Baseline streets

[TheStranger]

In San Francisco, Market Street is the natural choice for baseline for the traditional downtown grid and the South of Market grid (but not necessarily the Potrero Hill/Dogpatch/Mission numbered streets, whose starting points are not consistent but tend to begin from 3rd Street westward); the Embarcadero also serves as a baseline for streets heading southwest from the bay (Market, Mission etc.).  Lake Street serves as the first block going southbound for the numbered avenues (as the northernmost east-west street in the Richmond district).

[NWI_Irish96]

In South Bend, Washington Street divides north from south. The east-west divider is Michigan Street. That's odd, considering that Main Street parallels Michigan, just a block to the west. I've got no idea why it's done that way.

Michigan Street was the original routing of the old Michigan Road, Dixie Highway and US 31.  That made it the logical choice to be the E/W divider.
Washington street is a much less logical choice.  Colfax Ave is longer, has a bridge over the river, and used to carry US 20, so it would have made more sense as the N/S divider.

[NWI_Irish96]

In Louisville, the E/W divider is First Street.  The N/S divider is Main Street, which jogs and becomes Mellwood Avenue.  East of Mellwood's intersection with Frankfort Avenue, Frankfort takes over as the N/S divider.

With Louisville being a river city, the directions N/S/E/W should all be taken with a grain of salt.  Even the section of the city that is on a grid is tilted 10 or so degrees from following the true directions.

Across the river in Jeffersonville, there is no N/S division.  Building numbers count up from the river.  Spring Street/Hamburg Pike is the E/W division, though only a very tiny sliver of the city is actually west of Spring/Hamburg. 

[rawmustard]

The city of Kalamazoo's E/W dividing line is Burdick Street while the rest of the county's E/W divider is Westnedge Avenue. The county's N/S dividing line is the line where Michigan Avenue runs downtown. The city of Portage does not have its own grid as it probably just kept the county's system when it incorporated as a city in 1963 (all N/S addresses are a continuation from Kalamazoo). As for the other cities and villages in the county, Galesburg, Parchment, Schoolcraft, and Vicksburg all have their own address grids while Richland does not.

[theline]

In South Bend, Washington Street divides north from south. The east-west divider is Michigan Street. That's odd, considering that Main Street parallels Michigan, just a block to the west. I've got no idea why it's done that way.

Michigan Street was the original routing of the old Michigan Road, Dixie Highway and US 31.  That made it the logical choice to be the E/W divider.
Washington street is a much less logical choice.  Colfax Ave is longer, has a bridge over the river, and used to carry US 20, so it would have made more sense as the N/S divider.

I just meant that one might think that the street called Main Street would be the logical candidate as a baseline road. Of course, Michigan Street was the historic location of the Michigan Road and then US 31, which makes it a good choice as the baseline. Through much of the downtown area US 31 was removed from Michigan Street when it was transformed into a pedestrian plaza in the 1960s. NB 31 was routed on St. Joseph Street and SB on Main Street. Later, 31 was rerouted around the city on the St. Joseph Valley Parkway, though the city route remains signed as Business Route 31. Even when the plaza was reopened to vehicles, BR 31 and SR 931 remained on St. Joseph and Main Streets.

Washington Street was a logical choice as the other baseline since it passes right by St. Joseph County Courthouse. It was at the historic center of the city. It also passes right in front of Tippecanoe Place, the Studebaker mansion.

[silverback1065]

In South Bend, Washington Street divides north from south. The east-west divider is Michigan Street. That's odd, considering that Main Street parallels Michigan, just a block to the west. I've got no idea why it's done that way.

Michigan Street was the original routing of the old Michigan Road, Dixie Highway and US 31.  That made it the logical choice to be the E/W divider.
Washington street is a much less logical choice.  Colfax Ave is longer, has a bridge over the river, and used to carry US 20, so it would have made more sense as the N/S divider.

I just meant that one might think that the street called Main Street would be the logical candidate as a baseline road. Of course, Michigan Street was the historic location of the Michigan Road and then US 31, which makes it a good choice as the baseline. Through much of the downtown area US 31 was removed from Michigan Street when it was transformed into a pedestrian plaza in the 1960s. NB 31 was routed on St. Joseph Street and SB on Main Street. Later, 31 was rerouted around the city on the St. Joseph Valley Parkway, though the city route remains signed as Business Route 31. Even when the plaza was reopened to vehicles, BR 31 and SR 931 remained on St. Joseph and Main Streets.

Washington Street was a logical choice as the other baseline since it passes right by St. Joseph County Courthouse. It was at the historic center of the city. It also passes right in front of Tippecanoe Place, the Studebaker mansion.

interesting, i always wondered why there was a weird jog there. 

