The Courier Electronic Edition

Who named these streets anyway?


Q: I have always wondered how the streets got named, the new streets especially. Is it the contractor who names them? -- Margie Kelley, Fostoria.A: It used to be so simple: River Street was near the river.

That's because early streets usually were named for landmarks "like church, market, monument, canal, wall, court, dock, etc.; obvious topographic or hydrological features, like hill or water; or references to the street's position, like east or middle," said Lawrence Kestenbaum, a Michigan attorney.

"Often major streets would be named for symbols of authority, like state or king or queen. After the American Revolution, the names of heroes and leaders like Washington and Jefferson also served this role," he said.

Some were named after the landowner, like "Lenoir's Alley," he said, and "roads outside cities were ... usually not named at all."

When northwestern Ohio was settled, it was the rage to name streets after trees.

"The suffixes '-wood' and '-land' were tacked on to almost anything to coin street names," Kestenbaum said. "Floral names, names of famous colleges and universities, English counties, world cities, etc., all inspired street names."

William M. Homka, director of the Hancock Regional Planning Commission, says the rules changed after World War II when developers built large tracts in the burgeoning suburbs.

"So new developments were paid for by private developers and the street names were theirs to pick. It has been that way ever since," Homka said.

Some got silly. Today, the "Street Name Generator" on the Internet allows anyone to create meaningless street names like "Heather Zephyr Race" and "Velvet Deer Run."

But modern developers say naming streets themselves can be a dead end.

Developer Gregg McKenzie told The Sacramento (Calif.) Business Journal that he got the job at his company because "no one else wanted to take the criticism."

He once proposed "Lois Lane" and "Which Way," but they were rejected by humorless bureaucrats.

Among the real roadblocks: Does the name have too many letters for street signs? Will it confuse emergency responders because it is too like another? Is it also the name of a living person or a company?

Then there are formal rules like those in Los Angeles County: Streets up to 30 feet wide can use five names to describe them, such as "alley" or "walk"; streets up to 70 feet wide can use 11 names, such as "place" or "court"; streets up to 80 feet wide can use five names, such as "street" and "avenue"; and streets wider than 100 feet can use "boulevard," "highway" or "parkway."

That doesn't count six approved "Spanish-type street name prefixes," like "calle" and "avenida."

"When you first start doing it, it's like poetry: 'I'm leaving something to the world,'" developer Guy Spitzer told the Sacramento newspaper.

"After you submit a name (for approval) and it's rejected; then you submit another, and it's rejected ... it just gets to be work like anything else," Spitzer said.

Still, wouldn't it be nice to live at 123 Easy St.?

Or, just for fun, you could live on Ha-Ha Road in Woodwich, England; Malfunction Junction in Garden Valley, Idaho; Pinch'em Slyly Place in Charlottesville, Va.; or This Ain't It Road in Alexander City, Ala. -- Peter Mattiace.

If your kind of curiosity leads to these kinds of questions, Just Ask will answer them on Mondays. Just ask by e-mail to justask@thecourier.com, or write to: Just Ask, The Courier, P.O. Box 609, Findlay, OH 45839.

1 Comment

JoJo wrote:

Only in Findlay!
When I moved here a decade ago, I was amazed at the streets that intersected...I could not believe that one could stand at the corner of Lima and Lima, Blanchard and Blanchard and 37 and 37! What also amazes me is when you travel down the new 30 east, TWP rd 68 is one exit before State route 68! But I don't mind, Hancock county is a much better place to live than Lucas county...

Monday, November 30, 2009 5:19:55 AM