A plan has recently been suggested which would rename the streets in Jefferson after famous past residents east and west, and after Iowa counties north and south. What do you think?
39 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I know the current system of naming north/south streets after trees and east/west streets after presidents is old, and it doesn't explain things like Center Street or Head Street, but toally renaming the entire town would only result in confusion, believe me.
It will never happen. the people who climb those street signs with a flashlight to crawl home from Larry's would become a tangled mess at some dead end gravel road near the tracks, leading to the worst, bloodiest railroad disaster since the great cattle whomping of 1974, which was successfully swept under the rug in those heady days by the people out at the country club. No good can come of this. It is just not well thought out. You will see.
The street-naming error Rick is referring to occurred shortly after Woodrow Wilson died. Jefferson elected to rename a street in his honor, but inadvertently chose Cherry Sreet instead of the more obvious State Street (which was inexplicably not named for a president although it was east/west). Had they correctly renamed State Street as Wilson Street, they then would have had the option of leaving Cherry Street intact, as it was already named after a common tree. They then could have concentrated on Center Street, which, although east/west, is neither a president, nor in the center.
I rather like the name Cherry Street, although I think it was changed to Wilson Avenue for blind attorney E. B. Wilson who donated the Abe Lincoln Statue on the South Side of the Square, rather than President Wilson. It is positive recognition when they name streets after businesses such as American Avenue, National Avenue for National Mfg & Stamping, later Ideal Manufacturing Company, Gallup road for George Gallup. I think they have named a street for the late Doreen Wilbur.
Grauer is a sub division named after Irl Grauer who owned the property and ran a dairy; Russell street was probably named after the same Russell who donated the land for Russell Park. I heard of a restriction that it could not be used for any other purpose. McDuffie Drive was named for Mr. McDuffie, an early land owner, but the sub-division was formed by medical doctor A. J. Jongewaard.
We should have a contest to see how many are named for the late Wayne Rush, developer of sub divisions that Tri-County lumber did through the years. Examples: Rushview Drive, Rushridge Road. Can you think of others?
Braxton - There is a Flack Avenue and a Wilcox Way, both in Jefferson and obviously named after Jefferson folks. I can't find any other references to a "rush", though.
The Lincoln Statue was dedicated in 1918; Cherry Street was renamed as Wilson in 1924. The street may very well have been named after Mr. Wilson, the man who donated the statue, although I am not certain.
Woodrow Wilson, our 28th president, died in 1924 (which was the year the street was renamed). Records are not clear as to the intentions of the street renaming. At any rate, Wilson is certainly not a tree name so the selected street makes no sense. State Street would have been an obvious choice rather than Cherry Street, which I also think is a very good name.
I agree with Diamond Dave for the most part. There are streets in town though that are not tree names or presidents. Some of those are Mahlon St Perry St, Head - might be relate to the "Head Hotel", Reed St, Clark St. etc.
I say give some Jeffersonians some recognition and rename a few of those at least.
Anyone know if head hotel and head street are named after the same guy?
Does anyone know the details (money, length of time for naming rights)for naming the Grade school after Jacques? It appears Jacques is no longer that school's name. Is that something that the Jefferson schools just fell into?
Is it worth considering selling the naming rights to a main artery like Elm Street?
I would pay good money if they let me name any street, building , or alley in Jefferson, as long as it was fastened in a manner so that I wouldn't see it on Ebay.
If the topic here is streets, why don't we talk about why there are so many potholes in Jefferson's city street?
We could ask Marty Bryant. Marty worked for the city of Jefferson briefly back in the 70's, and drove on those streets for many years as well. He also has supervised the laying of thousands of miles of interstate highway.
It looks to me like most of those streets haven't been touched for 30years. Could I be wrong on that?
It would be all out-of-towners spending money for the naming rights. Jefferson residents would view it as a tremendous waste of money. Much like paint.
Concrete roadways are the longest lasting and most stable in northern states that experience a pronounced freeze-thaw cycle. They are also the most expensive, and are unpopular with civil entities with a tight budget, even though a well built concrete mainline will last 30 -40 years. The upfront cost is frightening for those who look at the short term. This is why you have seen no major concrete road construction in Jefferson since the reconstruct of Hiway 4. Asphalt roadways and asphalt overlays of concrete streets are a cheap way to build a new road or repair an older, failing roadway. Asphalt moves with the freeze-thaw cycles, alligatoring or checking over time. These small checks become dislodged in travel lanes by daily traffic, growing over time into one nasty pothole. I have seen potholes that have flattened tires and damaged rims. Pothole repair can be done two ways. The first is too fill the pothole with a hot mix asphalt material and compact it into place with a vibratory roller. This does not work. The second is to fill the pothole with a material called "cold patch", which is what you see city crews doing everywhere. This does not work even worse. Ordinary street traffic will tear it out in a manner of hours, but everyone saw the dog and pony show. Both of the above repairs will eventually result in the pothole growing larger. The only way to fix a pothole is by full depth sawing & removal, followed by correct placement of new HMA(hot mix asphalt) or PCC(portland cement concrete) patchwork. This, again, is expensive. I said the expensive word. do I need to say any more?
