I found myself launching into one of my characteristic diatribes about the origins and nature of street names while relaxing with friends yesterday. Then today I notice this blog post about an LA Times profile of the man who’s job it is to approve new street names in Riverside County, California, the fastest-growing county in the country. Apparently it’s all he can do to prevent duplicate names too close together and ensure cul-de-sacs are honestly named.
Ann Arbor blogger and acquaintance of mine Larry Kestenbaum has a great page on the history of street naming on his website, where he suggests a book that’s on my to-read list for DC, George Washington Never Slept Here: The History of Street Names in Washington, D.C.. (Which appears rare after a couple failed web searches.)
Back in April I posted some thoughts about place names in general: “A Few Thoughts on Place Names“
> My posts on Obama
Public Participation in Urban Planning Month
- Introduction
- Part 1: Urban Planning and E-Government
- Part 2: A Brief History of Public Participation in Urban Planning
- Part 3: Participation Theory
- Part 4: The Internet as a Participation Tool
- Conclusions
- Sidebars: Government as Data Source, Software for e-Government, more
My ULI Posts
What I'm Reading
Latest Entries
- Report Finds Public Participation Improves Policy
- What Neighborhoods Will Be The Next Hot Spots?
- Examining the Redlands Dam
- Tolls More Equitable Than Sales Tax For Funding Freeways
- Shared Vans Already Here … and Illegal
- Green Gas?
- The Economics of Redevelopment
- District Bike Sharing Launches
- Subprime Mortgages and Race
- The Equity of Housing Tax Benefits
Jun 21st, 2006 at 2:50 pm
As a former librarian at the D.C. historical society, I can tell you that George Washington Never Slept Here can be skipped - it’s got quite a few errors in it, and the author didn’t
cite her sources, so it’s not even a good jumping off point for further research.
Her entry on Benning Road is a good example of the problems w/the book - she claims (w/no evidence) that it’s named after Georgia state justice Henry Louis Benning, rather its actual namesake, William Benning (1771-1831), an early D.C. landowner whose estate fronted onto the Road that now bears his name.
Unfortunately, there’s no good book on D.C. street name origins available at the moment -
Regards,
Ryan
Jun 21st, 2006 at 6:25 pm
Thanks for posting this information, Ryan, I won’t keep trying to track down the book in this case.
Jul 3rd, 2006 at 9:41 am
I second Ryan’s comments. I’m puzzled how Alotta conjured up some of her guesses. I’m pretty sure she never visted Washingtoniana or the Historical Society.
Matthew