General Discussion Forgotten Chicago Forum
Feel free to discuss anything related to the website here.
NORTH SIDE/SOUTH SIDE STREET NAMES/NUMBERS
Posted by:
G.Schilling
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: July 21, 2009 09:35PM
OK, so we're all at lunch today and someone asks why north side streets have names, whereas south side streets have numbers. Did they run out of names? All joking aside, does anyone have an answer on this?
Re: NORTH SIDE/SOUTH SIDE STREET NAMES/NUMBERS
Posted by:
Mr Downtown
(---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: July 27, 2009 01:10AM
Unfortunately, the history of Chicago's numbered streets is rather murky. It appears that the streets in the South Division were renamed with numbers sometime in the 1850s. Andreas lists (pp. 194-195) the old names and the new ones, but the only date he mentions, rather obliquely, is 1857. The Flower map of 1861 shows numbered streets between 12th and 22nd, but still shows the names south of that.
The rationale was probably simple logic. In a fast-growing city. the New York system of numbered streets made a lot of sense—especially when combined with the "Philadelphia system" of having house numbers match the street numbers. The South Side was where the most growth was taking place, but west of Pulaski the north-south streets of the West Side were also numbered as avenues until 1908. The numbered avenues survive in Cicero and Berwyn.
The rationale was probably simple logic. In a fast-growing city. the New York system of numbered streets made a lot of sense—especially when combined with the "Philadelphia system" of having house numbers match the street numbers. The South Side was where the most growth was taking place, but west of Pulaski the north-south streets of the West Side were also numbered as avenues until 1908. The numbered avenues survive in Cicero and Berwyn.
Re: NORTH SIDE/SOUTH SIDE STREET NAMES/NUMBERS
Posted by:
Mikey
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: December 17, 2013 07:51PM
Hi. Sorry to be so late with this post, but I'm a newbie still catching up on my reading. ;-)
If it's any help, the J. H. Colton 1855 Chicago map shows all east-west streets (it only goes as far as 2100 south) as NAMES rather than numbers; in fact, only Twelfth Street is "numbered", if you could call it that.
Mikey
If it's any help, the J. H. Colton 1855 Chicago map shows all east-west streets (it only goes as far as 2100 south) as NAMES rather than numbers; in fact, only Twelfth Street is "numbered", if you could call it that.
Mikey
Re: NORTH SIDE/SOUTH SIDE STREET NAMES/NUMBERS
Posted by:
Dunning1
(---.dhs.gov)
Date: December 18, 2013 11:58AM
I've asked this question before and no one really seemed to know the answer, but I have always wondered why the 1700 S. block disappears throughout a large part of the city and the western suburbs. There is a 17th street near the Pilsen area, but when you get further west, in Berwyn for example, addresses go directly from 1600 S. to 1800 S., with no 1700 S. block at all.
Re: NORTH SIDE/SOUTH SIDE STREET NAMES/NUMBERS
Posted by:
Mr Downtown
(---.c3-0.drb-ubr1.chi-drb.il.cable.rcn.com)
Date: December 18, 2013 12:49PM
The South Side developed earliest near the lake, in a variety of patterns: some areas with large lots and others with small lots and blocks. When the streets were given numbers in 1861, they simply numbered them in sequence as they were, one number for every street, no matter how close it was to the previous street. That's why the area between 12th and 39th doesn't observe the modern [i]800 numbers to a mile[/i] rule. Twenty years later, standard practice was to create 330- by 660-foot blocks, or eight to the mile in one direction and 16 to the mile in the other. So as areas developed west from the lakefront, there were sometimes fewer streets than available numbers and someone—-the developer or the Superintendent of Maps & Plats—-had to decide which one to omit.
Re: NORTH SIDE/SOUTH SIDE STREET NAMES/NUMBERS
Posted by:
davey7
(---.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net)
Date: December 18, 2013 04:13PM
Hyde Park and Kenwood are a prime example of this - the blocks vary by size and there are short streets interspersed in the regular blocks, as well as missing alleys and variations in sidewalk placement.
It's always been my understanding that there were many adjustments to the street names and numbers, some caused by annexations and others by inconsistencies.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2013 04:14PM by davey7.
It's always been my understanding that there were many adjustments to the street names and numbers, some caused by annexations and others by inconsistencies.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2013 04:14PM by davey7.
Re: NORTH SIDE/SOUTH SIDE STREET NAMES/NUMBERS
Posted by:
the_mogra
(---.hfc.comcastbusiness.net)
Date: April 20, 2015 05:33PM
seek out better modern chicago streetmaps and you'll probably notice in the map legend the full explanation of the major exception to the 8-city-blocks-to-a-mile rule of thumb, which is as follows:
north-south blocks south from madison ave up to 31st st are all shorter than normal, so
from 0S - 1200S (madison to roosevelt) = 12 city blocks but still only one mile
from 1200S - 2200S (roosevelt to cermak) = 10 city blocks but still only one mile
from 2200S - 31st (cermak to 31st) = 9 city blocks but still only one mile
south from 31st st the 8 city blocks to a mile convention returns, thankfully
north-south blocks south from madison ave up to 31st st are all shorter than normal, so
from 0S - 1200S (madison to roosevelt) = 12 city blocks but still only one mile
from 1200S - 2200S (roosevelt to cermak) = 10 city blocks but still only one mile
from 2200S - 31st (cermak to 31st) = 9 city blocks but still only one mile
south from 31st st the 8 city blocks to a mile convention returns, thankfully
Re: NORTH SIDE/SOUTH SIDE STREET NAMES/NUMBERS
Posted by:
tomcat630
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: May 01, 2015 02:46AM
Well, in Phoenix AZ, the west side N/S major routes are numbered Avenues and east side is Streets.
But can still be confusing thinking "is it on 7th St or 7th Ave?", only a mile apart. And they have 1/2 block Courts and Places, but not sure which side of city is which.
There it's 10 blocks a mile, but only in E/W direction!
But can still be confusing thinking "is it on 7th St or 7th Ave?", only a mile apart. And they have 1/2 block Courts and Places, but not sure which side of city is which.
There it's 10 blocks a mile, but only in E/W direction!
