Towns with downtown streets that parallel railroads

[Roadgeek Adam]

One of the favorite cases for me to photograph is West Front Street in Hancock, NY, which runs along the current-day NS Southern Tier Line (the ex-Erie Railroad Delaware Division). You get to see a MP 163 sign, pass the former station site, which unfortunately its much of nothing.

[empirestate]

There are two distinct conversations going on here: one which answers the subject line at face value, and another that pertains to the question posed in the original post.

As for alignments at angles to the grid, I think you can find almost as many examples out West as you care to search for. I'm wondering if there are any notable examples where the streets were built to the township-and-range grid in clear defiance of the railroad's alignment?

[NE2]

I'm wondering if there are any notable examples where the streets were built to the township-and-range grid in clear defiance of the railroad's alignment?

Probably every city laid out by the Mormons, which all used the same basic grid plan.

[usends]

Not all downtown areas that have diagonal streets were laid out that way because of a railroad.  Denver comes to mind: it was laid out before the first RR came to town.  The streets are diagonal because the Platte River runs diagonally in the area of its confluence with Cherry Creek.  This might be the case with some of the previously-cited examples as well (that the diagonal pattern arose because of local terrain, not railroads).

Either way, it's worth considering the question: why are the RRs diagonal?  In some cases, it can be attributed to terrain.  But in other cases, it's simply the direction-of-travel.  For example, Portales NM has an interesting diagonal section.  It's situated on the Llano Estacado (one of the flattest regions on Earth), so there's no topographical reason for the diagonal.  Instead, it must be attributed to the direction-of-travel through the area.

[The High Plains Traveler]

Not all downtown areas that have diagonal streets were laid out that way because of a railroad.  Denver comes to mind: it was laid out before the first RR came to town.  The streets are diagonal because the Platte River runs diagonally in the area of its confluence with Cherry Creek.  This might be the case with some of the previously-cited examples as well (that the diagonal pattern arose because of local terrain, not railroads).

Either way, it's worth considering the question: why are the RRs diagonal?  In some cases, it can be attributed to terrain.  But in other cases, it's simply the direction-of-travel.  For example, Portales NM has an interesting diagonal section.  It's situated on the Llano Estacado (one of the flattest regions on Earth), so there's no topographical reason for the diagonal.  Instead, it must be attributed to the direction-of-travel through the area.

You also have to ask the question, did the railroad connect the pre-existing towns, or did the towns grow up along the railroad? I used Rocky Ford, CO as an example to show the original point of the thread because it has a central district laid out along the railroad at about a 30 degree angle, and on its edges the streets revert to follow the T-R-S grid. But, the railroad was built down the Arkansas River Valley and in fact follows it well into Kansas. So, the direction of the railroad was somewhat determined by the river. There are many cities that have a street grid that follows a river in its central district and then reverts to the standard grid. I've lived in a few (Pueblo, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Albuquerque).

In the East (or Texas, for that matter), where there is no underlying U.S. Land Survey grid, there would be less reason for streets outside the original core of a city laid out on a railroad or a river to revert to a grid pattern.

[realjd]

Tampa, FL
Jacksonville, FL
Fort Wayne, IN

I don't know the history of those for sure but they all have crooked downtown grids that align with railroad lines. Tampa even has one downtown street with the freight train tracks running right down the middle.

[Brandon]

During the Railroad Age, many towns, especially in the central part of the country, formed along railroads.  The railroads often did not run due north-south or east-west, so the early streets paralleled the railroad and the cross streets crossed at right angles.  When these cities grew, it was decided to build the roads along section lines, making most major streets due north-south or due east-west, terrain permitting.  You can easily tell the old parts of town by looking at the map, because the streets will have curves in them where the old grid meets the new grid.  Here are two good examples of this phenomenon:

Tulsa, Oklahoma:
http://goo.gl/maps/jfcjx

Mena, Arkansas
http://goo.gl/maps/BOUg5

Where else does this happen?  Are there any examples in the old part of the country, the eastern seaboard that was settled before railroads moved in?

A fair number of cities and villages in Illinois.  Some no longer have a railroad; you can tell as they are askew to the PLSS grid.  Other cities and villages merely follow the PLSS grid with the rails cutting across it.

With the railroad:
Kankakee
Bradley

Rails cut across the PLSS grid, sometimes follow PLSS grid:
Joliet
Chicago

Some cities and villages were set up along the river instead of the rails or the PLSS grid:
Naperville
Aurora

[Brandon]

I'm wondering if there are any notable examples where the streets were built to the township-and-range grid in clear defiance of the railroad's alignment?

