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(+ former suburbs of Hilton Estate / Hilton Blocks / Hilton Park)
The suburb of Hilton is located on Section 49 and was subdivided in 1849. Matthew Davenport Hill, a London barrister, was the owner at the time, and in January of 1849 he arranged with George M Stephen, a local barrister, to subdivide and sell the Section. It was divided into thirty allotments and the first two allotments were sold to William Washington on 21 July 1849. By 1853, when the first assessments were made by the District Council of West Torrens, there were sixteen dwellings in Hilton.
The most notable early building in the suburb was the Hilton Hotel, located on the corner of the Main South Road and the road leading west from Adelaide now known as Burbridge Road, but originally known as Rowland Road. This road bisected the small suburb of Hilton, and also provided direct access to the City, making the area an attractive place for early workers to live. Further subdivision occurred after 1876 when the horse tramway system was extended along the road.
In the 1880s Hilton was described as being very crowded with houses on small plots of ground in comparison to the more agricultural and open character of other parts of the West Torrens district. This intense settlement was cause for some concern due to the insanitary conditions of that period (prior to the introduction of deep drainage). A report of the Central Board of Health in 1887 noted that the residents of the villages of Hilton and Richmond were still dependent on wells and tanks for their water supply and it was not until 1909 that Hilton and Cowandilla were connected to the deep drainage system for sewage disposal. Hilton was also the site of one of a number of bores which were sunk in metropolitan Adelaide by the Government in order to supplement water supplies during the drought of 1914. Twenty years later, the bores were re-opened during a period of water restrictions and the Hilton bore was described as delivering crystal clear water at the rate of 475,000 gallons a day.
While other suburbs had Methodist Churches, Hilton was the location for the first Baptist church in the district, and this was constructed on Burbridge Road in 1872. A school established by the Brothers of St John the Baptist was opened for Catholic boys in Formby Street, Hilton in 1891 and functioned until 1895 when it was moved to Thebarton. The proximity of Hilton to the Mile End industrial areas was of some assistance in providing employment for residents of the Hilton area. With the increase of use of electricity, the Adelaide Electric Supply Company bought land along South Road and Burbridge Road in 1923 and used it to accommodate the Mains and Metres Department of the Company. These buildings were expanded over time. Further residential accommodation for the working class was established by the construction of the distinctive precinct of workman's homes built in 1924 in the area around Milner Road and Davenport Terrace in Hilton.
Hilton was also the site for the construction of the new Council Chambers in 1935 and then after the Second World War the Memorial Gardens were laid out south of the Council Chambers and opened in 1951 . Hilton also had the Lyric Theatre, opened in 1938 in Burbridge Road (then Rowland Road). This was an important form of community entertainment in this immediate pre-War period. The Lyric Theatre was also the site for a meeting of the West Torrens Ratepayers Association in 1939 when there was some concern over the state of the Council's finances After the Second World War some industry was introduced into Hilton, particularly the location of component manufacturer for the motor vehicle trade associated with Chrysler Australia who had a factory in Mile End. In the period of post-War immigration Hilton was also attractive to a large number of Greek immigrants who settled in the West Torrens district.
Earlier buildings in Hilton such as the Hilton Soldier's Memorial Institute were converted to other uses and Theatre 62 began in this building in Burbridge Road in 1962 as part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts. [From 1998 Heritage Review]
Schools / Kindergartens
Churches
Significant Trees
Bridges
Hotels / Inns
Industry / Businesses
Shops
Homes
Community Buildings
Sport / Recreation / Reserves