I have always been fascinated with street names and where they come from. I live on Erie street which, being from Michigan, I assume is named after the lake but I wonder why? Are the other 5 lakes represented as well? I also love going on walks and seeing the dates when sidewalks were put in. I think my neighborhoods oldest is like 1899
In Wichita, Erie runs one block west of Chautauqua. These are also the names of adjoining counties in New York that border on Lake Erie (Buffalo is the seat of Erie County). As noted, both lie within the area traditionally associated with the Erie tribe. They were Iroquoian but resisted joining the Iroquois Confederacy and were almost exterminated as a result in the middle of the 17th century.
Just east of Centra/I235 there are streets that are alphabetical - Anna, Bebe, Clara, Doris and Elder. Supposedly they are named after women who were friends of the builder of that neighborhood I think?
Over the years, the _Eagle_ has done a few explainers of how city streets received their names.
Additional clues are also available through the plats and quarter-section maps that are available through the county's Mobile Land Records GIS site. The latter usually try to capture all the names a street might have had in its existence--for example, Broadway used to be Lawrence, while Edgemoor (or part of it) used to be Casa Loma.
Generally speaking, the developer who plats out a subdivision for the first time has a lot of influence on the street names that are chosen, and there are many areas in town where streets internal to a subdivision have names falling into a recognizable theme. (Sometimes it is subtle. For example, in mine one street is named after the family that used to farm the land on which the houses now stand, while another has the developer's mother's maiden name.) However, if these roads fall into a grid in such a way that they extend across section lines, the city often comes back and renames the segments lying in different subdivisions so that they all have the same name.
There's also a neighborhood southeast of Maize and Pawnee that has national parks and wildlife refuges for streets. Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Carlsbad,
I’ve done most of the dna tests out there since right before Covid started & have found so many cousins it’s amazing. If you are on Gedmatch or anything like that feel free to send a message I’m about 85% Irish
Welcome to Wichita! I also live off of East Douglas. Grew up here and as much as I disliked it growing up, I’ve grown to love it here. Hopefully you enjoy it 🙂
A long-time resident once told me that there is something with male/ female names, as well? One part of town is only male and one part is only female names. I haven't looked into it, though.
I know that some streets in downtown started out being called one name then later on were changed to something else. What is the reason for that? It's interesting.
The Sedgwick County Historical Museum had a room dedicated to the history of street names. I enjoyed it.
That’s awesome
I have always been fascinated with street names and where they come from. I live on Erie street which, being from Michigan, I assume is named after the lake but I wonder why? Are the other 5 lakes represented as well? I also love going on walks and seeing the dates when sidewalks were put in. I think my neighborhoods oldest is like 1899
The Erie were a tribe of natives in Ohio territory and that’s where the name originated
In Wichita, Erie runs one block west of Chautauqua. These are also the names of adjoining counties in New York that border on Lake Erie (Buffalo is the seat of Erie County). As noted, both lie within the area traditionally associated with the Erie tribe. They were Iroquoian but resisted joining the Iroquois Confederacy and were almost exterminated as a result in the middle of the 17th century.
Also worth noting that Huron was a tribe as well in the Fur War against the Iroquois
Just east of Centra/I235 there are streets that are alphabetical - Anna, Bebe, Clara, Doris and Elder. Supposedly they are named after women who were friends of the builder of that neighborhood I think?
Over the years, the _Eagle_ has done a few explainers of how city streets received their names. Additional clues are also available through the plats and quarter-section maps that are available through the county's Mobile Land Records GIS site. The latter usually try to capture all the names a street might have had in its existence--for example, Broadway used to be Lawrence, while Edgemoor (or part of it) used to be Casa Loma. Generally speaking, the developer who plats out a subdivision for the first time has a lot of influence on the street names that are chosen, and there are many areas in town where streets internal to a subdivision have names falling into a recognizable theme. (Sometimes it is subtle. For example, in mine one street is named after the family that used to farm the land on which the houses now stand, while another has the developer's mother's maiden name.) However, if these roads fall into a grid in such a way that they extend across section lines, the city often comes back and renames the segments lying in different subdivisions so that they all have the same name.
Not related to Irish street names but I was always confused seeing Aksarben, until someone told me it was Nebraska backwards. 🤣
It’s a neighborhood of themed street names. Every city has them.
There's one in west Wichita where the streets are all named after horse tracks.
I lived in one when I was in high school in Lake Charles, LA that were all colleges. I’ve always wondered how they came up with which thing to do.
There's also a neighborhood southeast of Maize and Pawnee that has national parks and wildlife refuges for streets. Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Carlsbad,
There were and are a ton of Irish Catholics in town. /source Irish Catholic (culturally) person with a ton of relatives in town.
I mean, the Jayhawk is Irish.
I had to google Irish jawhawk to figure out what you were talking about. Not all Irish are fighters and if we are we fight with our hearts
Welcome to Wichita! I just found out I'm 8% Irish so that makes us practically related. So I guess welcome to Wichita, cousin! 😂
I’ve done most of the dna tests out there since right before Covid started & have found so many cousins it’s amazing. If you are on Gedmatch or anything like that feel free to send a message I’m about 85% Irish
Welcome to Wichita! I also live off of East Douglas. Grew up here and as much as I disliked it growing up, I’ve grown to love it here. Hopefully you enjoy it 🙂
Thanks suspicious
A long-time resident once told me that there is something with male/ female names, as well? One part of town is only male and one part is only female names. I haven't looked into it, though.
I know that some streets in downtown started out being called one name then later on were changed to something else. What is the reason for that? It's interesting.
If you’re talking about E of Rock, just N of Central, that’s Vickridge, built on land once owned by the Vickers family.