Quite a few followed the PLSS grid instead of the railroad alignment.  Chicago is a very notable example, as are several of its satellite cities such as Joliet.  Others, such as Aurora and Naperville followed a grid based on the river, not on the PLSS or the railroad.  See my post above for the Google Map links.

[NE2]

I'm wondering if there are any notable examples where the streets were built to the township-and-range grid in clear defiance of the railroad's alignment?

Quite a few followed the PLSS grid instead of the railroad alignment.

The question is whether any were laid out after the railroad established a definite axis (hence Chicago and Joliet don't count, since they existed before the railroads).

[Brandon]

I'm wondering if there are any notable examples where the streets were built to the township-and-range grid in clear defiance of the railroad's alignment?

Quite a few followed the PLSS grid instead of the railroad alignment.

The question is whether any were laid out after the railroad established a definite axis (hence Chicago and Joliet don't count, since they existed before the railroads).

Normal might count, having been laid out concurrent with the railroad.

[NE2]

Normal might count, having been laid out concurrent with the railroad.

Actually it was laid out after the railroad, since the Illinois Central (now a trail) was already there, though that means it still qualifies. Presumably they decided the IC was close enough to north-south that it wouldn't interfere with the grid (and it doesn't - it never crosses Linden or Broadway). The grid may have also been laid out as a continuation of Bloomington's.

[realjd]

I'm wondering if there are any notable examples where the streets were built to the township-and-range grid in clear defiance of the railroad's alignment?

Quite a few followed the PLSS grid instead of the railroad alignment.

The question is whether any were laid out after the railroad established a definite axis (hence Chicago and Joliet don't count, since they existed before the railroads).

Lafayette, IN maybe? The predominant rail line has since been realigned to run next to the river but Erie Street runs parallel to the old railroad at a full diagonal to the street grid. On Google Maps (map view) you can still follow the old railroad ROW by looking at the property boundary lines. A part of the railroad is still there on the NE side of town but it hasn't been used for years. They just didn't bother to remove it.

[cpzilliacus]

A fairly long section of Virginia Avenue, S.W. and Virginia Avenue, S.E. in the District of Columbia runs over, under or next to tracks belonging to CSX.

From west to east, this segment of Virginia Avenue, S.W. starts here, Comes to and end here, resumes again here at 2nd Street, S.E. (with the tracks below, in the Virginia Avenue Tunnel), Virginia Avenue ends at 9th Street, S.E. here with the tracks still in the tunnel, and the tunnel ends at a portal roughly under I-695 here.

CSX wants to rebuild and widen the tunnel so it can accommodate two tracks and double-stack containers.  This being D.C., there's been a fair amount of opposition stirred-up (recent story here).

CSX has a project Web site here.

[Occidental Tourist]

Southern California:  Riverside, Colton, Victorville, Mojave, San Fernando, Newhall, Saticoy, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine, San Juan Capistrano, Brea, La Verne, Pomona, Redlands (street car), Baldwin Park, West Covina (to the extent it adopted Baldwin Park's railroad influenced grid), Alhambra, San Marino, South Gate, Downey, Norwalk, Compton, Culver City, Bell, Montebello, Temple City, El Monte, Burbank . . .

That's not an exhaustive list.  It doesn't include cities where the street plan was oriented at right angles to the railroad, but because the railroad was laid out first based on the PLSS, the city looks like it was laid out based on the PLSS (that's kind of splitting hairs, though).

[theline]

Tampa, FL
Jacksonville, FL
Fort Wayne, IN

I don't know the history of those for sure but they all have crooked downtown grids that align with railroad lines. Tampa even has one downtown street with the freight train tracks running right down the middle.

Not so for Fort Wayne, at least. It's a very old city, by Midwestern standards. The first downtown streets were laid out long before the railroads hit town. Both the downtown streets and the railroad were aligned to conform with the general direction of the St. Mary's River.

If you follow the Norfolk Southern railroad WNW from Fort Wayne toward Gary, you can see many small towns laid out parallel to the track, including Coesse, Hamlet, Hanna, Wanatah, and Wheeler. Clearly the main reason these towns were established was the presence of the railroad.

[DTComposer]

Southern California:  Riverside, Colton, Victorville, Mojave, San Fernando, Newhall, Saticoy, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine, San Juan Capistrano, Brea, La Verne, Pomona, Redlands (street car), Baldwin Park, West Covina (to the extent it adopted Baldwin Park's railroad influenced grid), Alhambra, San Marino, South Gate, Downey, Norwalk, Compton, Culver City, Bell, Montebello, Temple City, El Monte, Burbank . . .

