Jim Bailey: Street names change over the years

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July 4, 2009

Anonymous The Herald Bulletin Sat Jul 04, 2009, 06:04 PM EDT

A visitor coming into Anderson looking for Pendleton Avenue would have to do some questioning to find out it no longer carries that name.

That’s because the city’s major southwestern gateway now carries the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard. Many cities have honored the civil rights pioneer by naming a street for him. Pendleton Avenue was evidently so designated because of its link to Pendleton as it becomes Indiana 9.

A similar honor was recently bestowed on longtime Anderson minister Dr. J.T. Menifee, who spearheaded an annual citywide cleanup campaign. The former Louise Street is now Dr. J.T. Menifee Drive.

Trouble is, that case marked the forgetting of Anderson’s more distant past. For whom was Louise Street (old-timers pronounced it lou-EYES) named in the first place? Is the street’s former namesake consigned to forgotten history?

During my teen years, I grew up on East Third Street. That street is no more, at least until one crosses Scatterfield Road to the east.

When the street was redesigned as a boulevard through Anderson University somewhere around two or three decades ago, it was renamed University Boulevard. I always figured that would have been a much classier address than East Third Street.

A century ago East Third Street ended at Union Avenue where East Maplewood Cemetery is located. Early Andersonians would be surprised to learn the intersection is now the junction of University Boulevard and College Drive.

And of course they would be even more surprised that a road even exists along the southern border of the cemetery. The route used to carry rail tracks over which the interurban cars traveled between Anderson and Muncie.

Broadway likewise is a newer designation for the street that continues north from where Jackson Street ends at White River (I don’t recall right now what its original name was).

People used to refer to the street that passes the present Anderson High School as Brown Street Road. That’s because southbound traffic from Brown Street veered down Marine Drive and through a tunnel connecting with the street that now is South Madison Avenue. A newer railroad viaduct connected Madison Avenue with the old Brown Street Road, making it one of the few continuous north-south thoroughfares through the city.

I don’t know if any volumes have been compiled about the origin of Anderson street names. Whence Fletcher? Pearl? Halford? Dewey? Nichol? Sheridan? Sherman? Ruddle? Milton? Wilcon? Henry? Fulton?

We know of some, of course. Vinyard Street was named after an early Anderson family, hence the spelling, which differs from that of a grape arbor. And Lindberg Road was a spelling change from its namesake, Charles A. Lindbergh, who fell into disfavor during World War II because of his antiwar stance.

If more changes are to come, perhaps they could alleviate confusion. There are two Central Avenues, two Park Avenues and a Park Road. Any suggestions?

Jim Bailey’s reflections on Anderson’s past appear on Sunday. His regular column appears on Wednesday. He can be reached by e-mail at jameshenrybailey@earthlink.net.

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