Naming Utah’s Non-descript Streets

While Utah’s pragmatic street names clearly cater to the lowest common denominator of human intelligence, they lack a certain degree of creativity and fail to define a sense of place. There seems to be some unwritten pact with the Jeffersonian survey dictating adherence to this unrelenting rationality. Even so, local or not, some just cannot grasp the numerical concept, which leads me to believe that most of us are alphabetically inclined and find more meaning and importance in aptly named places. Therefore, I propose a novel system, one which maintains the numeric designation defining directionality and geographical location, but supplements it with a bit of Utah’s own vibrant and peculiar culture and history.

Certainly, there have been some in roads (no pun intended) toward imbuing our streets with local narrative and local appeal, but they are few and far between. I was pleased with the near immediate designation by the University of Utah of Mario Capecchi Drive, named after the University’s own recent Nobel Laureate. And there are certainly the well known “Temple” streets in downtown Salt Lake, but even these lack a sense of imagination. North Temple, South Temple and West Temple all demarcate the grand boulevards converging at the center place of Joseph Smith’s Zion. East Temple never materialized, instead it acquired the name Main Street, derived from its function as the main commercial spine of the city. Although with the recent fiasco over the LDS Church’s acquisition and construction of the Main Street Plaza, the one block stretch between South and North Temple, it may as well be renamed “Lover’s Lane.”

South Temple in Salt Lake City, was named one of America’s “Ten Best Streets” in 2008 by the APA (American Planning Association). South Temple was at one time called Brigham Boulevard, so named because of Brigham Young’s twin estates, the Lion House and the Beehive House, as well as other lesser known examples, all necessary to support his multiple households. One in particular was the “White House” on South Temple at 119 East South Temple and designed by William Weeks, Young’s preferred architect until Weeks made it clear he didn’t really like Young. While I’m not advocating renaming South Temple, I think at least a block of it should be named Brigham Street, between State and Main Streets. As it stands, there is currently not a street in Salt Lake City named after Brigham Young, an astonishing failure to revere the city’s first and foremost urban planner.

Now, it seems a bit indulgent for Salt Lake to name streets after individual states of the Union, but that is unfortunately the case. There is a Colorado Street, a California Street, Virginia Street, Connecticut Drive, and a Michigan Avenue, to name a few. Seemingly as an afterthought, Utah Street came to be, but is hidden in the Rose Park neighborhood, and peters-out in a small disjointed staccato. Quite frankly, it’s rather embarrassing.

More indulgent behavior is found over in Sugarhouse. Many Ivy League schools appear as street names, perhaps to brag of the residents elitist eastern education. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Cornell are the most apparent. Michigan appears in the vicinity as well, which I mentioned earlier as a state name, but it clearly is some kind of a joke. I never saw ivy in Michigan. Interesting and quaint as they are, they clearly don’t inspire a sense of place unique to Utah or Salt Lake. Early developers and planners clearly suffered from low self-esteem.

As one strolls outside of the city or village centers, as the case may be, there exists a greater variety of naming designations, some good, some not so good. Take for example the Marmalade district just west of the Capitol Hill area in Salt Lake where certain street names describe a certain marmalade, (i.e., apricot, quince, and almond) derived from the various trees found in the neighborhood used for that very purpose. Thereby, these distinctive street names describe the specific place and as a whole define a unique neighborhood district in Salt Lake.

In Millcreek township, on the east bench, in the suburban development at the mouth of the canyon, one encounters names such as Pluto Way, Jupiter Drive, Apollo Drive, Mars Way, and my favorite, Lois Lane. At least it is distinctive and original especially when compared to the Thousand Oaks drive just to the south, a designation found in nearly every city in the nation, and one which unfortunately describes the now extinct pristine pre-development condition.

Salt Lake even boasts a few dead presidents, such as Jefferson Road, Washington Road, Madison Road and Adams Road, isolated clear out in Magna township on the west side. Ironically, just north of these streets are Mason Way and Dickson Way. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, but personally I think Adams wanted to join ranks with his southern cohorts. This meager attempt however pales in comparison Salt Lakes neighbor to the north, Ogden, which boasts streets named for Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Quincy, Harrison, Van Buren, Polk, Tyler, Pierce, Buchannan, Jackson and Monroe, to name but a few, however, they did not stop there; Washington, Monroe and Harrison are boulevards, and not mere streets. But here again, there is a lack of local cultural appeal  and local reference in these grand designations. Ironically, someone snuck Custer in there between Tyler and Polk. 

State Street in Salt Lake is perhaps the most aptly named street in the state. Stretching from the Arizona border at Glen Canyon National Recreation area north to the Idaho border at Bear Lake for 502 miles and known by its more prosaic name, US Highway 89. US 89 was the transportation network, established in 1926, it snakes its way through some of the most scenic landscape in Utah. It has a somewhat roundabout history of realignments, diversions, etc., and provided the first large scale commercial and trade corridor in the state. However, its name is a bit ambiguous and should be renamed, Utah State Street.

I think my point is that the existing street names just fall short and disappoint. We’ve idolized a few politicians such as Bangerter and Hansen with major highways, but if it were me I’d think someone was out to malign my good name with the appellation on such behemoths.

Salt Lake has venerated its basketball icons John Stockton and Karl Malone with Stockton Malone Way on the east side of the Utah Jazz’s home, the Energy Solutions Arena. The poor guys are as inseparable as Laverne and Shirley. I’m certain Larry Miller will have his name on a street somewhere shortly. Maybe State Street in Salt Lake from 33rd South to 53rd South, an apt stretch of monolithic car lots would do justice.

I want something more!  Where is Richard Kletting Drive? Cal Rampton Boulevard? John Lee Way? Rosanne Barr Circle? Donny Osmond Street? Avard Fairbanks Avenue? Juanita Brooks Lane? Joe Hill Trail? Everett Ruess Rue? Carl Rove Pass? Don Lind Alley? Alma Richards Highway? Wallace Stegner Hill? The list is endless. I’ve only named a few of the familiar and prominent Utahns. There are ten prominent local names to each one these more broadly familiar ones. Names of individuals is just a first step, there is hidden cultural heritage which is all but erased and lost under our dominant white Mormon culture, namely the native American cultures which thrived in the region prior to our arrival and overbearing claim. Below the asphaltic layers of South Temple in Salt Lake, there existed a Fremont burial ground, now largely obliterated. The destruction of the indigenous place and its replacement with our modern city continues without apology.

Herein exists a huge potential to memorialize and present Utah’s heritage, from important indivual to geographic references, and everything in between, in short to account for the past and create a sense of place in our villages, communities, neighborhoods and cities.


© 2010 Steven D. Cornell