Most common street names for address number baseline roads?

[KCRoadFan]

All right, here's something I was just thinking about: among all the roads that act as baselines for whatever street grid they're in (that is to say, they divide "North" and "South" addresses or "East" and "West" addresses), which names are the most common? I'll take a guess as to what might be some top contenders:

Main Street
Center Street/Central Avenue
Division Street
High Street
State Street
Broadway
Market Street
Broad Street
Meridian Street
First Street/First Avenue, in cities with numbered streets (especially in ones where the first block from the baseline is 100, not 00)
Railroad Street (many towns were built with the tracks right down the middle)
Bridge Street (for towns built along a river, it stands to reason that the street that crosses the bridge would be the one that divides the town into halves)
Washington Street/Washington Avenue
A Street/Avenue A, in towns with a series of lettered streets
Streets named for the town itself, or for the state in which it is located (e.g. Michigan Avenue, Colorado Avenue, Kansas Avenue)

From your experience, which names do you think are the most common for baseline streets - either from the list above, or any others you might happen to notice? And has anyone collected any statistics regarding the relative frequency of those names?

[Rothman]

Made me look up Salt Lake City's, since I can never keep track of the Temple Streets, Main and State.

What's interesting is that despite having North, West and South Temple Streets, with Main being "East Temple," you only have 1st South.  State is 1st East.  Then you don't have 1st North or 1st West, as the next blocks start with 2nds.

Still the easiest place in the country to find an address...

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Unity Avenue/Unity Street in some places as a rebuttal of sorts to "Division St".

[Flint1979]

In Saginaw on the west side for N-S it's Court Street, on the east side it's Lapeer Street.
For E-W the line is the Saginaw River.

In Flint, for N-S it's Court Street, for E-W it's Martin Luther King (formerly Detroit Street) north of downtown, Saginaw Street downtown and south of downtown.

In Detroit, E-W is Woodward Avenue south of McNichols, John R. north of McNichols. Don't ask where the N-S border is because very few streets in Detroit have N-S on them.

[Flint1979]

Chicago is easy. State Street is the line between E-W and Madison Street is the line between N-S.

[pderocco]

Duh. You forgot "Baseline".

San Bernardino County, CA has streets called Base Line Ave, Base Line St, Baseline Ave, and Baseline St along (you guessed it) the San Bernardino Baseline. It shows up as far east as Twentynine Palms.

The Willamette Stone is a marker in Portland, OR, and its baseline is called Baseline St in Hillsboro, Cornelius, and Forest Grove.

[tigerwings]

In Saginaw on the west side for N-S it's Court Street, on the east side it's Lapeer Street.
For E-W the line is the Saginaw River.

In Flint, for N-S it's Court Street, for E-W it's Martin Luther King (formerly Detroit Street) north of downtown, Saginaw Street downtown and south of downtown.

In Detroit, E-W is Woodward Avenue south of McNichols, John R. north of McNichols. Don't ask where the N-S border is because very few streets in Detroit have N-S on them.

Cherry Hill Road is the N-S line until it ends in Dearborn at Brady St, then the Rouge River to the Detroit River.

In Toledo, Hill St of the N-S, the Maumee river is the E-W

In Findlay and Arlington, OH, Main St is the E-W, and Main Cross St is N-S.

[Bickendan]

I like how Portland and Gresham both have Division St... and put the baseline on Burnside and Powell, respectively. (For Portland, at least, because Burnside runs on Oregon and Washington's 0 town and range baseline grid.)

[ilpt4u]

I have noticed Walnut Street in some Southern IL towns as the "baseline"  but not sure how widespread that would be elsewhere

[roadman65]

In The Bronx, I'm surprised that Jerome Avenue is the baseline over the main N-S Boulevard know as The Grand Concourse.

[Flint1979]

In Saginaw on the west side for N-S it's Court Street, on the east side it's Lapeer Street.
For E-W the line is the Saginaw River.

In Flint, for N-S it's Court Street, for E-W it's Martin Luther King (formerly Detroit Street) north of downtown, Saginaw Street downtown and south of downtown.

In Detroit, E-W is Woodward Avenue south of McNichols, John R. north of McNichols. Don't ask where the N-S border is because very few streets in Detroit have N-S on them.

Cherry Hill Road is the N-S line until it ends in Dearborn at Brady St, then the Rouge River to the Detroit River.

