New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-01-10
Is TO STREET NAMES.

II Is not perhaps open to NewYOrk to pass
much criticism on the street nomenclature or
any other city OH the ground of badness and
prosaic quality. Nevertheless. the combination
Of letters and numbers that prevails in Washing
ton as q system OF street names seems to have
an even more uninterestlng and unsuggestlve
effect than that Of the numbered streets and
avenues of this city. If Congress shall vote to
substitute for the alphabet the names of men
prominent in the countrys history, the change
will doubtless he welcome one. The old ar
rangement will be preserved in so far as the
initial letters will he the same as the letters now
in use. so that the practical objections, If there
are any. will be reduced to their lowest terms.
There will still remain the numbered streets, an
everyday convenience, but not contribution
to civic picturesqneness. especially II such mon
strositics as "Fourand-a-halfst." are accepted
as n necessary part Of the scheme. Foreigners
are apt to find the street nomenclature OF Amerl-
can cities among the things Of this country that
lack savor-somethng quite in the same class
as our deficiency in ruins And they do not al
ways appreciate the practical eXcellencles or
the numerical system at their true value 10
Max ORell the citizens of New-York appeared
to be walking the streets with wrinkled brow
and stern expression denoting the mental con-
centratOn required to remember their own ad-
dresses And undoubtedly, If 1t Is easier to find
n numbered street than one with an arbitrary
name 1t Is also more difficult to remember it.
That there Is a rich suggestiveness in street
names will not be denied by those who know
their London and their Paris, their Dickens and
Thackeray and Balzac and Hugo And there is
uao1 70 for hp CT
New York have abundance Of associations with
Interesting bygOnes Of history. There are many
fine old names preserved among them that per-
petuate the memories Of the makers Of New
York, and. indeed, they are frequently as
wrapped up with the local color of the facts OF
history and Of present-day life as those OF any
Old World capitals thoroughfares. Wall-sf.
has as portentOus a sound in the market places
OF the world as Lombard ST.. and Broadway Is
as much entitled to respectful consideration as
Regent-st. or the Strand. Fifth-ave may not
be as indvdualized as Pccadilly, but city that
boasts a Great JOnes-st and Little west
Twelftlist to say nothing OF Bowery. ought
not to be entirely discouraged at It's lack or
individualiZed street names.
New-York may well be content that the pas
sion for changing street names has not In
gcred among her citizens. We have only COM
mendation for such a change as IL proposed Tor
Washington-a sweeping revision that will alter
the whole moral aspect, so TO speak of the clty's
streets and for the better II Is the change or
street names pecemeal, with no large purpose
OF Improvement in view that is objectionable
1t IS often conceived that the character OF
street can be changed with It's name. We do
not believe IT, and the experience of Chatham-st
which has gained no dignity as an extension OF
Park Row, Is confirmation OF this belier. III
is not long since some o. the merchants or the
Bowery wanted its name changed. to improve
It's character and to save 1t from the effects or
popular song which, fortunately, was as
ephemeral as such songs generally are. Or
course that desire was born without hope OF
realization and the picturesque old Dutch name
will never be lost, while the destiny of the thor
oughfare itself will depend on causes that strike
deeper than a name. The tendency to name
changing was once more rife in New-YOrk than
It Is now Fortunately 1t never attained to such
heights of passion as it has In Paris, whose
municipal authorities follow hot In the Footsteps
of modern history In providing new names Tor
old streets; but 1t was sufficiently active to de-
pr,ye us of a number Of picturesque preRevo-
lutIonary names, whose survival would nave
been in many ways Interesting.