The daily sentinel., 1910-06-10
HOW OUR CITIES
HAPPENED TO BE NAMED

A painstaking expert in nomencla-
/ ture has placed at our disposal Sc
/ ries of articles in which he explains
/ how some of our most important cit
\ les got the names they bear. We
| have not space for all of these inter-
/ esting stories, but few of them are
! given here for the information of our
readers and also for the purpose of
STRENGTHENING out certain kinks in
/ American history.
/ NEW YORK
! The manner in which the metrop-
/ oils of the western hemisphere got
/ its name is a matter that has been
| dealt with by many able chroniclers.
The most trustworthy and at the same
| time the most plausible story is as
/ follows:
| After the Dutch had ceased to be
dominant in the city, a prominent
member of one of the English fam
iiies that had gained influence in the
/ rapidly growing young community
/ one day traded oxen with neighbo~.
and ON his way home stopped in
I front of tavern somewhere on what
! is now lower Broadway. AS he did
/ SO several of the men who were in
| the habit of frequenting the place
assembled in the-front yard and one
a of them cried out:
Hello Those ain't the oxen you
used to have,"
mo" replied the owner of the cat
( tie I've got n new yoke"
/ New Yoke" at once became COM
mon phrase and was soon adopted as
/ the name of the city. 1t was an easy
step from that to New Yawk.' the
present name of the place.
CHICAGO.
The naming of Chicago came about
| in a curious way. Shortly after the
building OF the first few huts near
| the banks of the river one of John
| Kinzie's boys caught two crows-a
male and a female-which he tanned
and taught to speak the English Ian
guage. The Kinzies had at that time
a young Indian maiden, who did plain
sewing and other household duties.
| and she became very fond of the pet
crows. One day the female crow
| managed somehow to get out OF the
| cage in which the birds were kept,
| and at once flew away. The Indian
| girl CHANGED to see the crow make its
escape, and. greatly excited. she
rushed into the dining room, where
the various members of the family
were waiting for the finger bowls.
| w dFlHE utT al uIs up anu ubN H. to IL
they had been wings, the Young
squaw cried:
She cav goi'
She cawgo was at once adopted as
the name of the town. and remains
SO to this day, the spelling only hav-
ing been changed.
TOLEDO.
When Ohio was still an unexplored
wilderness a little village was estab-
lished near the mouth of the Maumee
river, and ii CHANGED that, while the
place was as yet unnamed, n Thanks
giving ball was arranged, one Silas
Hooking having been chosen to lead
the grand march. All the beauty and
the chivalry of the young settlement
gathered for the affair; but Mr.. Hook
ing, while hitching his horse in front
of the hotel in which the ball was to
be given, permitted the animal to
step on one of his big toes. In terri
BILE pain, he limped into the ballroom
just as the band was striking up the
soldiers chorus from Faust" the
lady who was to assist him exclaim-
ing:
You are Just in time. You and |
are to lead, you know"
With a groan he pointed to his toe
and replied:
ITO lead? OH"
His remark was taken up as a by
word and soon became the name of
the village.-F'rom the alleged FUNNY
man in Chicago Record Herald