For several years I've been researching the origin of the names of the more than 700 streets in my hometown of Hamden, CT. Naming methods fall into several categories widely used elsewhere: names of landowners and developers, municipal, state, and national government officials, flora and fauna, natural features (Mountain Road), things that were bulldozed to build the street (Orchard Court), names the developer thought would be attractive (Misty Meadow Lane). A method that happens repeatedly in subdivisions throughout town is a group of streets named for places in another state. I wonder how common this is elsewhere.
The best example is a subdivision with six streets originally named for tiny towns in several Maine counties: Edgecomb, Wayne, Hudson, Leeds, Lovell, and Sebec (also Sebec Lake). The developer, Everett C. Wells, was born in Maine.
Two adjacent subdivisions by the same developer have streets named Lansdowne, Swarthmore, Spring Garden, Haverford, and Ardmore, all places in or near Philadelphia. Streets named Briarcliff, Glenham, Melrose, and Pelham, all places near the Hudson River, are near a street originally named Hudson. Another twist is a group of three connected streets originally named Dorrance, Westminster, and Weybosset, which are also three connected streets in downtown Providence. I haven't found a connection between the developers and the locations in these cases, but I suspect it's not just a coincidence.
I've seen groups of streets named for colleges in other cities, and my town has a variation on that: Academy Hill subdivision, with streets named Andover, Choate, Deerfield, Exeter, and Hotchkiss, all New England prep schools.
So again I'd like to know if this type of street naming is used elsewhere.
The southeastern corner of Seabrook NH has streets named after towns on the Merrimack River, including both in-state (NH) and out-of-state (MA) locations.
English placenames are popular.
For example, see this subdivision in Sturgis, MI, with names of English counties, Buckingham and Nottingham:
https://goo.gl/maps/p6tqvtU9WR73mrHe6
And then look on the east side of Lakeview (the arterial) for some fun weirdness.
Many of the streets in downtown Covington, LA (seat of St. Tammany Parish) have names from New England -- Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rutland, Boston, and Columbia. Not sure why -- the city was founded in the early 1810s, maybe that has something to do with it.
There is an area on the far east edge of Carbondale, IL that is sometimes locally known as "Little California" due to the street names:
Check out the blocks in this area: https://maps.app.goo.gl/11cGxbnDW6rNWvXx9?g_st=ic
Anaheim, Sacramento, Modesto, Pasadena, Ventura, Burbank, etc
Quote from: GaryV on September 08, 2023, 06:51:08 PM
English placenames are popular.
For example, see this subdivision in Sturgis, MI, with names of English counties, Buckingham and Nottingham:
https://goo.gl/maps/p6tqvtU9WR73mrHe6
And then look on the east side of Lakeview (the arterial) for some fun weirdness.
The latter reminds me of Lancelot Way and Guenevere Court in my town.
There are probably a whole bunch of streets named for the next town they go to where that town so happens to be in another state. In Tallahassee, we have Old Bainbridge Rd and Thomasville Rd, both named for the cities they go towards that happen to be in Georgia. Likewise, Bainbridge has a Tallahassee Highway.
Quote from: US 89 on September 09, 2023, 12:56:49 AM
There are probably a whole bunch of streets named for the next town they go to where that town so happens to be in another state. In Tallahassee, we have Old Bainbridge add and Thomasville Rd, both named for the cities they go towards that happen to be in Georgia. Likewise, Bainbridge has a Tallahassee Highway.
Several stretches of US-1 in CT are signed "Boston Post Road".
"New York Avenue" is a super popular street name in NJ. There are probably dozens of New York Aves in the state.
The one I know about is that in New Hampton, Iowa, there is a Milwaukee Street. It's next to the old Milwaukee Road railroad which is now CP. Charles City and Spencer each have one, too.
Looking up Chicago Street and Rock Island Street in Iowa, there's a fair number of towns with one or the other, presumably because of a former railroad connection.
Much of US 12 in Michigan is called Chicago Road, which makes sense because it eventually goes there.