Diamond Dave- Seems I heard at one point Jaques was going to donate a slug of money for that elementary school which was named for him. Not sure if the well went dry on him or what, but my understanding is that the money didn't show up, and the school was renamed.
Diamond Dave, Leonard donated $250,000 to the school district for the establishment of the computer lab at the south elementary school. He indicated that he would like to continue to donate periodically for its upgrade but would not commit to that in writing. The was no requirement that the school would be named for him but the district chose to do so he would be "very flattered". He also bought the old pink school lot from the district. Unfortunately he died and his family did share the same affinity for Jefferson as Leonard.
If Wilson St. is named for E.B. Wilson as Braxton mentioned, who donated the statue of Lincoln near the courthouse, we should consider naming a street for Margaret May Peters (please advise if spelling, name or the following details are in any way incorrect) who I believe bequested large amounts to the Greene Co. Medical Center, the Rec Center and St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
I know a 50-year-old attorney who has lived in Jefferson nearly their entire life, who tells me they never bothered to learn the street names in town and still don't know them.
Judging by that attitude, it probably makes no difference if you name streets in Jefferson or not. At least unless you work for the post office.
I hadn't realized that so many streets in Jefferson were already named after local people. What we should do now is name the most famous resident from each street and rename the street after them.
For instance, Grimmel Road becomes Allensworth Road. Russell Street becomes either Oatts Street or Shriver Street. We could get some debates going here.
So this guy bought the old "pink school lot. What are his plans with it? It couldn't possibly be worth more than $10,000. Any ideas what one should do with that property?
There are no longer any elm trees along elm street - dutch elm disease took care of that. That means the name of that street should be wide open - lets hear suggestions. I'm thinking maybe "Doug Duke Drive".
39 comments:
I know the current system of naming north/south streets after trees and east/west streets after presidents is old, and it doesn't explain things like Center Street or Head Street, but toally renaming the entire town would only result in confusion, believe me.
Why was Cherry Street (a tree name) renamed Wilson Street (a president's name) even though it is a north/south street?
Did Jeffersonians at that time get confused in their directions?
It will never happen. the people who climb those street signs with a flashlight to crawl home from Larry's would become a tangled mess at some dead end gravel road near the tracks, leading to the worst, bloodiest railroad disaster since the great cattle whomping of 1974, which was successfully swept under the rug in those heady days by the people out at the country club. No good can come of this. It is just not well thought out. You will see.
The street-naming error Rick is referring to occurred shortly after Woodrow Wilson died. Jefferson elected to rename a street in his honor, but inadvertently chose Cherry Sreet instead of the more obvious State Street (which was inexplicably not named for a president although it was east/west). Had they correctly renamed State Street as Wilson Street, they then would have had the option of leaving Cherry Street intact, as it was already named after a common tree. They then could have concentrated on Center Street, which, although east/west, is neither a president, nor in the center.
We already have Gallup Road. Just what other famous Jeffersonians are they considering?
We might end up with a new road or two after construction of the overpass. Maybe a frontage road for Floyd Mahanay.
I liked the "Wyckoff Avenue" photo. Otherwise, I agree with the first post.
I rather like the name Cherry Street, although I think it was changed to Wilson Avenue for blind attorney E. B. Wilson who donated the Abe Lincoln Statue on the South Side of the Square, rather than President Wilson. It is positive recognition when they name streets after businesses such as American Avenue, National Avenue for National Mfg & Stamping, later Ideal Manufacturing Company, Gallup road for George Gallup. I think they have named a street for the late Doreen Wilbur.
Grauer is a sub division named after Irl Grauer who owned the property and ran a dairy; Russell street was probably named after the same Russell who donated the land for Russell Park. I heard of a restriction that it could not be used for any other purpose.
McDuffie Drive was named for Mr. McDuffie, an early land owner, but the sub-division was formed by medical doctor A. J. Jongewaard.
We should have a contest to see how many are named for the late Wayne Rush, developer of sub divisions that Tri-County lumber did through the years. Examples: Rushview Drive, Rushridge Road. Can you think of others?
Braxton Hicks
Braxton - There is a Flack Avenue and a Wilcox Way, both in Jefferson and obviously named after Jefferson folks. I can't find any other references to a "rush", though.
The Lincoln Statue was dedicated in 1918; Cherry Street was renamed as Wilson in 1924. The street may very well have been named after Mr. Wilson, the man who donated the statue, although I am not certain.
Woodrow Wilson, our 28th president, died in 1924 (which was the year the street was renamed). Records are not clear as to the intentions of the street renaming. At any rate, Wilson is certainly not a tree name so the selected street makes no sense. State Street would have been an obvious choice rather than Cherry Street, which I also think is a very good name.
I agree with Diamond Dave for the most part. There are streets in town though that are not tree names or presidents. Some of those are Mahlon St Perry St, Head - might be relate to the "Head Hotel", Reed St, Clark St. etc.
I say give some Jeffersonians some recognition and rename a few of those at least.
Anyone know if head hotel and head street are named after the same guy?
Ms. Trailer, that sounds to me like a question for Braxton Hicks.
