ST. LOUIS PARK STREET NAMES
Bob Reiss, from the Re-Echo, Fall 2002

Ever wonder how Park streets were named?  St. Louis Park streets were named in an ordinance passed in August 1933.  Before that, street names were pretty much of a mess.  "Bedlam" is what Carroll Hurd called it when he pushed for the appointment of a committee to work on new street names for the thoroughfares of the Park. 

Prior to the adoption of this ordinance, there were five separate Summit Avenues, which had a way of confusing delivery men and visitors.  There was no continuity to street names... no plan to help a groping visitor find his destination.  Streets were interrupted by swamps, railroads and other obstacles.  With the new street naming ordinance, Glenhurst, Joppa, Kipling and others continued on after being interrupted.

Streets were usually named by the developers who platted the subdivisions or by people who lived on them... after wives, children, sweethearts, etc.  Beloved ladies, immortalized by Hazel, Romona, Fern, and Fayette all passed into oblivion with the ordinance.  Fortunately, so did names such as J, I, and M.  Borrowed names such as Quincy, Pleasant, Logan, Irving, Garfield, and Groveland went into the scrap heap.  Some strange and wonderful names such as Pudwana, Wildrose and Arcadia went down the drain was well.  Vera Cruz (stolen from Robbinsdale) was also stricken from the map.

The 1933 street naming committee included the Mayor, Kleve J. Flakne, Carroll Hurd, and Edward Ludwig.  Mr. Hurd did most of the work. 

It was a "Herculean task" taking several months.  From the outset, the committee decided that street names should be alphabetical and arranged in a sequence that was easily memorized.  The first alphabet starting from France Ave. was already in existence.  Some streets had counterparts in the area south of Excelsior Blvd. and the names were applied to the same northern streets.  Ottawa, Raleigh and Salem had been named previously.  Webster, Xenwood, and Yosemite were added.

Quentin Ave. in the first alphabet replaced Quincy as the committee members discarded all names similar to Minneapolis and St. Paul streets.  Wisdom of this foresight was evidenced when the Park Post Office became part of the Minneapolis system.  Thus, Quentin Ave. residents escaped waiting for days while their mail was delivered and redelivered from Quincy Ave. NE in Minneapolis.

The second alphabet was planned to bear names of states and Canadian Provinces.  That is how Brunswick sneaked into the lineup.  "E" proved to be a stumbling block... no state or province began with that letter, so Edgewood was improvised.

The third alphabet was designated as historic or patriotic, so names such as Cavell, Boone, Independence and Decatur were used.  Edith Cavell was a historic nurse during the first World War.  All kids know about Dan'l Boone, and Decatur probably was taken from Fort Decatur.  Hillsboro in the third alphabet was previously named so planners left it as it was.  The last street in the Village was Jordan or County Road 18 (now Minn. Highway 169). 

They next began lining up the East-West streets with Minneapolis in an orderly sequence of numbered streets running from W. 14th Street near the northern limits to W. 43-1/2 near the southern border. 

There were also little tag end streets to be named.  Broadway was changed to Walker Street, which, along with Hamilton and Goodrich Streets, honored Park's founding fathers.  Names of several short streets near the southern border of the Village were not changed because parts of them were also in Edina.  They include Mackey, Brook, and Coolidge. 

The confusion and lack of system caused by haphazard designations made by early pioneers was erased with one large ordinance by citizens with imagination who found appropriate labels for the Village streets.

Jake Werner, one time Mayor of St. Louis Park, observed "We really didn't need street names in the early days, everybody knows everybody."

This article is based upon an article that appeared in the St. Louis Park Dispatch, date unknown.



 

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.