In Toledo, Hill St of the N-S, the Maumee river is the E-W

In Findlay and Arlington, OH, Main St is the E-W, and Main Cross St is N-S.

Cherry Hill might be in the western suburbs but it never enters Detroit and the Rouge River is basically the city limits.

[Evan_Th]

In Seattle, the east-west baseline is Meridian Avenue, until you get into downtown where it's Western Avenue.

The north-south baseline is Yesler Way, and then across the lake in Bellevue it's the more typical Main Street.

[michravera]

All right, here's something I was just thinking about: among all the roads that act as baselines for whatever street grid they're in (that is to say, they divide "North" and "South" addresses or "East" and "West" addresses), which names are the most common? I'll take a guess as to what might be some top contenders:

Main Street
Center Street/Central Avenue
Division Street
High Street
State Street
Broadway
Market Street
Broad Street
Meridian Street
First Street/First Avenue, in cities with numbered streets (especially in ones where the first block from the baseline is 100, not 00)
Railroad Street (many towns were built with the tracks right down the middle)
Bridge Street (for towns built along a river, it stands to reason that the street that crosses the bridge would be the one that divides the town into halves)
Washington Street/Washington Avenue
A Street/Avenue A, in towns with a series of lettered streets
Streets named for the town itself, or for the state in which it is located (e.g. Michigan Avenue, Colorado Avenue, Kansas Avenue)

From your experience, which names do you think are the most common for baseline streets - either from the list above, or any others you might happen to notice? And has anyone collected any statistics regarding the relative frequency of those names?

Sacramento uses "Front Street".

[zzcarp]

The metro Denver grid uses Broadway as the N-S axis and Ellsworth Avenue as the E-W axis. While Broadway is a major street in much of the town, Ellsworth is never more than a minor street where it exists.

[Henry]

In Los Angeles, it's 1st Street for the N-S divider (as expected, because nothing under 100 is ever used) and Main Street for the E-W divider (once again, as expected). So two streets in the OP's list can be checked off here.

[pderocco]

I like how Portland and Gresham both have Division St... and put the baseline on Burnside and Powell, respectively. (For Portland, at least, because Burnside runs on Oregon and Washington's 0 town and range baseline grid.)

Ironically, Burnside is #2 on the grid of alphabet streets, with a short Ankeny to the south, and Couch, Davis, etc. to the north.

[Bickendan]

I like how Portland and Gresham both have Division St... and put the baseline on Burnside and Powell, respectively. (For Portland, at least, because Burnside runs on Oregon and Washington's 0 town and range baseline grid.)

Ironically, Burnside is #2 on the grid of alphabet streets, with a short Ankeny to the south, and Couch, Davis, etc. to the north.

It gets even better: On the east side, Ankeny is 100 south, with Ash, Pine, and Oak being 200, 300, and 400 south.
On the west side, Ankeny is 50 south. Ash, Pine, and Oak are 100, 200, and 300. And the westside is where the full alphabet is utilized, not the east side. Kinda.

Nicolai (NW Portland grid pivot point) 2500 Brazee
Reed (Z) 2400 Sacramento
York (Y) 2300 Thompson
Roosevelt (X) 2200 -- (Eugene St doesn't appear until 82nd Ave!)
Wilson (W) 2100 Tillamook
Vaughn (V) 2000 San Rafael
Upshur (U) 1900 Hancock
Thurman (T) 1800 Schuyler
Savier (S) 1700 Broadway
Raleigh (R) 1600 Weidler
Quimby (Q) 1500 Halsey
Pettygrove (P) 1400 Clackamas
Overton (O) 1300 Wasco
Northrup (N) 1200 Multnomah
Marshall (M) 1100 Holladay
Lovejoy (L) 1000 Hassalo
Kearney (K) 900 Pacific
Johnson (J) 800 Oregon
700 Irving (I) (Name matchpoint) 700
600 Hoyt (H) 600
500 Glisan (G) 500
400 Flanders (F) 400
300 Everett (E) 300
200 Davis (D) 200
100 Couch (C) 100
0 Burnside (B) 0
50 Ankeny (A) 100
100 Ash 200
200 Pine 300
300 Oak 400
400 Harvey Milk - Stark 500
500 Washington 600
600 Alder 700
700 Morrison 800
--- Belmont 900
800 Yamhill 1000
900 Taylor 1100
1000 Salmon 1200
1100 Main 1300
1200 Madison 1400
1300 Columbia ----
1400 Jefferson ----
Clay 1500 Hawthorne
Market 1600 Clay
Mill 1700 Market
Montgomery 1800 Mill
1850 Harrison ----
Hall 1900 Stephens
1950 College ----
Jackson 2000 Harrison
2100 Lincoln 2100
2200 Grant 2200
2300 Sherman 2300
2400 Caruthers 2400
Sheridan 2500 Division
Names do not match across the river past this point, though Powell (meandering 3500, from 3100 to 4600) does cross as the Ross Island Bridge