There is also a Chicago Road in Warren MI that doesn't have any logical road connections to the city.
US 119 north of Morgantown, WV is named Point Marion Road for Point Marion, PA. Across the state line in PA, it's known as Morgantown Road. There's also an Old Morgantown Road near Friendsville, MD which was part of the route to Morgantown before Youghiogheny River Lake was built and cut it in two.
Milwaukee Avenue (Chicago to Gurnee, IL)
Colorado Blvd (Glendale to Pasadena, CA)
The New England Thruway (Westchester Co., NY) - yes this one may be out of date
Boston Post Road (US1 CT)
Quote from: 1 on September 08, 2023, 03:50:15 PM
The southeastern corner of Seabrook NH has streets named after towns on the Merrimack River, including both in-state (NH) and out-of-state (MA) locations.
Note they skipped my town despite having 2 miles of riverbank.
Toledo OH have a Detroit Av (a former route of US-25).
Los Angeles has Vermont and New Hampshire Avenues.
Quote from: cwf1701 on September 13, 2023, 05:30:27 PM
Toledo OH have a Detroit Av (a former route of US-25).
And there's a Dix-Toledo Rd in the downriver Detroit suburbs - I believe it was also a part of US-25.
Also Milwaukee near I-94 in Detroit.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on September 13, 2023, 06:01:56 PM
Los Angeles has Vermont and New Hampshire Avenues.
And Washington Blvd, too.
Quote from: GaryV on September 10, 2023, 06:49:29 AM
Much of US 12 in Michigan is called Chicago Road, which makes sense because it eventually goes there.
There is also a Chicago Road in Warren MI that doesn't have any logical road connections to the city.
There's also Boston Boulevard and Chicago Boulevard in Detroit.
In Tulsa most of the north-south streets are named for cities throughout the country in alphabetical order.
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A number of the north-south streets in Lubbock, Texas west of University Avenue are named after eastern cities with one street name to each letter- Akron, Boston, Canton, Detroit, Elgin, Flint, Gary, Hartford, etc.
Quote from: US 89 on September 09, 2023, 12:56:49 AM
There are probably a whole bunch of streets named for the next town they go to where that town so happens to be in another state. In Tallahassee, we have Old Bainbridge Rd and Thomasville Rd, both named for the cities they go towards that happen to be in Georgia. Likewise, Bainbridge has a Tallahassee Highway.
Along the same lines, US 202 south of West Chester (PA) and north of Delaware state line has road signs that say "Wilmington Pike".
Business US 13 north of Wilmington (DE), which becomes US 13 about two miles south of PA state line -- that road is called "Philadelphia Pike".
Calumet City, IL, has a Michigan City (IN) Road
Elkhart, IN, has a Toledo (OH) Road, Edwardsburg (MI) Road and Cassopolis (MI) Street.
Bremen, IN, has a Baltimore (MD) Street
Several N/S streets in downtown Sheffield, AL, are named after various major cities/state capitals around the US.
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.7613456,-87.699109,17z?entry=ttu
Chicago St. near downtown Green Bay. https://maps.app.goo.gl/zy5suSoMmr977LE49
Green Bay Rd. in NE Illinois. https://maps.app.goo.gl/tkq5sU1vUqWTT1XBA
Chicago Avenue and Portland Ave are main N-S arterials in Minneapolis with the latter also in Richfield and Bloomington.
There are various streets named after Lowell and Haverhill in southern New Hampshire.
Cherry Hill, New Jersey has a subdivision named after cities in Florida, some more famous than others. Ormond, Miami, Tampa, Daytona, and Deland avenues. The subdivision next to it is named after states: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, Georgia, New York, and Pennsylvania avenues. Another one nearby is named after random universities, only one of which is in New Jersey: Syracuse (NY), Colgate (NY), Rutgers (NJ), Bucknell (PA), Dartmouth (NH), Clemson (SC), and Purdue (IN) drives, roads, and places.