Does anyone know the details (money, length of time for naming rights)for naming the Grade school after Jacques? It appears Jacques is no longer that school's name. Is that something that the Jefferson schools just fell into?
Is it worth considering selling the naming rights to a main artery like Elm Street?
Jefferson could make tons of $$$ by selling naming rights to buildings as well as streets. We should open this up for suggestions.
I would pay good money if they let me name any street, building , or alley in Jefferson, as long as it was fastened in a manner so that I wouldn't see it on Ebay.
If the topic here is streets, why don't we talk about why there are so many potholes in Jefferson's city street?
We could ask Marty Bryant. Marty worked for the city of Jefferson briefly back in the 70's, and drove on those streets for many years as well. He also has supervised the laying of thousands of miles of interstate highway.
It looks to me like most of those streets haven't been touched for 30years. Could I be wrong on that?
It would be all out-of-towners spending money for the naming rights. Jefferson residents would view it as a tremendous waste of money. Much like paint.
Concrete roadways are the longest lasting and most stable in northern states that experience a pronounced freeze-thaw cycle. They are also the most expensive, and are unpopular with civil entities with a tight budget, even though a well built concrete mainline will last 30 -40 years. The upfront cost is frightening for those who look at the short term. This is why you have seen no major concrete road construction in Jefferson since the reconstruct of Hiway 4. Asphalt roadways and asphalt overlays of concrete streets are a cheap way to build a new road or repair an older, failing roadway. Asphalt moves with the freeze-thaw cycles, alligatoring or checking over time. These small checks become dislodged in travel lanes by daily traffic, growing over time into one nasty pothole. I have seen potholes that have flattened tires and damaged rims. Pothole repair can be done two ways. The first is too fill the pothole with a hot mix asphalt material and compact it into place with a vibratory roller. This does not work. The second is to fill the pothole with a material called "cold patch", which is what you see city crews doing everywhere. This does not work even worse. Ordinary street traffic will tear it out in a manner of hours, but everyone saw the dog and pony show. Both of the above repairs will eventually result in the pothole growing larger. The only way to fix a pothole is by full depth sawing & removal, followed by correct placement of new HMA(hot mix asphalt) or PCC(portland cement concrete) patchwork. This, again, is expensive. I said the expensive word. do I need to say any more?
Diamond Dave-
Seems I heard at one point Jaques was going to donate a slug of money for that elementary school which was named for him. Not sure if the well went dry on him or what, but my understanding is that the money didn't show up, and the school was renamed.
Diamond Dave, Leonard donated $250,000 to the school district for the establishment of the computer lab at the south elementary school. He indicated that he would like to continue to donate periodically for its upgrade but would not commit to that in writing. The was no requirement that the school would be named for him but the district chose to do so he would be "very flattered". He also bought the old pink school lot from the district. Unfortunately he died and his family did share the same affinity for Jefferson as Leonard.
Thanks for all of the information about Jacques.
If Wilson St. is named for E.B. Wilson as Braxton mentioned, who donated the statue of Lincoln near the courthouse, we should consider naming a street for Margaret May Peters (please advise if spelling, name or the following details are in any way incorrect) who I believe bequested large amounts to the Greene Co. Medical Center, the Rec Center and St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
I don't know what famous past residents you'd be referring to. I can't think of anyone I'd name a street after.
Christmas and Easter streets.
Rodeo Bob Blvd.
Shotgun Chase.
Carl's cul de sac.
Redfern Road.
Gladys Square.
And the ultimate:
Earl Lane.
I know a 50-year-old attorney who has lived in Jefferson nearly their entire life, who tells me they never bothered to learn the street names in town and still don't know them.
Judging by that attitude, it probably makes no difference if you name streets in Jefferson or not. At least unless you work for the post office.
How about Gallup Square?
I hadn't realized that so many streets in Jefferson were already named after local people. What we should do now is name the most famous resident from each street and rename the street after them.
For instance, Grimmel Road becomes Allensworth Road. Russell Street becomes either Oatts Street or Shriver Street. We could get some debates going here.
I'm just trying to think of the most famous person who ever lived on Gallup Road ...
Since Doreen Wilber lived on Lincolnway, does it become Wilberway?
Braxton - How about Mount Rushmore?
Let's try to keep it clean here. There may be kids listening.
How about all the places in town named after Rich Russell? You have Russell Park, Russell Street, etc.?
So this guy bought the old "pink school lot. What are his plans with it? It couldn't possibly be worth more than $10,000. Any ideas what one should do with that property?
There are no longer any elm trees along elm street - dutch elm disease took care of that. That means the name of that street should be wide open - lets hear suggestions. I'm thinking maybe "Doug Duke Drive".
About Russell St. and Park- Shouldn't there be a statue in the middle of Russell Park to commemorate Rich?
There is just such a statue. Its that naked guy with wings riding the bicycle.
That's close, but that's Bertrand Russell, and it's in Cypress Gardens, FL.
I always thought it was in Merle Hay Mall.
I have located a Milligan Circle in Jefferson, which was almost certainly named after a developer.
Head Street and Head Hotel were both named for Jefferson's first mayor, Mr. Mahlon Head (so was Mahlon Street).
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