Indianapolis is pretty simple, Meridian street is the E/W divider, and Washington st is the N/S, until it crosses Rockville road and it takes over. In hamilton county it follows the same grid as indy so there's no south direction, only e/w and the east west divider gets weird when 31 turns to meet keystone parkway. 

[Dr Frankenstein]

In my hometown (Beauharnois), house numbers progress from the northwest corner of the city limits.

My current city, Longueuil, uses Chemin de Chambly as its E/W baseline, with no N/S baseline. Chemin de Chambly is a de-facto N-S road despite physically being E-W (in fact, our entire logical grid is almost 90° off, as weird as it sounds) because settlers used the St. Lawrence River as the E-W reference.

In Montreal, the E/W baseline is St. Laurent Blvd and there's no N/S division. The logical cardinal points are also off for the reason cited above.

[Road Hog]

Little Rock has a Baseline Road, but that has nothing to to with the numbering system. It refers to the baseline of the state survey system running east-west.

[ce929wax]

The city of Kalamazoo's E/W dividing line is Burdick Street while the rest of the county's E/W divider is Westnedge Avenue. The county's N/S dividing line is the line where Michigan Avenue runs downtown. The city of Portage does not have its own grid as it probably just kept the county's system when it incorporated as a city in 1963 (all N/S addresses are a continuation from Kalamazoo). As for the other cities and villages in the county, Galesburg, Parchment, Schoolcraft, and Vicksburg all have their own address grids while Richland does not.

You know, as someone who lives in Kalamazoo, I've wondered why the northernmost city address numbers end at 4200 instead of 4999 to match up with the 5000 block being "G" Avenue.  I wonder why the gap of 800 numbers.  I know in Kalamazoo County there are approximately 1000 numbers per mile (lettered avenues and even numbered streets.

[mrsman]

Little Rock has a Baseline Road, but that has nothing to to with the numbering system. It refers to the baseline of the state survey system running east-west.

San Bernardino, CA also has a similar Baseline Rd.  It extends quite a bit west into LA County and is a fairly main street in the northern Pomona area (La Verne).

[countysigns]

Baseline streets in Toledo, Ohio (and Lucas County in general) depend on where you are in town.

If you are downtown, where the streets are angled because of the Maumee River, the N-S baseline is Washington Street and the E-W baseline would be the Maumee River.  Away from downtown, the grid "straightens" out.  On the west side of the River the N-S baseline is Hill Avenue.  On the east side of the River, the N-S baseline is Seaman Street.  The E-W baseline for all Lucas County is Franklin Avenue, Crabb Road and Telegraph Road.  The E-W baseline continues into Monroe County, Michigan up Crabb Road and Geiger Road to Morrocco Road, which is approximately 7-1/2 miles north of the Ohio/Michigan state line.

[mwb1848]

In El Paso, Oregon Street divides E-W while San Antonio Avenue then Alameda Avenue divides N-S.

These two streets intersect in Downtown. Because of the historic center's proximity to the International Border, there are a LOT more N and E than S or W. As a result, addresses under about 1100 are typically the only ones that use directions to avoid ambiguity. E.g., there is a 1100 Block of North Stanton Street and a 1100 Block of South Stanton Street. However, the 1200 block of South Stanton would be in Mexico. There's an 1100 Block of East Schuster Avenue and West Schuster Avenue; While the 1200 Block of East Schuster is in the city, the 1200 block of West Schuster would be in Mexico.

[roadfro]

Replies for Nevada:


RENO:
*E/W division: Virginia Street (old US 395). (Exception: Sun Valley area uses Sun Valley Blvd/SR 443 as division)
*N/S division: the Truckee River.

SPARKS:
*E/W division: Stanford Way, and it's northerly extension ("W" designator is left off in most cases, despite amount of city on either side)
*N/S division: approximately I-80 ("N" designator is left off, since most of Sparks lies above the north baseline).

Major exception: McCarran Blvd/SR 659 is divided into north and south by I-80, with numbers starting at the east I-80 interchange and increasing around the loop in both directions (and it gets a little muddled on N McCarran in Reno).


HENDERSON:
*E/W division, from south to north: Horizon Ridge Pkwy / Pacific Ave / Water St > Boulder Highway (SR 582 & Old US 93/95).
*N/S division, from east to west: Drake St / ? / Lake Mead Pkwy (SR 564) > I-215
(Note: There are some overlaps from the greater Las Vegas numbering system within the City of Henderson.)

LAS VEGAS / NORTH LAS VEGAS / UNINCORPORATED CLARK COUNTY TOWNSHIPS (in the Las Vegas valley):
*E/W division, from east to west: Charleston Blvd > Fremont St (old US 93/95) > US 95 freeway > Westcliff Dr > western extension of Westcliff Dr alignment.
*N/S division, from south to north: Las Vegas Blvd (old US 91) > Main St (old US 91/US 91A) > Goldfield St or the alignment thereof (where the street does not exist).

