Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-01-15
wnat snail We Can Main Street?

What shall We Call Main Street?
We believe that there is great future
| in store for Main street from end 10 end.
In our Judgment it will ever continue
the principal thoroughfare OF this city
for such business as now holds sway on
IL. The building OF the uptown hotel, oil
course, will give II much additional i'm
portance, and the presence on or close
to it Of the post-ofiice. the banks, the
Chamber OF Commerce building, the
newspaper-oflices, the Capitol and State
Library, the real-estate, insurance, and
other such Offices guarantees it perma-
nent prosperity.
The question quite naturally suggests
itself, Shall we continue to call this great
artery Of commerce Main street? Can
not we find better name for it and II
SO, shouldn't we do it 1t was first
designated as "The Brick Row." we be-
lieve, because OF the unusual circum-
stance of having some brick houses on
it +; but as the early settlers found here
some Of the best brick-clay in the world,
and in great abundance, and as other
brick houses speedily began to arise IN
other directions, that name for the street
had to be abandoned as lacking in dis
Effectiveness, and then the townspeople
began to call il "the main street, and
by that name it has ever since been
known.
Long ago, indeed, the City Council
adopted the letters OF the alphabet as
names for the streets running parallel with
the river, but the people ignored them
contemptuously and the present names
then came into vogue. All of them are
suitable and significant with the e1cep-
ton Of Main street." which is not
wanting in correctness so far as it de-
scribes the street, but has powerful
suggestion of rurality attached to it.
We are no longer village, or a small
town, even. A business community
(Manchester included) to which the CEN
sus men gave population of nearly
100,0 people. and which has since
then considerably exceeded those
figures, has the right to put on grander
airs than TO call one OF its streets the
main street.
Main street is the main street for GER
tain business, but it is not the main
retail street, or the main street for pro-
vision-houses or tobacco-fsctories, or
the main residence street
But what shall the new name be !?
We can't say just now but it should not
be meaningless name. Ii should be q
name suggestive of some thing or some
person historical. Lee street or Lee
avenue would not do, for we already
have Leigh street, and the two names
would nearly always be confounded.
We have two Washington streets, though
the average citizen does not know where
either one is. So, also, we have Jack
son street. What shall we call it We
leave it to the people to say, and shall
be glad to give place to brief communi-
cations on the subject.
We know it has been urged that
to change the name OF Main street
would be to cause a great confusion in
the titles OF property bordering thereon.
There is some. not much, force in this
objection. Other cities have made such
changes without experiencing any great
hardships, and why cannot we ? Think
Of the changes that have been made
from time to time in the great streets OF
Paris. The changing of streets name
there evidently entails no difficulty +; in
deed, we might imagine from tho fire.
quency with which it is done that 1t is
beneficial to the community.
SO, upon the whole, it seems to the
DISPATCH that it is both desirable and
feasible to give Main streets new name
that is to say, If we can fix upon one
that is short, euphonious, and appro-
pirate to the city and to the thorough
fare.