Pike Street Runs Into a Lake: The Man Hired to Untangle Seattle's Eight-Named Streets

In accordance with a resolution passed by the city council some time ago, City Engineer Thomson is getting ready to compile a number of ordinances obliterating, as far as possible, duplicate street names. This piece of work is probably one of the most important as well as the most difficult that has ever been placed in the hands of the city engineer. Mr. Thomson spends days studying maps, and when he goes to sleep he dreams about them. It is said that no city on the Pacific coast has such a tangled-up system of street names as Seattle, and Mr. Thomson said yesterday that, while he was devoting much time to the particular work assigned him by the council, he had no idea as to when he would be able to entirely straighten out the tangle.

It is Mr. Thomson's intention to properly name the streets in one portion of the city and then ask the council to pass an ordinance confirming what he has done. Then he will devote his time to another part of the city and will keep the work up until the city has at least an intelligent system of street names. He is open to receive suggestions from residents on streets which have duplicate names.

"I have caused to be prepared a list of duplicate street names," said Mr. Thomson, "and the following little extract from it will give you an idea of the present system: We have three Adams streets, two Alders, three Ashes, two Batteries, three Bays, two Beacons, two Bismarcks, two Blaines, two Boylstons, two Broadways, three Californias, two Cartals, two Cascades, two Cases, five Cedars, two Charles, two Chesters, three Chestnuts, two Choates, three Clays, three Columbias, four Crawfords, two Days, two Dearborns, three Decaturs, two Divisions, four Easts, two Duwamishes, two Elizabeths, four Elliotts, four Euclids, three Everetts, three Oaks, two Sixths, and four Browns.

"I find that the labor of cancelling duplicates is really a small portion of my work. I have discovered that in many places the same street within a length of one mile will have quite a number of different names. For instance, Warren street in North Seattle rejoices in the following names: first it is known as Warren street, second as Jacobs avenue, third as Nye street, fourth as Onsurn street, fifth as Second street, and sixth as Woodland avenue. There is a plat north of all this, but I forget the name they give that. Warren street's nearest neighbor, Poplar street, also has its share of names. First it is called Poplar street, second Montgomery avenue, third Kearny street, fourth George street, fifth Orange street, sixth Campus street, seventh Sunset place, and eighth Anrud street.

"Pike street, as it goes eastward, becomes Choate street, and getting tired of Choate takes the name of Blakeley street; then it becomes Choate street again. A little farther on it is known as Johnson avenue, and at last it plunges into Lake Washington under the name of Michigan street. The street which is known as Squire avenue is also known by these names: Wilke street, Twenty-third street, Twenty-second street, Twenty-third street again, then Twenty-second street again, Barn street, Talbot avenue, Whitney avenue, Park Side and 'O' street.

"This awful tangle of names appears to be due to a combination of circumstances. You know there was a time in this Western city when a man could go to bed on a lot at night and wake up in the morning only to find that he was in the midst of a flourishing neighborhood. Owners of real estate would lay out a plat, give each of the half dozen streets or more in it a name and then go off and have it filed. Another man who owned the plat adjoining 'the other fellow's' wouldn't like the names adopted by his neighbor, and when he had his plat filed it contained a lot of new names. Later somebody would move into the neighborhood and buy property. Then their friends would buy alongside of them. They would all talk the matter over and conclude that the name of the street on which they lived was too long, or too short, or wasn't fashionable enough. They would give it a new name, and a rival neighbor a little farther down the street, who didn't like the common word, would call it Lake View or Lexington avenue, or Park Side. There were other people who would come into possession of a plat of land and they would have a number of children. In order that their names would never be gone from the memory of man, the streets in the plat would be named after them."

Mr. Thomson has received many suggestions from the owners of property as to what name they would like to have given their street. Highland avenue seems to be a very popular name, especially among the ladies out on Queen Anne hill. There is a street which has for years had the common name of Bradley street. The ladies along the street didn't like that name; it didn't look well on their visiting cards. They urged Mr. Thomson to change the name to Highland avenue. Mr. Thomson thought that was a nice name, too, and agreed to favor the ladies. Now he has made enemies of all the ladies residing on Jones street in the —— addition, because they grew tired of the common name of Jones street and requested Mr. Thomson to name their street Highland avenue. They want that name and no other. The council says: "Mr. Thomson, do away with duplicate names." Mr. Thomson couldn't very well act contrary to what the council directs, and he can't go back on his promise to the ladies on Bradley street; consequently he makes enemies of the Jones street ladies.