Dawson Street is named for Lt. Col. T. G. Delamere's son, Alan
480 William St.
Dawson Street runs south from Glendon Road and ends in a cul-de-sac halfway between Delamere Avenue and William Street. Though the street runs into the newer Glendon subdivision, it is actually an extension of a much older street which was part of the Delamere subdivision, which opened in 1920.
Lt.-Col. Thomas Gillmor Delamere was a veteran of the Boer War and the First World War. When he subdivided his farm, he named the street in the middle of it after his eldest son, Alan Martin Dawson Delamere (1906-1967). When Alan was born, his family lived in a red-brick farmhouse, at what is now 98 Hillcrest Dr. The family outgrew that house and Lt.-Col. Delamere built a larger one, farther out on his farm, by the Avon River (now 480 William St.).
Alan and his four siblings had a 55-acre playground by the river, all to themselves. Alan Dawson Delamere was a bush pilot who ended his career in 1947 after 21 years as a flying pilot for the province of Ontario and Canadian Pacific Airlines. For a number of yearts, he flew the Kenora-Red Lake-Winnipeg run .
He was a veteran of several mercy flights and rescue missions in the Canadian north. Upon his retirement from flying, he took over a furniture company in Kenora, where he was an active participant in community life. At the time of his death, he was an alderman in that city. Source: Streets of Stratford 2004 Â