Evening star., 1914-04-05
Purpose in Street Names.


yens. ~ stated that the practical object
In naming streets is to locate residences
and places of business. Now. If this Is
not a correct statement of the question
will Mr.. Garges please state exactly what
is the object in naming streets?
The Commissioners who had charge
of laying out the city in lisl. ana
recommended the present plan, as Mr.
Garges states. We're eVldehtlL aii.lns nm,
All the object above stated. when they
gave numeral designations to sreets
running one way. and came as near 10
The numeral system as they could tnen
think of, by giving letter names 10 tle
streets the other way. because the let
ters of the alphabet have known order
of rotation. But the letters and the
following proper names are toially m
adequate to indicate any exact location.
and as proper names lie north ana south
as well as east and west the names
are. entirely unreliable as lndlcaune 10
cation or direction.
Get us suppose a wireless wave is
caught up bearing the following dis
tress call: Ship Cimcrank disabled;
laundering: longitude 40 degrees so
minutes west. latitude Warner north.
Wouldn't the air get murky around
sea captains who got that message?
And wouldn't that Gimcrank deserve to
sink for not giving some definite iat1-
tude? Now. Warner street lies right
in the heart of this city. but how MANY
could tell stranger how to find 1t:
WHAT Is there ABOUT InlS name. VI any
other proper name. to tell where it is
and whether 1t lies north or west?
To Make It Model City.
Il insist that this will never be the
model city we all want it to be until
every street and house number gives its
exact locality. The simplest way to do
this is to give the east and west high
ways each a number. and all one name.
different from street numbered
streets now run north and SOUTH
"In our own language we have three
names in common use, street avenue
and road. and the minor names, lane,
alley. path, walk and place and court.
The name street is already monopolized
and given numeral titles. running
north and south. If the east and west
Hines were called roads and given numeral
titles the system would be perfect except
ing the diagonal avenues, which must
remain out of any perfect system unless
one similar to the one before suggested is
adopted
LAS to the question Of many names to
one street, if Mr.. Garges will look on a
Rand & McNally map engraved in 1910
he may find nine names given to the
parts of a street lying between q and K
streets But i find that what was then
Sherman, Corcoran, Monroe and Corcoran,
N an open straight line. is now all mark
ed Corcoran street on the lamp posts.
seems to have missed his q, the pres
ent system calls for a name beginning
with @. between q and r streets. Be
tween r and streets aae the following
names Randolph place from 2d to ith
street east: Prospect avenue from ID
street to Lincoln road, Randolph place
again from Lincoln road to I'd street
west: Richardson place from ith street
to New Jersey avenue; French street
from 9th to 10th street west: Riggs street
from 18th to 18th street; Riggs place
from 18th to 18th street; Riggs place
again from New Hampshire avenue to
18th street. and Decatur place from
Florida avenue to Massachusetts avenue
Seven different names. not one of which
gives any Information whether it runs
north or west. Any house number on
Decatur street. according to the present
system" might be anywhere on north
Vine one and half miles long. a
west line two and 4 half miles long;
while according to the plan suggested
ZOO 1I1e road would locate the house
in one and only one, spot, the corner of
present Decatur and 22d street.
Easy for Strangers.
"A whole page Of The Star would not
suffice for a full statement of existing
Irregularities. yet the simple expedient
Of giving every street. but the diagonal
avenues its due numerical title and all
that run east west to have some one
name like road for example would
by the present house numbers locate
every house exactly as TO both its lati-
tude and longitude. Then. in three min
utes. one could explain our street system
TO stranger so that he would never
again have to ask how to locate any
address one could sit still and think
Just where any number on a street car
road would be.
'If Mr.. Garges thinks this plan is not
an Improvement the present hundred
or so street names that do not indicate
any location, will he please state his
standard of estimate? What are streets
named for? II he will state that per
haps some one can suggest a plan to
meet his ideal"