Spelling of Matchette Road to be changed

The Matchette Road sign is altered to Matchett Road in this Facebook post. (Courtesy Matchett Road / Facebook)

A Windsor road will be spelled differently after years of perseverance by a local family.

Windsor city council approved the change of Matchette Road to Matchett Road on Monday.

The Matchett family has been asking for the change to honour Alfred Matchett, the person the road was originally named after.

According to the Matchett Road Facebook page, the family has tried in the past to get this corrected, but were told they didn't have enough proof. In the fall of 2011, grandson Allan Matchett was presented the Windsor Evening Record article of 1913, which proves the proper spelling and another effort was launched.

"For whatever reason, it looks like the name was changed in 1913, but once we found the historical data showing that historically the spelling was without the 'e' at the end, and the 'e' was added for whatever reason sometime during the 20th century, it stands to reason that we would make that correction," said Ward 1 councillor Fred Francis.

The change will cost the city about $6,580 to update signs.

Canada Post told the city the old spelling will be accepted as a valid alternative in their addressing database.

Residents living on the west Windsor and LaSalle road will have to change their identification over time.

"Licensing renewal, health-care renewal, health card renewal or passport renewal, all of those things will be renewed in time with the correct spelling," said Francis.

In January 2021, Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens said he was going to ask council to correct the spelling. At the time, LaSalle mayor Marc Bondy said once it is brought before LaSalle council, he will try to get it passed. The name change also went before council previously, in March of 2012.

With files from AM800 News.