Brooklin United Church. The third one, at the corner of Church Street and Cassels Road, was built in 1876 by the Bible Christians. From 1884 to 1916, it was a Baptist church and is now the Brooklin Community Centre. The Oshawa Vindication reported in 1867 that Brooklin was a village "of some merit" because it had more churches than taverns. Historically Speaking with Brian Winter How Church Street Got Its Name