svw (01/08/83)
I read somewhere that the most common street name in America is not Broadway, or Main Street, or Elm or anything, but -- get this -- Second Street. Not First, but Second. Now, I can well believe that sets of numbered streets are very common. But it seems to me that for each set there will be a First and a Second, else why number them? Most, in addition, will have a Third, many a Fourth, some a Fifth, etc. If a numbered street must be the most popular, why isn't it First? Or why aren't First and Second tied exactly? Any ideas? Not afraid to sign my street: Bishop Allen Drive, Cambridge MA
leichter (01/08/83)
I have also heard - I don't know where - that "Second Street" is the most popular street name in the country. The explanation I've come up with is that "First Street" often isn't named that - it's "Main Street" or something like that. I also seem to recall looking this up at one time - damned if I know where - and discovering that, in fact, "Second Street" is NOT the most common name; if I remember right, it's "Main Street". Then again, I'm not at all sure of this either. Anyone have any ideas about where to look this up? I wonder if Guinness lists it? -- Jerry decvax!yale-comix!leichter
bsg (01/08/83)
Well, for what it's worth, the north-south streets in Philadelphia are numbered sequentially from the (delaware) river, with two exceptions. The *first* street, down by the river, is Front Street. Then come 2nd (known locally as "Two Street"), 3rd, 4th,...12th, 13th, Broad, 15th, 16th,... Broad, by the way, is the main North-South artery. City Hall is at the intersection of Broad and Market. So that's one city with a Second Street but no first. Just thought you'd like to know. Billie Goldstein npois!bsg American Bell Neptune NJ
rodolf (01/09/83)
The information on streets is in The Book of Lists (Vol 1, I believe), written by Irving Wallace and associates. They don't list any particular reason for Second to be ahead of First, either, but the reason given by yale-com!leichter seems reasonable. "First" may very well be Main street or something. Rick Lindsley ..!uwvax!rodolf
borman (01/09/83)
Seems to me streets might be numbered "1st, 2nd, ..." or "Main, 2nd, ..." thus there would be more 2nd streets than first streets, and more 2nd streets than Main streets. -Dave Borman ihnp4!stolaf!borman
randy (01/10/83)
Perhaps the 'first' street in many towns is know as main street. Anyway i once heard that the most popular number street was third. !ucf-cs!randy
heliotis (01/10/83)
There is a street in a town somewhere between Somerville & P-Burg, NJ -- perhaps Branchburg, White House, I don't know -- called 42nd Street. There is no 41st or 43rd (or any other numbered street) any where near it! Besides, it is not in a populated area, it's out in the boonies of the farming country. So much for the reason for numbered streets. Jim Heliotis
bentonh (01/10/83)
The city of Portland, Oregon is bisected south to north
by the Willamette river. The avenues (streets generally run
e-w, ave's n-s) counting from the river west are Front, 2nd,
3rd...; and from the river east, Water, 2nd, 3rd...
Portland has two 2nd streets, and no 1st's that I know
of... 'coarse I haven't consulted a map lately, and may be
in error.
Benton Holzwarth
...tektronix!tekid!bentonhwombat (01/11/83)
#R:mitccc:-24500:uicsl:7500004:000:97 uicsl!wombat Jan 10 11:17:00 1983 In the same vein, the most common city name is Franklin. I think 30-some states have a Franklin.
gamiddleton (01/11/83)
According to 'Trivial Pursuit' (a board game, with 6000 trivia questions), the most popular street name is 'Park Street'. -Guy
dwl (01/11/83)
It may be that First Street is often called something else -- like Main or Center -- but every city I've lived in which numbered its streets started with a "Zero Street" named something like Broad or Main. The first block from that was called First. Washington, DC (my home town) is divided into four quadrants. North Capitol Street (which runs North from the US Capitol) divides the Northeast and Northwest quadrants, each of which begin with a First Street, one block East or West of North Capitol. -Dave Levenson -ABI Holmdel
jlw (01/15/83)
On the other hand \all/ states have a Springfield.
bernie (01/18/83)
It would seem to make sense that many "first streets" are called "main street".
However, if only a *few* "first streets" exist, it would be enough to bring
the count of "main streets" below that of "second streets". Given that there
is a "second street" for every "third", but not necessarily a "third" for
every "second", it seems quite plausible that "second street" is the most
common.
--Bernie Roehl
...decvax!watmath!watartswombat (01/24/83)
#R:watcgl:-11000:uicsl:7500006:000:58 uicsl!wombat Jan 24 11:29:00 1983 No, not all states have a Spfld., it just seems that way.
gunsch (01/26/83)
#R:watcgl:-11000:uiucdcs:10600032:000:265
uiucdcs!gunsch Jan 26 14:10:00 1983
In reply to where all the 13th St.s are, Fargo, ND.
As a matter of fact, there is a 13th st in Fargo, but they call it
University. (I'm not sure if it's a St. or an Av..)
signed
-- been there kos (01/27/83)
#R:watcgl:-11000:uiucdcs:10600036:000:246 uiucdcs!kos Jan 26 16:39:00 1983 Main Street is not always a replacement for 1st Street. Where I grew up (Kansas City, MO - NOT North Dakota) Main ran NS, while the numbered streets were EW. Urbana, IL (home of the wunnerful U of I) has a Main Street, but no numbered streets.
peter@baylor.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (08/29/85)
> > How about wierd street names? > Sommerville, MA. really has an "Electric Avenue"! Well, behind the building I'm in right now is a "Starfire Lane". I think it was generated at random by the program real estate developers use to generate "Clearbrook Lane", "Pebbletree Parkway", "Beechnut Road", and so on. I'm sure they didn't expect it. If it was in a better part of town I'd seriously think about moving there just for the address. Anybody got any other nice SF-like street names? Is there a "Star Drive" out there somewhere? -- Peter (Made in Australia) da Silva UUCP: ...!shell!neuro1!{hyd-ptd,baylor,datafac}!peter MCI: PDASILVA; CIS: 70216,1076
dsi@unccvax.UUCP (Dataspan Inc) (09/11/85)
Some of you Wahooos over in Newcombe Hall might know why there is a "Hydraulic Road" in Charlottesville, VA?! Charlotte , N.C. also suffers with "The Plaza". -dya- .
al@psivax.UUCP (Al Schwartz) (09/12/85)
In article <580@baylor.UUCP> peter@baylor.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: >> > How about wierd street names? >> Sommerville, MA. really has an "Electric Avenue"! >Well, behind the building I'm in right now is a "Starfire Lane". I think > >Anybody got any other nice SF-like street names? Is there a "Star Drive" >out there somewhere? Or how about "Warp Drive"? -- Al Schwartz Pacesetter Systems, Inc., Sylmar, CA UUCP: {ttidca|ihnp4|sdcrdcf|quad1|nrcvax|bellcore|logico}!psivax!al ARPA: ttidca!psivax!al@rand-unix.arpa