New Britain herald., 1917-01-30
COMMUNICATED.
OUR CITY STREETS.

Attention Called to Some Discrepan-
cies in the Manner and Mode of
Naming Thoroughfares-Of Interest
to All,
To the Editor of the Herald
The 1916 city directory contains a
list of 299 street names. Bond Is re-
peated as If there were two streets Of
that name when in fact there is only
one. The names Of two streets re-
Gently changed, are listed under both
names while Stanley street is also
listed under North and South with
these four repetitions omitted the
list gives 295 street names. To this
number may be added about 20 streets,
shown on the map but not included
in the list Of streets, thereby making
a total of about 315 streets.
The 1915 directory map is the same
as that for 1915 and as 1t was COPY
righted in 1912, we may presume that
the 1916 directory map Is four years
behind time. 1t shows 86 pocket
streets, but how many Of these are
accepted streets does not appear. In
some special cases, as for example,
Court street, they may be tolerated
although they should not have the
city's approval. We presume that
every man has a right to make and
open any kind of street he pleases
on his own land The map shows that
our streets were never laid out. Like
Topsy they just grew up.
The sole object Of giving names to
streets is convenience and utility in
aiding the general public to find them
readily and that consideration should
always be the prime factor in giving
names to streets or in changing the
names before given. Duplicates in
whole or in part should be avoided,
as far as they can be, as they tend to
confusion. Our list of streets gives
RoSoury Road as running westerly.
The map gives another Roxbury Road
to be changed.
AS to duplicate names. people In
general make no nice distinctions be-
tween streets, avenues, roads and
drives AS their terms are generally
used there is no difference whatever
in their meaning. Such aff1xes are
the street. especially as 1t is not always
easy to remember which afflx is en-
ployed thereby tending to confusion.
For example we should not tolerate
Clark street and Clark Avenue Dix
street and Dix Avenue, Hartford
Avenue and Hartford Road, Lake
street and Lake Boulevard, Seym our
street and Seymour avenue, because
they tend to confusion Af1xes which
clearly indicate something less than,
or different from a regular street, are
more distinctive and may be per-
mitted. AS for example Franklin
Square, Lake, Court, Park Place, etc.
The name Lake Boulevard Is OBJ
jectionable as 1t Is liable to be con-
fused with Lake street and further.
because it is unnecessarily long and
wholly superfluous. The word
Boulevard alone is sufficiently dis
tinctive and 1t would be better to
follow Hartford and call it the Bou1e-
ward. The prefix Lake Is just as clearly
superfluous as would be the prefix
George for Washington street.
Public convenience and necessity
that no one continuous street
should ever have different names APP
piled to It's opposite ends, excepting
as such ends constitute lateral
branches of a main thoroughfare. as
for example, Roberts and Ash streets
from the opposite sides Of South Main
or Stratford Road and Euclid Avenue
from Stanley street. Although two
different names in such cases are par
donable, it would be better to have
only one. But when street leading
from a main road, like West Main,
and wholly to one side OF the same,
has one name for one end and another
f1~ Is md ura ho
been guilty Of negligence II nothing
more in permitting such condition,
thereby INJECTING upon the public an
unnecessary Inconvenience. Fortu-
nately such condition exists In only
two places, viz. Jerome Avenue and
Hunter Road and Forest and Liberty
streets. There are but few inhabi-
tants on the former, and hence there
Is ne serious inconvenience at present.
A Mr.. Jerome formerly lived near one
section Of this street and a Mr.. Hunter
at another section and naturally their
names fell on the street with but little
consideration. Both Of these sections
are probably parts Of an original road,
opened all at one time.
The Liberty-Forest street section
were opened at different times and are
so thickly populated as to be of much
more Importance and to cause ser1-
Gus inconvenience. In fact Forest
street is nothing and it was a great
mistake for the city to have accepted
that extension with a name different
from that which the city had pre-
vious1y adopted for the Liberty street
section and all extensions thereof. Tt
was a great mistake when the matter
was before the city, a few years since,
that it did not apply the customary
rule in such cases, and require the
name Liberty to cover the entire
street. 1t is said that the residents
could not agree upon a name. That
being the case, the city should have
decided the matter for them.
OF course, interested parties should