Like I said, I'd *heard* that. This is an interestiing piece: http://www.newberry.org/genealogy/news/default.asp?id=176&action=single
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

While that Straight Dope does explain *who* Mr. Damen was, it doesn't get into the *why* of the matter. I was told many years back it was one of a many German-sounding streets renamed due to anti-German sentiment in the days leading up to the first World War. Schiller and Goethe, for example, remained, because those men were pacifists.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings