1906: When Salt Lake City renamed more than 100 streets

                                Salt Lake City, as seen from the University of Utah. 

SALT Lake City made some sweeping changes in street names back in 1906, to avoid confusion and foster consistency.

“There are nearly 100 duplicatines (sic) or repetitions of names of different streets in this city,” the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper of June 24, 1905 reported. “This is a reproach for a city of this size and would be in any of less than five times the population of Salt Lake.”

The story also mentioned that the Salt Lake City fire chief believes he cannot provide adequate fire protection given the name duplications and hence confusion over location.

Mail carriers and merchants have also complained about the repetition of names, the Telegram story stated.

It noted that there were three different “A” streets at the time; three Garfield Avenues; a pair of Central Avenues; two Curtis Streets; two Davis Streets; four Lincoln Avenues; two Grand Avenues; two Garfield Avenues; and two Glen Street; three Park Avenues; three Poplar Streets; two Union Avenues; and five Washington Streets, to list a sampling of the problem.

More than 18 months later, in November of 1906, the Salt Lake City Council was ready to vote on street name changes. According to the Telegram of Nov. 16, 1906, Salt Lake City Engineer Kelsey had reviewed the street names of the entire City.

“All streets less than 132 feet wide and running east and west are called avenues,” the Telegram reported. “All duplicate names of streets are abolished.”

 Here’s a sampling of some of the sweeping name changes:

Logan Avenue was renamed Fourth Avenue.

Fort Douglas Avenue was retitled Third Avenue.

Military Avenue became Second Avenue.

West Street switched to Virginia Street.

Young Street was renamed Harrison Avenue.

Market Street became Postoffice Place.

Commercial Avenue was retitled Orpheum Avenue.

Grape Street became Almond Street.

Strawberry Street was now Wall Street.

Lynn Street switch to Sixth West.

May Street was renamed Eleventh North.

Kimball Street was retitled Third North Street.

Twelfth South and California Street became one in California Avenue.

Jordon Avenue became Eleventh West Street.

More history:

-Baseball was not yet a common or household word back in the Utah of the year 1872. A Deseret News story of June 5 that year simply referred to “a game similar to cricket.” This referenced a fatal accident that happened in Tooele on May 28 of that year when Thomas E. Tanner, 13, was killed when a fellow played accidentally struck him in the head with a bat.

The story also noted that this was one of six recent deaths in Tooele, include three by scarlet fever and two by other diseases.

       The causeway leading from the northeast edge of Antelope Island, to the mainland.

-“Stay away from Antelope Island” was a July 5, 1968 headline in the Davis County Clipper. Although there was a dirt road causeway to the Great Salt Lake Isle in place – and 2,000 acres of leased state land there – State Officials were urging the public to stay away, because there were not adequate facilities there yet.

-The Clipper of Nov. 8 that year noted that a control gate had been added at the entrance to the causeway to help deter vandalism on the Island. The gate was only to be open during daylight hours. Facilities at Bridger Bay Beach were then being constructed.

-The Clipper of Jan. 10, 1969 reported that the official grand opening of Antelope Island to the public would be Jan. 15 of that year. Water had to still be hauled to the Isle then, as no planned wells had yet been dug.

-For more than 25 years, until the mid-1990s, the causeway to Antelope Island had a stormy history, with numerous washouts and rebuilding down at higher elevations.