The Baker Brothers
Dr. Herbert W. Baker
There are two brothers behind the name Baker Street. One was Dr. Herbert Baker, a prominent dentist who practised for 57 years. The other was Manly Benson Baker, who headed the geology department at Queen's University for 37 years.
Dr. Baker was born in his parents' home at 69 Daly Ave. in 1875. He operated a Wool Stock Mill at the corner of Milton and Front streets for some years. He graduated from the the Royal College of Dental Surgeons in Toronto in 1906, and returned to Stratford to set up his dental office surgery at 94 Wellington St. He was on the city's parks board from 1918 to 1951.
Prof. Manly Baker
Manly Baker was the first Stratford resident to go to Queen's University in Kingston. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Geological Society of America. Queen's conferred on him an honorary LLD degree, and the Queen's Alumni Association awarded him the Montreal Medal as an outstanding "maker" of Queen's. Prof. Baker donated his home in Kingston to his alma mater. Stanford Dingman
Dr. H. W. Baker lived in this house at 88 Daly Ave. It was home for five generations of Bakers.
Architectural description: two-storey red brick with hipped roof and flat centre section in the middle at the top of the roof; shed dormer in centre at front of roof; first floor; centre door with transom; rectangular shallow bay on each side of doorway.
The porch has an ornate railing supported by two Doric columns. The trim under the porch roof has square blocks with a round circle in each block. On the second floor there is a centre door to a balcony that extends in front of the two second-floor windows, which are long, narrow one-over-one paned windows set close together and are slightly segmentally arched. Both sides of the porch have decorative woodwork that has an arch framing the windows.
88 Daly Ave. Photo: Fred Gonder
The porch posts go from floor to the eaves. On the second-storey porch, there is a decorative railing identical to the one on the first storey. There is a small decorative gable roof over each end of the upper porch, of which one section is to the right and set back. The first floor has a door and a small window on the right. The second storey could be an addition. Information from: Stratford Heritage Properties.
Photo Fred Gonder
In this photo, Dr. Baker and his wife are possibly test- driving his next automobile, a new 1908 Reo Touring, on loan from Kalbfleisch Bros., the local dealer. The vehicle has an Ontario-issued black rubber licence plate with white lettering. Stratford-Perth Archives