[zachary_amaryllis]

The metro Denver grid uses Broadway as the N-S axis and Ellsworth Avenue as the E-W axis. While Broadway is a major street in much of the town, Ellsworth is never more than a minor street where it exists.

I like the alphabetical arrangement as one heads east.

Fort Collins, it's Mountain Ave, and College for the zero point (actually, the 100 point).

[US 89]

Tallahassee uses Adams St as the N/S axis and Park St as the E/W one in the downtown area. This often confuses new residents, who think the axes are the decidedly much bigger roads very close by: Tennessee St/US 90 two blocks north of Park, and especially Monroe St/US 27 a block east of Adams. At least Tennessee visually passes a bit north of the downtown core, but Monroe goes right through it.

What gets fun is when you get away from the downtown area and the grid breaks down. To the west, Park ends at the FSU campus, but the axis picks up again on the other side as W Pensacola St, even though Pensacola exists three blocks south of Park downtown (and the two used to connect). To the north, Adams dies and Monroe shifts way to the west, so the axis jumps east to Meridian Rd - which is in line with Meridian St downtown, four blocks east of Adams. Both are named because they’re on the Tallahassee Meridian, the PLSS meridian for Florida surveys.

[elsmere241]

Wilmington has Market Street north/south.  East-west is Lancaster Avenue, MLK Blvd, and East Front Street, but they're 100 north/0 south.

Most towns in Utah (the larger cities are the exceptions) use Main Street and Center Street.  That includes places like Sandy that once had their own grid but switched to their county's grid.

[7/8]

Kitchener, ON uses King St and Queen St and I would've thought those would be common in Canada, but I'm not seeing many examples. King St is a baseline in nearby Waterloo and Preston, and Queen St is a baseline in Brampton.

[wriddle082]

Nashville has numbered avenues on the Downtown (west) side of the Cumberland River starting with 1st Avenue South or North, and numbered streets on the east side of the river starting with North or South 1st St.  Broadway and West End Ave serve as the North and South divider on the west side of the river, and Main St. and Woodland St. serve as the North and South divider on the east side of the river.  The highest numbered Avenue is 63rd (which is 63rd Ave N only; highest S is 33rd Ave S), and the highest numbered Street *should* 20th (N and S 20th St both exist, but they're discontinuous), but not far from 63rd Ave N on the other side of Briley Pkwy there exists rogue 23rd and 24th Streets (no N or S).

[epzik8]

Baltimore has a four-lane divided Broadway and a Washington Street four blocks to the east of it, running from Fells Point past Johns Hopkins to just past North Avenue. Neither of them are baselines, although they cross the city's north-south baseline, Baltimore Street, and Washington Street turns into the Alameda.

[Streetman]

Duh. You forgot "Baseline".

San Bernardino County, CA has streets called Base Line Ave, Base Line St, Baseline Ave, and Baseline St along (you guessed it) the San Bernardino Baseline. It shows up as far east as Twentynine Palms.

The Willamette Stone is a marker in Portland, OR, and its baseline is called Baseline St in Hillsboro, Cornelius, and Forest Grove.

Also a Baseline Road in Boulder, CO:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0001689,-105.2341669,17z

[cwf1701]

Duh. You forgot "Baseline".

San Bernardino County, CA has streets called Base Line Ave, Base Line St, Baseline Ave, and Baseline St along (you guessed it) the San Bernardino Baseline. It shows up as far east as Twentynine Palms.

The Willamette Stone is a marker in Portland, OR, and its baseline is called Baseline St in Hillsboro, Cornelius, and Forest Grove.

Also a Baseline Road in Boulder, CO:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0001689,-105.2341669,17z

And 8 Mile Road in Detroit was once called Baseline Rd.