That's not an exhaustive list.  It doesn't include cities where the street plan was oriented at right angles to the railroad, but because the railroad was laid out first based on the PLSS, the city looks like it was laid out based on the PLSS (that's kind of splitting hairs, though).

Some of these I would argue:
-San Juan Capistrano's main street (Camino Capistrano) is part of the historic El Camino Real and pre-dates the railroad. Further, there's no adjacent grid that developed oriented to the PLSS.

-I believe Irvine's layout is based on the rancho boundaries (again, pre-dating the railroad), with Newport Boulevard (now mostly CA-55) being the northwest boundary.

-While Huntington Drive did have rail running along it, the city of San Marino has no downtown grid.

-Newhall parallels the railroad, but there's no adjacent grid of any sort.

All that said, Burbank is interesting, having the downtown grid, the Magnolia Park grid just to the west, then the PLSS grid in the north and west (continuing into North Hollywood). I wonder how many other towns of this size have three distinct grids?

[sandiaman]

In Las Vegas,  NM, the railroad  follows  the  original  Santa Fe Trail. When the  city was laid out in a traditional grid,  the railroad  cuts a diagonal line  thru  the city.  Then Grand Avenue ( US 85)  followed  the  railroad diagonal and  finally I- 25  followed  that same diagonal  path ignoring the grid of  the city.

[Sanctimoniously]

In Monroe, Louisiana, the railroad runs more or less through the street grid (with no parallel streets) for a few blocks before turning east at Desiard Street. The only major street of note that actually parallels the railroad is Millhaven Road (LA 594), but that's well away from the downtown area. Across the river in West Monroe, the railroad also runs through the street grid with only a few inconsequential residential streets paralleling it.

[Occidental Tourist]

Southern California:  Riverside, Colton, Victorville, Mojave, San Fernando, Newhall, Saticoy, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine, San Juan Capistrano, Brea, La Verne, Pomona, Redlands (street car), Baldwin Park, West Covina (to the extent it adopted Baldwin Park's railroad influenced grid), Alhambra, San Marino, South Gate, Downey, Norwalk, Compton, Culver City, Bell, Montebello, Temple City, El Monte, Burbank . . .

That's not an exhaustive list.  It doesn't include cities where the street plan was oriented at right angles to the railroad, but because the railroad was laid out first based on the PLSS, the city looks like it was laid out based on the PLSS (that's kind of splitting hairs, though).

Some of these I would argue:
-San Juan Capistrano's main street (Camino Capistrano) is part of the historic El Camino Real and pre-dates the railroad. Further, there's no adjacent grid that developed oriented to the PLSS.

-I believe Irvine's layout is based on the rancho boundaries (again, pre-dating the railroad), with Newport Boulevard (now mostly CA-55) being the northwest boundary.

-While Huntington Drive did have rail running along it, the city of San Marino has no downtown grid.

-Newhall parallels the railroad, but there's no adjacent grid of any sort.

With Newhall, I think you need to compare the town grid with the Melody (Mongoram) Ranch grid to the east.  That ranch was subdivided and sold off beginning in the 60s, but the orientation had been laid out long before then.

I believe you are right on the others.

All that said, Burbank is interesting, having the downtown grid, the Magnolia Park grid just to the west, then the PLSS grid in the north and west (continuing into North Hollywood). I wonder how many other towns of this size have three distinct grids?

West Covina, maybe?  The railroad grid, the PLSS, and whatever grid that sliver of former County land on the other side of the San Jose Hills was based on.

[hotdogPi]

Both Fitchburg MA (2A, 12, 31) and Shirley MA (Front St.) have their main road parallel a railroad.

Fitchburg also has a river paralleling the railroad, but that's not important right now.

(I'm not sure which came first in these towns, the road or the railroad.)

[NE2]

(I'm not sure which came first in these towns, the road or the railroad.)

If it's in New England, the road wins more than Charlie Sheen.

[sandwalk]

Prime example in northern Illinois:

Harvard
http://goo.gl/maps/nHWEx

[golden eagle]

A now-abandoned railroad was built right between two lanes of traffic on Commerce Street in downtown Jackson. Or, maybe Commerce Street was built around the railroad.

[Bruce]

Sort of off-topic, but this five-way intersection and at-grade rail crossing in Burlington, WA is pretty interesting.