I haven't been able to explain the origins of some of the oddities in Henderson's street numbering grid, especially in old Henderson near the downtown/government facilities. However, the Las Vegas grid has somewhat of a historical explanation. The origin point is at Main & Fremont streets, which is on the original Las Vegas townsite grid that was laid out parallel to the railroad tracks (a north/south line that is probably 20° askew from true north/south). Only the downtown core streets are laid out this way; the remainder of Las Vegas is on the PLSS grid/section lines, which causes a jog to reconcile between the two systems.

Reconciling the N/S boundary to the east is somewhat interesting. Due to the numbering that was adopted, there is a considerable skip in block numbers when crossing E Charleston Blvd: from S 1100 to N 00. Reconciling to the west is easier, since US 95 and Westcliff Drive follow what was originally the W Fremont St alignment. Still unexplained is how Goldfield St was chosen as the E/W boundary to the north, as it's a relatively minor street and is not continuous--North 5th St would have made a better choice, as it is a more major road and is much more continuous.

[KCRoadFan]

Apologies for bumping the thread; when I saw this, I thought of something that I wanted to post, and I figured that it would be better to put it on an existing thread rather than starting a new one.

Anyway, with that out of the way, here's what I wanted to post: the baselines for my city - Kansas City.

The east-west baseline in KCMO is Main Street - until 85th Street, that is. South of there, it's mainly an imaginary line until Red Bridge Road (equivalent to 111th Street), where Wornall Road assumes that role, realigning itself after deviating slightly eastward just south of I-435. It continues south along Wornall to its end at 135th Street in Martin City; south of there, it follows an imaginary line once more.

The north-south baseline is rather varied - starting out in the River Market area near downtown (that is, the original "Town of Kansas" townsite), it simply follows the Missouri River. However, just east of downtown, the river swings to the north, and in the Historic Northeast neighborhood east of the Paseo, the baseline follows St. John Avenue, with cross-streets to the north having a "North" prefix like you would see in the Northland. (Interestingly, those streets in Historic Northeast don't have a "zero block" as is the case on the first block east or west of Main on the numbered streets; rather, the first block north or south of St. John is numbered 100.) The eastern limit of Historic Northeast is Belmont Boulevard; east of there, the north-south baseline is largely an imaginary line, aside from occasional sections where it hitches a ride on whatever roads might run in the area, such as Kentucky Road in Sugar Creek and Salisbury Road in east Independence.

On the Kansas side, Johnson County just extends the main KC grid westward, but Wyandotte County (KCK) has its own grid. In that county, numbered streets run north-south instead of east-west; the baseline for those is simply the Missouri line. As for the north-south divider, it follows Central Avenue (even though the street itself runs at an angle) until 18th Street, and then Riverview Avenue and Park Drive up to 38th Street. From 38th to 57th, the north-south baseline happens to align with the Kansas River (as well as Kaw Drive, which runs parallel); west of there, the river swings southward and the baseline continues along an imaginary line just south of I-70.

[US 89]

Off the cuff, I'd say Salt Lake City's address grid (the ubiquitous "Mormon Grid" in the Intermountain West) is centered around Main and South Temple, but you have the issue with the Avenues and areas up the hills which have their own addresses.  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

The entire county uses the same address grid - even the Avenues and up in the mountains.

I should note, though, that there is a slight offset to all Avenues addresses. A Street is addressed as 200 East (despite lining up with something more like 275 East on the other side of South Temple). After that, each successive street is addressed 50 units further east (so B is 250, C is 300, etc.) - but the length of an Avenues block is still a little more than half a downtown block, so the discrepancy starts to add up even more. By the time you get to the other end of the neighborhood, you're at U Street, which is addressed as 1200 East but lines up with something even greater than 1300.

Most towns in Utah are centered around the intersection of a Main and Center Street, but you'll often see one of those replaced with something like State Street or perhaps something more local. The Utah GIS people have actually put together a whole list of every address grid origin in the state.

[achilles765]

This would be kinda hard to do for Houston I think just because of how big it is and how there are multiple major districts. Inside the loop, I'd say the two would be main and Richmond/wheeler. Or maybe weetheimer/Elgin.

For the entire city, Westheimer for sure for E-W. And main/shepherd for n-s maybe. That's using downtown ish as the centerpoint.

Now for the west side which is the more heavily developed and populated side, it's definitely Westheimer for E-W and Gessner for N-S

For the east side where I am, Harrisburg for E-W and Lockwood for N-S.

[Rothman]

Off the cuff, I'd say Salt Lake City's address grid (the ubiquitous "Mormon Grid" in the Intermountain West) is centered around Main and South Temple, but you have the issue with the Avenues and areas up the hills which have their own addresses.  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

The entire county uses the same address grid - even the Avenues and up in the mountains.

