Peter Street is named for Peter Russell, president and administrator of Upper Canada, 1796-1799.
Peter Russell Painting by George Theodore Berthon
Peter Street was laid out by Toronto developers John Arnold and James Lukin Robinson in 1855.
It was named for Peter Street in Toronto, and in Toronto, Peter Street was named for Peter Russell, president and administrator of the province known as Upper Canada, later Ontario, from 1796-1799. Peter Street was the road which led to Petersfield, the farm owned by Peter Russell. If street names are an indication, he was a man of great importance in those days; there are at least seven other Toronto streets associated with his family name.
Though history records many virtues of Peter Russell, it was also said he did have a vice, specifically an unreasonable desire to acquire public lands for himself and friends.
Peter Street in Stratford may be short, dead-ended, and not well known, but it has some important connections in the old town of York, now Toronto. Source: Streets of Stratford, 2004
Additional information about Russell can be found here. Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography