To get from downtown to the University Circle area in 1900, Clevelanders wouldn’t be traveling down Chester. And if Tom Hamilton were alive that year and Progressive Field stood where it now stands, he wouldn’t be welcoming fans to a broadcast from the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. Residents heading to the West Side Market wouldn’t be looking for a West 25th St. sign, for that matter.
Because before 1906, tons of streets in Cleveland weren’t named what they are today. Originally coined for famous people, geographic references, and so on, many were scuttled in favor of a numerical street naming system by city council that year, demarcating east and west from Public Square.
Here are what some notable roads were called more than a century ago. Some remnants of the original names can still be found in reference to buildings and cemeteries that remain.
Academy Ave. and Alabama Ave. became West 4th Street Credit: Google MapsBank became West 6th Street Credit: Google MapsBlair became East 3rd Street Credit: Google MapsBond became East 6th St. Credit: Google MapsBrownell became East 14th Street Credit: Google MapsChestnut became Chester Avenue Credit: Google MapsEast Prospect and Sibley became Carnegie Avenue Credit: Google MapsErie became East 9th Street Credit: Google MapsGarden became Central Avenue at East 55th Street Credit: Google MapsHighland became West 117th Street Credit: Google MapsNewburg became Denison Avenue Credit: Google MapsOhio became Central Avenue Credit: Google MapsOregon became Rockwell Avenue Credit: Google MapsPearl became West 25th Street Credit: Google MapsPerry (after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry) became East 22nd Street Credit: Google MapsRiver became West 11th Street Credit: Google MapsSherriff became East 4th Street Credit: Google MapsSouth Water turned into Columbus Road Credit: Google MapsSterling became East 30th Street Credit: Google MapsCredit: Google MapsWillett became Fulton Road Credit: Google MapsYork became West 28th Street Credit: Google MapsLiberty became Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in 1981 Credit: Google MapsJennings became West 14th Street Credit: Google MapsGordon became West 65th Street Credit: Google MapsCredit: Doug Kerr/FlickrCc