I should note, though, that there is a slight offset to all Avenues addresses. A Street is addressed as 200 East (despite lining up with something more like 275 East on the other side of South Temple). After that, each successive street is addressed 50 units further east (so B is 250, C is 300, etc.) - but the length of an Avenues block is still a little more than half a downtown block, so the discrepancy starts to add up even more. By the time you get to the other end of the neighborhood, you're at U Street, which is addressed as 1200 East but lines up with something even greater than 1300.

Most towns in Utah are centered around the intersection of a Main and Center Street, but you'll often see one of those replaced with something like State Street or perhaps something more local. The Utah GIS people have actually put together a whole list of every address grid origin in the state.

Heh.  Took you long enough to clarify.

[NWI_Irish96]

I've moved since I last posted in this thread. In my current town, there is no E/W and everything just counts up from the state line so that makes State Line Ave the baseline. There is also no N/S and numbers are just an extension southward from Hammond, which is an extension of Chicago but subtracting 10000.

So I guess if you really think about it, the central point for address numbering for both Munster and Hammond is a point out in Lake Michigan where the state line is on the same latitude as 100th Street.

[thspfc]

Madison: Gorham/Johnson/East Washington on the east, Park Street on the south, Campus Drive/University Ave on the west, and maybe WI-113 on the north.

[kphoger]

What the names of the streets that form the baselines in your city? These are the axes that serve as the zero points for addressing and probably also serve to divide the city into quadrants. Where these two streets intersect, the buildings on the corners could all theoretically have the address 1.

I'd like to limit this to larger cities so we can learn something that might come in handy about the US's major cities, so if you live in a town of less than about 100,000 please pick the nearest large city. Knowing this fact about Wichita, KS might be useful some day, but learning Wellington, KS's street grid probably won't be.

In Oklahoma City, these streets are Reno Avenue (east-west) and Santa Fe Avenue (north-south).

Regarding Wichita, KS:  The baseline dividing north from south is Douglas.  That's handy to know, but it only tells half the story.  The annoying part is that there's no zero-hundred block, yet the numbered streets pretend there is.  That is to say, 13th Street is the 1400 line, 21st Street is the 2200 line, 37th Street is the 3800 line, and so forth.  It drives me batty, for example, that 1350 N Hillside is half a block south of 13th Street.

Regarding smaller towns:  Some of these do have surprises in store.  Take a town I used to live in for example:  Herrin, IL.  The baseline between east and west is Park Avenue.  Well, that seems commonsense, considering it's IL-148 through town.  But the wacky part is that the numbered streets begin at a theoretical point east of town.  In fact, AFAIK, is starts with Third Street on the edge of town.  Therefore, the first block west of the "baseline" is 16th Street, and the first block east of the "baseline" is 14th Street.  This knowledge comes in handy if, say, someone invites you to their house and their address is 1201 W Something, and you live on 24th Street.  Sounds like you might need to drive, but really it's just a block away.

[bzakharin]

Newark, NJ E-W is briefly Orange St then Market St, which branches off from it. Then east of 1st St it jumps back to Orange St which by then is 5 blocks to the north. Then east of Norfolk St/Clifton Ave there is no longer a baseline street, and numbering is erratic. N-S it's extremely inconsistent, but where there is a baseline street, it's Broad St.

[KCRoadFan]

Regarding Wichita, KS:  The baseline dividing north from south is Douglas.  That's handy to know, but it only tells half the story.  The annoying part is that there's no zero-hundred block, yet the numbered streets pretend there is.  That is to say, 13th Street is the 1400 line, 21st Street is the 2200 line, 37th Street is the 3800 line, and so forth.  It drives me batty, for example, that 1350 N Hillside is half a block south of 13th Street.

OKC does that too. I don't know why that is.

[Flint1979]

Grand Rapids:  Division Ave. (get it?) and Fulton St.

In Detroit, John R divides east from west, even though it runs at a NW angle from downtown out to 6 Mile (McNichols) Rd.  I don't even know what divides north from south.

I always assumed Woodward, not John R was the east-west dividing line.

It is from the river to McNichols then it jogs over and John R is the dividing line between McNichols and 8 Mile.

[Flint1979]

There really isn't a north-south in Detroit. It starts at Cherry Hill in western Wayne County, then east of there it follows the Rouge River, railroad right of way and then the Detroit River. Some suburbs have their own systems but many suburbs use the Detroit system and it goes out far up to 81951 in northern Macomb County.

Addresses on Woodward use the Detroit system in all cities that Woodward travels through.

[SkyPesos]

For St Louis, E-W address start at the Mississippi River. The "Zero Point" for N-S streets seem to be a combination of Market St, Forest Park Ave, Forsyth Blvd, and Ladue Rd, cutting through Forest Park in the middle.