Ask Brent – Memphis Street Names
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Dear Brent -Is it my imagination or does every street in Memphis go by at least three different names? If so, why is that?-Misdirected
Dear Misdirected -Oh no, it’s not your imagination. There is no mistaking the fact that our city is blessed with an unparalleled wealth of street names. In investigating this question I even discovered one thoroughfare that in the course of a fifteen-minute drive switched titles from Interstate 40 to Sam Cooper Blvd, only to convert a few miles later to Broad Ave, before transforming at last into a lovely city park.
The credit for this abundance goes to the Memphis Brainstorming Association, a loosely knit group of bohemians and city planners, whose all-night free association sessions were so productive that they ended up generating one name for every 7.23 miles of Memphis roadway.
The MBA were so proud of their collection of names that they decided it would be a shame not to use them all, thus resulting in the generous allotment of avenue identification that most Memphians take for granted.
Not all urban centers are so fortunate. San Diego, for example, is operating at such a street-name deficit that at last count, no less than 26 separate streets have to share the name “Camino Real.”
In these tough times, with foreclosures and budget shortfalls making news across the nation, it’s good to know that when it comes to roadway designations, Memphis is still operating at a surplus.
If you have questions about Memphis burning into your psyche, please address them to: askbrent@memphisconnect.com
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May 20, 2009 am31 11:41 am
The directionally challenged have an even harder time with all these streets!
May 21, 2009 am31 12:57 pm
And don’t foget that they are all written on little signs in a font too small to be read by anyone over 45 years old.
John O.
May 22, 2009 am31 9:19 pm
Ashbrook – But it makes it feel like there’s so many more streets to get lost upon.
jeolmstead -I think that falls under the jurisdiction of the Memphis Motor Optometry Organization and their new program No Bifocal Left Behind.
June 1, 2009 am31 10:05 am
My favorite example of the “logic” of stret names is the corner of East Parkway, Summer Ave, North Trezevant, and North Parkway. Two streets, four names, and lots of fun.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=trezevant+memphis&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=9fsjSrqeIsOktgffwrXYBg&ll=35.150618,-89.981375&spn=0.007772,0.013733&z=16
June 10, 2009 am31 4:03 pm
Even though there are so many street names, I can’t help but wonder why we have, say, three Colonials. If I say I live on Colonial, someone can assume nothing because they are all over the place and in random order. Maybe that is a good thing. Maybe people don’t want to be found or are trying to throw you off by living on a street that is divided up incoherently among the city. I think I just discovered a coup.
June 11, 2009 am31 6:56 pm
Johnny – I think that particular part of the map is where the MBA dumped out all the leftover names they couldn’t get rid of elsewhere.
Lindsey – It could be a coup, or it could be a conspiracy by guerrilla educators to demonstrate the definition of “colonial” by colonizing it all over the city.