1930s and 1940s Plans for Tucson AZ Street Names

[Roadwarriors79]

I was looking at a couple old links on the history of some street names in Tucson. There were some different proposals for street names for the current street system.

https://tucson.com/news/local/street-smarts-plan-sought-to-rename-streets-for-saints-pioneers/article_8ddb2dbf-9b68-5300-b2e9-54ef28ddffb8.html

https://www.planning.org/pas/reports/report13.htm

I doubt there will be any major changes to street names today. I was curious as to how the numbered streets got to be where they are, and how the block numbering is unlike numbered streets in the Phoenix area. In metro Phoenix, a 7th St or 7th Ave would be at 700 North (or 700 South, 700 East, 700 West). In Tucson, one example is 22nd St, which is at 1200 South. If it was being named today, it would be relocated to 2200 South. Future numbered streets in the Tucson area would follow this system. For instance, a future 65th St in Tucson would be in the 6500 South alignment.

[KeithE4Phx]

I was looking at a couple old links on the history of some street names in Tucson. There were some different proposals for street names for the current street system.

https://tucson.com/news/local/street-smarts-plan-sought-to-rename-streets-for-saints-pioneers/article_8ddb2dbf-9b68-5300-b2e9-54ef28ddffb8.html

https://www.planning.org/pas/reports/report13.htm

So, Tucson being a hot mess as far as street naming and address numbering goes, is a fine tradition that goes back decades. 

I wonder if the guy who set up Tucson's street grid system also did the one in my hometown of Bloomington IN, another disaster area of street naming and numbering, and where streets are numbered on both sides of downtown.  The "center line" is Kirkwood Ave., aka 5th St. (100N/S -- no two-digit addresses in Bloomington, which is common in much of Indiana outside of Indy).

I was curious as to how the numbered streets got to be where they are, and how the block numbering is unlike numbered streets in the Phoenix area. In metro Phoenix, a 7th St or 7th Ave would be at 700 North (or 700 South, 700 East, 700 West).

In Phoenix, 7th Ave. is 700W, while 7th St. is 700E.  Both are exactly 1/2 mile on either side of Central Ave.  The current numbering system originated in the late 1880s or early 1890s. 

As Phoenix grew, some names of main streets were changed to conform to the Phoenix numbering/naming plan, once those areas were annexed into the city.  24th St. was originally Biltmore Ave.  32nd St. was Orange Rd., 40th St. was Four Mile Rd.  44th St. was Chicago Ave.  Buckeye Rd. was Henshaw Rd. in part of the city.  Northern Ave. was Avenue N, Olive/Dunlap Ave. was Avenue O, Peoria Ave. was Avenue P, and Cactus Rd. was Avenue Q.  I'm not sure if the lettering continued north of Avenue Q Cactus Rd.  Those didn't change until the late 1950s.

An even bigger mess is my current home of Mesa, where the old section of town (west of Gilbert Rd.) is where numbered streets run east and west north of Main St., while numbered avenues run east and west south of Main.  The highest numbers are 14th St. and 11th Ave.  Like Phoenix, numbered Places are between Streets and numbered Drives are between Avenues.

East of Gilbert Rd., numbered streets run north and south, like Phoenix, beginning with 21st St.  But not every north/south street is numbered.  Also, not all streets have a suffix.  For example, I live on N. Arabella -- no St., Ave. or Dr., just Arabella.  The next street to the east is 64th St.  Go figure.

[Scott5114]

For example, I live on N. Arabella -- no St., Ave. or Dr., just Arabella.

Bizarre. I was going to call BS on this, because most of the time even when the suffix is dropped on signs or in common usage, there's still an official one in the USPS records. But even USPS agrees here–it's just "N ARABELLA/MESA AZ 85215".

Had to look around a bit on GSV to get a good address to plug into the USPS address validator. This neighborhood is a little unsettling to me because the houses look more or less the same as a lot of the houses we looked at here in Oklahoma when I was in the market for one–except uniformly painted tan, and a Spanish tile roof instead of shingles.